Medical algorithm

A medical algorithm is any computation, formula, statistical survey, nomogram, or look-up table, useful in healthcare. Medical algorithms include decision tree approaches to healthcare treatment (e.g., if symptoms A, B, and C are evident, then use treatment X) and also less clear-cut tools aimed at reducing or defining uncertainty. A medical prescription is also a type of medical algorithm. Medical algorithms are part of a broader field which is usually fit under the aims of medical informatics and medical decision-making. Medical decisions occur in several areas of medical activity including medical test selection, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis, and automatic control of medical equipment. In relation to logic-based and artificial neural network-based clinical decision support systems, which are also computer applications used in the medical decision-making field, algorithms are less complex in architecture, data structure and user interface. Medical algorithms are not necessarily implemented using digital computers. In fact, many of them can be represented on paper, in the form of diagrams, nomographs, etc. A wealth of medical information exists in the form of published medical algorithms. These algorithms range from simple calculations to complex outcome predictions. Most clinicians use only a small subset routinely. Examples of medical algorithms are: Calculators, e.g. an on-line or stand-alone calculator for body mass index (BMI) when stature and body weight are given; Flowcharts and drakon-charts, e.g. a binary decision tree for deciding what is the etiology of chest pain Look-up tables, e.g. for looking up food energy and nutritional contents of foodstuffs Nomograms, e.g. a moving circular slide to calculate body surface area or drug dosages. A common class of algorithms are embedded in guidelines on the choice of treatments produced by many national, state, financial and local healthcare organisations and provided as knowledge resources for day to day use and for induction of new physicians.