An analysis of the schools of medical decision making from a group decision support system perspective

This paper presents an analysis of the schools of medical decision making (MDM) from a group decision support system (GDSS) viewpoint. This analysis is part of on-going research which focusses on the development of a GDSS framework for MDM, with medical reasoning, problem-solving and collaborative communication features. Medical reasoning and problem-solving are influenced by the choice of a formal method for problem-solving, the platform used for their dissemination for use by a medical group and other relevant issues. The analysis presented here, was performed using eight categories of group decision support. This analysis reveals that MDM techniques have not been addressed from a GDSS perspective. This analysis has influenced the development of MEDICALWARE, an integrated MDM software tool-chest with GDSS tools to support MDM.