Development of Computer-Supported Assessment and Treatment Consultation for Emotional Crises (CATCEC) for a Submarine Environment

摘要

The purpose of this research was to develop a microcomputer-based expert system to assist medical corpsmen in their evaluation and treatment of emotional crises which may occur during submarine patrols. A brief structured interview, with verbatim questions to be asked was developed for use by medical corpsmen, to help collect necessary information about any emotional or behavioral crisis, and specific diagnosis and treatment suggestions were developed for each interview profile. Both of these components were systematically evaluated by mental health clinical experts, and modified as appropriate, before this consultation system was programmed for microcomputer use. The resulting expert system (CATCEC) collects, stores and summarizes individual patient information which the Corpsman collects, and makes specific diagnosis and treatment suggestions that are within the Corpsman's general trained skill levels. A CATCEC computer-aided instruction component was also developed, however, to provide the Corpsman with initial training in some general emotional emergency treatment principles. The CATCEC system was designed to be a psychiatric component of the Navy's more comprehensive computer-supported medical consultation system, MEDIC. Keywords: Knowledge Based System, Artificial Intelligence, Medical Computer Applications, Medical Examination.