Computerized medical diagnostic and treatment advice system

Abstract

A system and method for providing computerized, knowledge-based medical diagnostic and treatment advice. The medical advice is provided to the general public over a telephone network. Two new authoring languages, interactive voice response and speech recognition are used to enable expert and general practitioner knowledge to be encoded for access by the public. “Meta” functions for time-density analysis of a number of factors regarding the number of medical complaints per unit of time are an integral part of the system. A semantic discrepancy evaluator routine along with a mental status examination are used to detect the consciousness level of a user of the system. A re-enter feature monitors the user's changing condition over time. A symptom severity analysis helps to respond to the changing conditions. System sensitivity factors may be changed at a global level or other levels to adjust the system advice as necessary.

1 . A method of providing statistical data from an automated medical advice system comprising a computer, and input and output devices, the method comprising: 
 collecting and storing patient information in a data structure of the computer by performing diagnostic consultations with a plurality of patients; and    generating statistical data based, at least in part, on the stored patient information.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing a report based on the generated statistical data.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the report comprises the likelihood of a patient developing a symptom or a disease at a later date.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the report is provided to the patient when the patient is not logged-in to the system.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the report is provided via facsimile or first-class mail.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the report additionally comprises specific recommendations.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statistical data comprises the probability of a patient having a specific disease.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statistical data comprises the probability of a patient having a certain condition.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the condition comprises a likelihood of developing a symptom or a disease at a later date.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statistical data comprises a percentage of patients that are diagnosed with a certain condition after giving a certain answer to a certain question.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the statistical data comprises a percentage of patients that are diagnosed with a certain condition after giving certain answers to a plurality of questions.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the questions include questions regarding age and sex.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising analyzing the effectiveness of questions used in the diagnostic process based on the generated statistical data.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising altering the questions used in the diagnostic process.  
     
     
         15 . An automated medical advice system for generating statistical data comprising: 
 a computer configured to perform diagnostic consultations with a plurality of patients;    an input device for collecting patient information from the diagnostic consultations;    storage, in data connection with the computer, for storing the collected patient information;    a statistical analysis module, executed by the computer and configured to generate statistical data based, at least in part, on the stored patient information;    an output device for providing the statistical data to a user of the computer.    
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising a report generation module, executed by the computer, and configured to process the statistical data to generate a report.  
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the output device provides the report to a user of the computer.  
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the statistical data comprises the probability of a patient having a certain condition.  
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the condition comprises a likelihood of developing a symptom or a disease at a later date.  
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the statistical data comprises a percentage of patients that are diagnosed with a certain condition after giving a certain answer to a certain question.  
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the statistical data comprises a percentage of patients that are diagnosed with a certain condition after giving certain answers to a plurality of questions.  
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the questions include questions regarding age and sex.  
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the system comprises an information mode, in which collected and stored patient data is not used to generate statistical data.  
     
     
         24 . An automated medical advice system for generating statistical data comprising: 
 means for collecting and storing patient information in a data structure of a computer by performing diagnostic consultations with a plurality of patients; and    means for generating statistical data based, at least in part, on the stored patient information.    
     
     
         25 . One or more processor-readable storage devices having processor-readable code embodied on the processor-readable storage device, the processor-readable code for programming one or more processors within an automated medical advice system including a computer, and input and output devices, the processor-readable code programming the one or more processors to perform a method of providing statistical data, the method comprising: 
 collecting and storing patient information in a data structure of the computer by performing diagnostic consultations with a plurality of patients; and    generating statistical data based, at least in part, on the stored patient information.