Biomedical subjects

N J Zimny

Publications and source records attributed to N J Zimny.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Making information accessible and useful to practicing clinicians. Problem-knowledge coupling.

Assessments of health care technology will lead to improvements in patient services only if this information is actually used by clinicians. Traditional methods of planning treatment that rely solely on memory limit the clinician's access to and use of the full available body of knowledge in the field. An alternative approach using a computer-assisted methodology is presented as a way to overcome traditional limitations and promote the development and diffusion of knowledge.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed1989

Problem-knowledge coupling: a tool for physical therapy clinical practice.

The purposes of this article are 1) to summarize the development, function, and philosophy of the Problem-Knowledge Coupler (PKC), a computerized tool that is designed to aid the clinical decision-making process in medical practice, and 2) to speculate on the value this system has in meeting clinical practice, needs and addressing professional practice issues in physical therapy. The evolution of the PKC system from its origins in the problem-oriented system of medical care is described, and the philosophy of problem-knowledge coupling is contrasted to the basic philosophy of traditional clinical medical practice and never computerized expert decision-support systems. We suggest that problem-knowledge coupling could be a useful tool in physical therapy because it improves the collection and synthesis of patient information and uses the unique nature of individual patient problems coupled with the clinical literature as the bases for clinical practice decisions.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗

PubMed1989

The problem-oriented system, problem-knowledge coupling, and clinical decision making.

The information tool to aid us in making the clinical decisions discussed in this presentation is called the PKC. Our goal with patients should be to couple the knowledge of the unique patient to the knowledge in the literature and get the best possible match. This approach requires combinatorial versus probabilistic thinking. In the real world, ideal matches are not found. Therefore, it is critical to exhaust the patient's uniqueness first and only then use probabilities to settle further uncertainties. It is an error to teach people how to deal with uncertainty instead of teaching them to clean up a great deal of the uncertainty first. Patients must be involved in this endeavor. In essence, they have a PhD in their own uniqueness, and it is this uniqueness that is very powerful in solving complex problems. This method of patient evaluation and management cannot be used with the unaided mind. It requires new and powerful information tools like the PKC. All information that is relevant to a problem should be included in the coupler. It should encompass differing points of view, and the rationale should be made explicit to clinician and patient alike. When complete, the coupler should represent an interdisciplinary compilation of questions and tests that are expected to be collected every time in the clinic for the type of problem the coupler represents. This method will provide a basis for quality control because the contents of the coupler now have defined what we expect to occur in every patient encounter.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Artificial Intelligence↗