The hypothetico-deductive method, which involves an iterative process of hypothesis generation and evaluation, has been used for decades by physicians to diagnose patients. This study focuses on the levels of support that medical information systems can provide during these stages of the diagnostic reasoning process. The physician initially generates a list of possible diagnoses (hypotheses) based on the patients' symptoms. Later, those hypotheses are examined to determine which ones best account for the signs, symptoms, physical examination findings, and laboratory test results. Hypothesis generation is especially challenging for medical students because the organization of knowledge in medical school curricula is disease-centered. Furthermore, the clinical reference tools that are regularly used by medical students (such as Harrison's Online, UpToDate, and eMedicine) are mostly organized by disease. To address this issue, Abduction, a hypothesis generation tool; was developed for this study. Sixteen medical students were asked to solve two patient cases in two different conditions: A (support of clinical reference tools chosen by the participant and Abduction ) and B (support of clinical reference tools chosen by the participant). In Condition A, participants were able to generate the correct diagnosis in all 16 occasions (100%) and were able to confirm it in 13 occasions (81.25%). In Condition B, participants were able to generate the correct diagnosis in three out of 16 occasions (18.75%) and were able to confirm it once (6.25%). The implications of this study are discussed with respect to the cognitive support that Abduction can provide to medical students for clinical diagnosis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102817 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Nakamura, Carlos. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.) |
| Rights | © Carlos Nakamura, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002615710, proquestno: AAINR32223, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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