Knowledge-Based System – Separation of Knowledge from Software
Last updated
Last updated
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One reason the doctors and other healthcare professionals do not like computer systems is because most systems are designed as "one size fits all". Despite configuration options available, the systems seem alien to them, not at all addressing their specific needs, preferences and workflows.
To make healthcare information systems more attractive to the doctors, we must create them in a manner in which the doctors can take control of their functionality without having to depend upon system specialists or software programmers.
Further, the healthcare professionals rarely participate in open source projects because they lack of expertise in software engineering and programming. On the other hand, the software developers are limited by their difficulty in understanding the intricacies of medical sciences, workflows and the needs of institutions. A larger participation from both these groups can be ensured if the system is designed to be mostly knowledge driven. This can be achieved by developing the software layer as the base, atop which the knowledge layer exists, and controls much of the logic of the system. The aim of the software development project then is only to deliver tools that the knowledge authors (medical experts) can use to create the logic and the features of the system, as they deem fit for their own needs.
This approach will not just ensure early participation by the healthcare personnel, it will also lead to continued development of the system, evolving with the needs of the healthcare sector.