DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNIQUES FOR THE RETRIEVAL AND DELIVERY

KNOWLEDGE ACCESS, INC. DEVELOPS STAND-ALONE MICROCOMPUTER RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS^THAT MEANS RETRIEVAL SOFTWARE PACKAGED WITH DATABASES^AND PROPOSES TO EXTEND THE SYSTEM TO THE RETRIEVAL AND DELIVERY OF PROBLEM-SPECIFIC INFORMATION IN MEDICINE. PHASE I WILL FOCUS ON ESTABLISHING TECHNICAL/FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY OF PRODUCING AND MARKETING THESE PRODUCTS TO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS. ACCESS TO INFORMATION OVER THE PAST TWO DECADES HAS BEEN ENHANCED BY ONLINE SYSTEMS SUCH AS MEDLARS. HOWEVER, MOST PROFESSIONALS DO NOT USE THESE SYSTEMS, IN SPITE OF THEIR INCREASING NEED FOR INFORMATION. THE PROPOSED SYSTEM BUILDS ON THE INFORMATION BASE THAT IS STORED ELECTRONICALLY AND PROPOSES TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE, WITH ENHANCED POSTRETRIEVAL PROCESSING FEATURES, ON A MICROCOMPUTER. THE SYSTEM MEETS MANY USER CONCERNS ABOUT COST (NO MINUTE-TO-MINUTE CHARGES), AVAILABILITY (24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK), TRAINING (5 MINUTES), AND CONSISTENCY ACROSS A NUMBER OF DATABASES (ALL DATABASES SHARE THE SAME PROTOCOLS). PHASE I WILL RESULT IN IDENTIFICATION OF KEY PROBLEM-SPECIFIC INFORMATION AREAS AND APPROPRIATE TYPES OF INFORMATION FOR EACH, ANALYSIS OF NEEDED POSTRETRIEVAL PROCESSING TOOLS, ASSESSMENT OF HARDWARE, ESTIMATE OF COSTS, MODIFICATION OF INTERFACE DESIGN, ADAPTATION OF CURRENT RETRIEVAL SOFTWARE, AND IMPLEMENTATION/FIELD TESTING OF A PROTOTYPE DATABASE. PHASE II WILL BE THE DEVELOPMENT, TESTING, AND REFINEMENT OF A SMALL CLUSTER OF STAND-ALONE, PROBLEM-SPECIFIC MEDICAL DATABASES THAT WILL PROVIDE NEW ACCESS TO HEALTH SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE AND HELP TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.