title: How Turing and Wolf influenced my Decision Support Systems.
abstract: Decision Support Systems (DSS) have a vital role to play in today's scenario for Patient Care. They can embody a vast knowledge not normally found in one individual where diagnosis and treatment are involved. This paper highlights the training in minute details and precise mathematics needed in a successful DSS and indicates how such attention-to-detail was instilled into the writer as a result of working with Alan Turing and Emil Wolf who have both since achieved world-wide recognition in their own fields as a result of international publicity by the current writer. The article discusses four Decision Support Systems written by the present writer all of which have been shown to improve patient treatment and care, and which are of such complexity that, without their use, patient care would fall short of optimum. The Systems considered are those for Intensive Care Units, Cardiovascular Surgery, a Programmed Investigation Unit, and Diagnosis of Congenital Abnormalities. All these Systems have performed better than the human alternatives and have shown their value in the improvement of patient care.
authors.affiliation: School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. bernard.richards@manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Richards
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003657:Decision Making; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D012985:Software Design; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D006113:United Kingdom