Computer Programs to Support Clinical Decision Making

Abstract

To the Editor.—

Dr Shortliffe's otherwise thorough discussion of computer programs that support clinical decision making¹contains a significant omission in that it fails to discuss diagnostic programs in psychiatry. Psychiatric problems are more common than most of the disease entities discussed in the article and are routinely diagnosed and treated by most physicians. In particular, I have been using a computerized version of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule of the National Institute of Mental Health to obtain aDSM-IIIdiagnosis. I have used this expert system for about 75 patients in my private psychiatry practice over the past two years. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule is a structured psychiatric interview developed at the National Institute of Mental Health. The computer-administered and computer-scored Diagnostic Interview Schedule was developed at the University of Wisconsin under the direction of John H. Grist, MD, and Marjory H. Klein, PhD. A recently published study²showed