Lifecom's decision engine could also be incorporated into the web portals to provide a 'second opinion service' that would allow clinicians to input clinical data on a patient and engage in an interactive and down loadable session with the software to aid in assessment. Data mining of clinician access to the system could-be used to drive the development of additional knowledge content.


Engaging in learning:

Once knowledge gaps are identified, delivery and access to optimal resources in real-time is the challenge. Although knowledge presentation at this point may be the best choice for long term retention, it cannot impede clinical through put in any substantial way. It must also be authoritative to overcome existing biases.

Lifecom addresses this through the ability to present tiered knowledge content based upon user and situation and linked to its source. The knowledge engine can route the appropriate content to the clinician and provide access to more detailed supplemental materials for later review. The engine can also create 'test cases' to assess a clinician's response and knowledge.


Incorporation of Knowledge and Knowledge Content Creation and Distribution:

Many sources of authoritative content exist. Challenges include the updating and editing of content as well as dissemination and incorporation into practice.

Lifecom is supported by an Internet-based content submission, automated text parsing, editing, and configuring process that ultimately digitizes the content into a form readable by the knowledge engine. Therefore all data sent through the system becomes part of the active assessments performed by the engine and machine recommendations can be tracked back to the source material. Much of the 'heavy lifting' of keeping content timely is performed by automated text reading systems, the output of which forms the basis of editorial review greatly reducing the time required to edit the content. In addition, this system could interface with the current web portals to provide additional access. It is hypothesized that providing real-time access to authoritative content, in the context of actual patient care, traceable to its source, provides the greatest likelihood of physician retention.

The system can be configured to recognize patients who are potential candidates for inclusion into research protocols. The same methods used to query the clinician for knowledge gaps are able to aid in determination of patient eligibility for research studies. Knowledge gaps identified during data mining can be used to determine the need for new research protocols in a continuous cycle.