title: Nursing diagnosis by computers: an application of neural networks.
abstract: In a pilot-test application of the neural network, test case diagnoses made by the ART-2 neural network agreed with those made independently by nurses. The main conclusion is that the ART-2 neural network is promising as a decision-making aid. It can handle probabilistic and ill-defined data through a process of pattern recognition without programming rules. A disadvantage is that the ART-2 neural network requires "training" by the nurse using at least one example to define a diagnosis. In practice, however, this requirement does not affect its usefulness. Moreover, providing the ART-2 neural network with several training examples enables it to identify new patterns that are "close" to the textbook case but vary in one or more characteristics.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D006801:Humans; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis; D010865:Pilot Projects