FEASIBILITY OF AIDING DECISIONS THROUGH AUTOMATED DATA RETRIEVAL FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PRACTICING PHYSICIANS

THE AIM OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF A SOPHISTICATED SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING STATISTICAL DATA ABOUTRISK AND PROGNOSIS, AS A MEANS OF AIDING DECISIONS FOR PHYSICIANS WHOSE PRACTICE INCLUDES BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS. SUCH SYSTEMS ARE MADE POSSIBLE BY INCREASED DATA AND BY TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN MEDICAL INFORMATICS. PATIENT CONCERN FOR A ROLE IN MEDICAL DECISION MAKING, AND THUS DEMAND FOR STATISTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT TREATMENT OPTIONS AND PROGNOSIS, IS INCREASING AS WELL. THE PROPOSED RESEARCHWILL USE SURVEY METHODOLOGY -- INCLUDING SURVEYS OF PHYSICIANS AND MEDICAL SCHOOLS -- TO DETERMINE PRACTICING PHYSICIANS' STATISTICAL ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING THEIR TRAINING, THEIR PERCEIVED NEED FOR AND ATTITUDES ABOUT STATISTICAL DATA, AND THEIR USE OF COMPUTERS AND COMPUTERIZED DATA BASES. A SET OF STATISTICAL TRAINING MODULES WILL ALSO BE USED TO ASSESS PHYSICIANS' STATISTICAL EXPERTISE. THE DATA ANALYSIS WILL CHARACTERIZE THE RESPONDING POPULATION AND WILL IDENTIFY POTENTIAL BARRIERS TO PHYSICIANS' USE OF COMPUTERIZED DATA RETRIEVAL AND DECISION SYSTEMS. THESE DATA WILL BE USED TO DEVELOP GUIDELINES FOR THE USER INTERFACE OF SUCH SYSTEMS, WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON COMPENSATING FOR THE IDENTIFIED BARRIERS. AN ON-LINE "HELP" SYSTEM, PROVIDING REVIEWS OF BASIC CONCEPTS AND TARGETING LIKELY ERRORS OF INTERPRETATION(FOR WHICH THE STATISTICAL MODULES WILL BE A PROTOTYPE) IS VIEWED AS A POTENTIALLY IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THE INTERFACE.