Knowledge of engineering for a medical-history expert system

Computerized information systems that support medical decision-making are based upon formalized medical knowledge. Therefore, appropriate methods of knowledge engineering are of conspicuous importance. In order to arrive at a medical-history expert system, a target-oriented construction method of knowledge engineering was devised. Beginning with a framework of diagnostic categories, an optimal set of reliable and valid questions were formulated. In this paper, two independently developed general medicine questionnaires prepared by such a method are comparatively presented. It is shown that (a) inspite of a good deal of similarity between the two frames of reference considerable differences exist between the two sets of selected questions, and (b) the valid collection of medical information is limited to diagnostic categories that allow a clear description of medical symptoms.