Decision support for medical practices
Designed by the Imperial Cancer Research Fund and InferMed Ltd., the AREZZO comes in two closely interwoven platforms; the AREZZOComposer and Performer (registered). Essentially, AREZZO is a decision support system, compiled over many years of research in safety-critical clinical systems and is based on the PROforma language, making it easily interpreted by the average computer. AREZZO was primarily developed to improve and ensure quality medical service and care, with the flexiblity to provide information on a patient-specific basis. The interface is straightforward and designed for simplicity, allowing for detailed information manipulation based on four primary issues: Plans, Enquiries, Decisions and Actions. Colour-icons within the interface allow for the practitioner to instantly ascertain what function is currently in use or which function needs to be executed. For example, a practitioner may be asked enter patient-specific information (Enquiry), to select the diagnosed ailment from a list of options (Decision), and is given, in return, a set of treatment plans (Action). The Plan is a shell into which an entire medical case can be drafted with its own enquires, decisions, actions and other plans. The enquiry functions allow users to enter information but may also be used to extract information from external databases, such as an electronic patient record. For example, a doctor may, use an enquiry to enter the clinical details of a patient with lower back pains. The decision function, upon which AREZZO bases its reasoning, would suggest what the likely cause of the pain is, as well as suggesting which treatments should be considered. The actions function would present the procedures that need to be carried out such as suggesting that a specialist needs to be contacted, or that a certain medical operation be performed. Additionally, the power of AREZZO is further enhanced by the capacity to include graphics and textual support, as well as allowing for a seamless inclusion into existing electronic medical records. The interactive testing functionality, enabling test applications to be run and analysed during development, allows for the rapid deployment of new clinical applications. AREZZO offers a sophisticated, yet easy to use decision support system, that has the unique ability to provide “active” patient-specific protocols and guidelines for medical procedures and therapies.
