Panel diagnostic method and system including active and passive strategies

#The field of the invention relates to computerized medical diagnostic systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a computerized system for time-based diagnosis of a patient's medical complaint by use of multiple diagnostic processes operating in parallel.

#A computerized method and system, including an embodiment called MDATA (Medical Diagnosis And Treatment Advice), has been described in Applicant's patents, such as Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,176, entitled “Computerized Medical Diagnostic And Treatment Advice System”, U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,638, entitled “Computerized Medical Diagnostic System Including Re-enter Function and Sensitivity Factors, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,968, entitled “Computerized Medical Diagnostic System Including Meta Function,” each of which is incorporated by reference. The automated diagnostic system is utilized in an automated system capable of conducting a consultation with a human user who is (or represents) the patient. In a typical consultation, the user asks the automated diagnostic system to diagnose a specific medical problem. The automated diagnostic system then asks the user questions about the patient's health and ultimately generates a differential diagnosis, i.e., a list of diseases or disorders that match the case, ranked in probability order. The automated diagnostic system is fully automated: other than the online user, no other human is involved in the consultation.

#The automated diagnostic system has used several different diagnostic methods (methodologies) each having their own inherent strengths and weaknesses. What is desired are enhancements to the automated diagnostic system to add one or more automated processes, each of which is capable of performing an automated medical diagnosis by itself, so that a computer runs several processes to their conclusion at the same time, with each process working on the same case.

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a diagnostic system incorporating a panel module.

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a process of operation for the system shown in FIG. 1.

#FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a process of operation for the system shown in FIG. 1.

#The following description presents certain specific embodiments of the present invention. However, the present invention may be embodied in a multitude of different ways as defined and covered by the claims. In this description, reference is made to the drawings wherein like parts are designated with like numerals throughout.

#The automated diagnostic system has been enhanced to add one or more automated processes, each of which is capable of performing an automated medical diagnosis by itself, so that a computer runs several processes to their conclusion at the same time, with each process working on the same case. A Panel module in data communication with the automated diagnostic system provides these enhancements. The purpose of the additional diagnostic processes is to apply alternative diagnostic strategies to a patient's case, for several possible reasons: to observe the automated diagnostic system's analysis of the case at a detail level, to copy the case data and apply them to their own model of the case, to comment on the automated diagnostic system's analysis, questions, and question sequence, to suggest alternative questions to be asked, to comment on the automated diagnostic system's conclusions, to offer alternative conclusions, to indicate a degree of consent with the automated diagnostic system's conclusions, to generate a consensus diagnosis of their own, to permit comparison of diagnostic techniques for research purposes, to permit comparison of techniques for testing and quality assurance purposes. Strategies

#The additional diagnostic processes are called “strategies” or strategy processes (or to anthropomorphize, “panelists” or “strategists”) to distinguish them from the main automated diagnostic process. Each strategy is embodied as a software object that continuously observes, accumulates information, and formulates diagnoses as the automated diagnostic system conducts a consultation. A strategy can be similar to the diagnostic loop or module described in Applicant's U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,060, entitled “Computerized Medical Diagnostic And Treatment Advice System Including List Based Processing,” which is incorporated herein by reference. Each strategy process typically uses a diagnostic technique that emphasizes a different technique or mix of techniques. For example, the first strategy might simply count the number of patient symptoms that match a candidate; a second strategy might also count the number of symptoms that do not match; a third strategy might consider the time of onset of symptoms in the patient; a fourth strategy might combine counting and onset time; a fifth might allow the candidate diseases objects to dynamically select the strategy that the disease objects recommend.