Chirico-a framework for computerization of medical practice guidelines

Methodologies based on an elaboration of the knowledge acquisition and design structuring (KADS) philosophy were developed and a suite of tools based on this methodology was implemented. The tools implement object oriented support at the domain-layer, Bayesian reasoning combined with a Bayesian compatible version of "fuzzy sets" to support the inference-layer, and mechanisms for knowledge level task control to support both the task-level and strategic-level. These tools were built for the task of computerizing medical practice guidelines. The tools were successfully applied to two practice guidelines, one selected by symptom (febrile neutropenia) and the other by drug class (CSF).