A Symbolic AI Approach to Medical Training.

Journal: Journal of medical systems
PMID:

Abstract

In traditional medical education, learners are mostly trained to diagnose and treat patients through supervised practice. Artificial Intelligence and simulation techniques can complement such an educational practice. In this paper, we present GLARE-Edu, an innovative system in which AI knowledge-based methodologies and simulation are exploited to train learners "how to act" on patients based on the evidence-based best practices provided by clinical practice guidelines. GLARE-Edu is being developed by a multi-disciplinary team involving physicians and AI experts, within the AI-LEAP (LEArning Personalization of AI and with AI) Italian project. GLARE-Edu is domain-independent: it supports the acquisition of clinical guidelines and case studies in a computer format. Based on acquired guidelines (and case studies), it provides a series of educational facilities: (i) navigation, to navigate the structured representation of the guidelines provided by GLARE-Edu, (ii) automated simulation, to show learners how a guideline would suggest to act, step-by-step, on a specific case, and (iii) (self)verification, asking learners how they would treat a case, and comparing step-by-step the learner's proposal with the suggestions of the proper guideline. In this paper, we describe GLARE-Edu architecture and general features, and we demonstrate our approach through a concrete application to the melanoma guideline and we propose a preliminary evaluation.

Authors

  • Alessio Bottrighi
    Computer Science Institute, DISIT, Univ. Piemonte Orientale, Alessandria, Italy.
  • Federica Grosso
    Mesothelioma, Melanoma and Rare Cancers Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera "SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo", Alessandria, Italy.
  • Marco Ghiglione
    Skin Cancer Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera "SS Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo", Alessandria, Italy.
  • Antonio Maconi
    Research Innovation Department, Research Training Innovation Infrastructure Azienda Ospedaliera "SS. Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo", Alessandria, Italy.
  • Stefano Nera
    Computer Science Institute, DISIT, University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy.
  • Luca Piovesan
    Computer Science Institute, Dipartimento di Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Viale Teresa Michel 11, 15121 Alessandria, Italy. Electronic address: luca.piovesan@uniupo.it.
  • Erica Raina
    Computer Science Institute, DISIT, University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy.
  • Annalisa Roveta
    Integrated Laboratory of AI and Medical Informatics, DAIRI - SS. Antonio e Biagio e Cesare Arrigo Hospital, DISIT - University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy.
  • Paolo Terenziani
    Computer Science Institute, DISIT, Univ. Piemonte Orientale, Alessandria, Italy.