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I wish doctors would at least pretend that they're doing something that a walk-in x-Ray booth attached to a computer system couldn't do. They are doing more, b

I wish doctors would at least pretend that they're doing something that a walk-in x-Ray booth attached to a computer system couldn't do. They are doing more, but won't always feel the need to show their working for minor illness. That doctor will probably have gone through a few checklists in their head, deciding whether this could be a serious illness, and clearly came to the conclusion it was not. Presumably they also asked you a few questions about the location and nature of the pain? Also, doctors do use computers already, when they're not sure on symptoms, need to look things up, etc. They have the equivalent of expert systems at their fingertips for when that is necessary, but most of the time it won't be. I find it extremely hard to believe that even the best doctors could come close to touching the accuracy of an expert system. Accuracy is not what is required, given our extremely poor and fuzzy knowledge of the human body, diagnosis and treatment is more like a tradeoff between different possibilities based on partial symptoms (not all symptoms will be obvious or noticed by the patient), tests which are not always accurate and sometimes harmful, and treatments which are not always effective and have some bad side effects. An expert system would help with none of the above.

baddox 13y ago
> Accuracy is not what is required, given our extremely poor and fuzzy knowledge of the human body, diagnosis and treatment is more like a tradeoff between different possibilities based on partial symptoms (not all symptoms will be obvious or noticed by the patient), tests which are not always accurate and sometimes harmful, and treatments which are not always effective and have some bad side effects. I don't understand. That scenario is a perfect example of something an expert system would excel at.
- grey-area 13y ago
  Not really no. Some steps are suitable for codification in an expert system, indeed doctors already use expert systems in some cases. Some things which are hard problems and are not currently solved better by expert systems: Translating what the patient thinks is happening into a set of symptoms, sometimes those two are far apart Finding problems the patient came in for but is too embarrassed to talk about or is even unaware of Explaining risk to patients in terms they will understand, and then choosing an appropriate treatment based on their often fuzzy and emotional response Weighing patient risk against an individual patient's needs or other ailments which an expert system is not going to be able to query about or be aware of. etc. There's certainly a huge and growing place for expert systems in healthcare, but suggesting they can replace doctors is pretty absurd at this point in time.

baddox 13y ago

> Accuracy is not what is required, given our extremely poor and fuzzy knowledge of the human body, diagnosis and treatment is more like a tradeoff between different possibilities based on partial symptoms (not all symptoms will be obvious or noticed by the patient), tests which are not always accurate and sometimes harmful, and treatments which are not always effective and have some bad side effects. I don't understand. That scenario is a perfect example of something an expert system would excel at.

grey-area 13y ago
Not really no. Some steps are suitable for codification in an expert system, indeed doctors already use expert systems in some cases. Some things which are hard problems and are not currently solved better by expert systems: Translating what the patient thinks is happening into a set of symptoms, sometimes those two are far apart Finding problems the patient came in for but is too embarrassed to talk about or is even unaware of Explaining risk to patients in terms they will understand, and then choosing an appropriate treatment based on their often fuzzy and emotional response Weighing patient risk against an individual patient's needs or other ailments which an expert system is not going to be able to query about or be aware of. etc. There's certainly a huge and growing place for expert systems in healthcare, but suggesting they can replace doctors is pretty absurd at this point in time.