QUEST: QUALITY ASSURANCE EXPERT SYSTEM TESTBED

WHILE MEDICINE GENERALLY AND HEALTH CARE SPECIFICALLY HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DEPENDENT UPON COMPUTERS FOR DIAGNOSTICS, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT, AND EVEN NEW CAPABILITIES (E.G., CAT SCANNERS), ONE AREA THAT HAS NOT DERIVED THE FULL BENEFIT OF MODERN COMPUTING IS QUALITY ASSURANCE. THE RAPIDLY FALLING PRICE OF COMPUTERS, THE EXPONENTIAL INCREASE IN THEIR CAPABILITIES, AND THE MATURINGOF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE DISCIPLINE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLI- GENCE (AI) ALL COMBINE TO OFFER AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITYTO MAKE SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN HOSPITAL OR OTHER HEALTH CARE FACILITY QUALITY ASSURANCE. IN PARTICULAR, THE AI SUBDISCIPLINE OF EXPERT SYSTEMS IS ESPECIALLY PROMISING AS AMEANS OF FURTHERING HEALTH CARE COST CONTAINMENT BY HELPING TO ASSURE THAT CARE AND TREATMENT REGIMENS ARE NECESSARY, NONDUPLICATIVE, APPROPRIATE, AND ECONOMICAL. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WOULD BUILD A PROTOTYPE EXPERT SYSTEM, NAMED QUEST,AN ACRONYM FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE EXPERT SYSTEM TESTBED. QUEST WOULD RUN ON AN IBM-PC OR EQUIVALENT COMPUTER, MAKING IT HIGHLY TRANSPORTABLE AND AFFORDABLE. IT WOULD ACT AS A TESTBED BY RETAINING THE ABILITY TO INCORPORATE NEW ADVANCESIN AI TECHNOLOGY. IT WOULD BE BUILT IN MODULES ALLOWING FOREXPANSION AT LATER STAGES INTO ADDITIONAL MEDICAL SPECIAL- TIES AND SUBSPECIALTIES.