title: The role of the Internet in medical decision making.
abstract: The Internet has dramatically changed the means by which information is obtained. Accurate, up-to-date information is vital to maintain the quality of healthcare, especially as US healthcare delivery changes to a primary care-based system. The availability of this new and potentially vast source of information also affects strategies for medical decision making. In this article, use of online information in our medical center is discussed, together with the impact of a locally-developed decision support system. This system first contained components for differential diagnosis as well as computer-assisted instruction. Initially, online searching was limited to Medline literature searches. This component has now been expanded to include important new tools for accessing medical information on the Internet.
authors.affiliation: University of California, VA Medical Center, Fresno 93703, USA. anderson@ucsfresno.edu
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moazamipour
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D016239:MEDLINE; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D009862:Online Systems; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States