A medical consultation support tool

A medical consultation support tool comprising:

• a database of arguments and diagnoses wherein an incidence value is maintained for each diagnosis, the incidence value indicating the occurrence probability of the disease corresponding to said diagnosis, and
• wherein an argument and diagnosis are relationally coupled through a sensitivity value, the sensitivity value indicating how often said argument is present in case a patient has the disease corresponding to said diagnosis, and through an aspecificity value, the aspecificity value indicating how often said argument is present in case a patient does not have the disease corresponding to said diagnosis;
• an electronic patient portal adapted to obtain a pre-consultation complaint description from a patient;
• and
• a differential diagnosis module adapted to generate a differential diagnosis through matching arguments identified in said pre-consultation complaint description with arguments present in said database and determining potential diagnoses from incidence values, sensitivity values and aspecificity values,
• wherein said differential diagnosis comprises a list of potential diagnoses and respective probabilities of said potential diagnoses,
• wherein said medical diagnosis support tool further comprises:
• an electronic clinician portal adapted to obtain post-consultation diagnosis information and confidence information from a clinician;
• and
• a processor configured to automatically adapt incidence values in said database for diagnoses in said post-consultation diagnosis information, and sensitivity values and aspecificity values in said database for arguments identified in said pre-consultation complaint description with respective amounts calculated from said post-consultation diagnosis information and said confidence information obtained from said clinician.

A computer-implemented method for medical consultation support,

• comprising the steps of:
• maintaining a database of arguments and diagnoses wherein an incidence value is maintained for each diagnosis, the incidence value indicating the occurrence probability of the disease corresponding to said diagnosis, and
• wherein an argument and diagnosis are relationally coupled through a sensitivity value, the sensitivity value indicating how often said argument is present in case a patient has the disease corresponding to said diagnosis, and through an aspecificity value, the aspecificity value indicating how often said argument is present in case a patient does not have the disease corresponding to said diagnosis;
• obtaining via an electronic patient portal a pre-consultation complaint description from a patient;
• and
• generating a differential diagnosis through matching arguments identified in said pre-consultation complaint description with arguments present in said database and determining potential diagnoses from incidence values, sensitivity values and aspecificity values,
• wherein said differential diagnosis comprises a list of potential diagnoses and respective probabilities of said potential diagnoses,
• wherein said method further comprises:
• obtaining post-consultation diagnosis information and confidence information from a clinician via an electronic clinician portal;
• and
• automatically adapting incidence values in said database for diagnoses in said post-consultation diagnosis information, and sensitivity values and aspecificity values in said database for arguments identified in said pre-consultation complaint description with respective amounts calculated from said post-consultation diagnosis information and said confidence information obtained from said clinician.