A digital application for implementing the ICD-11 traditional medicine chapter / 中西医结合学报

ABSTRACT

On May 25, 2019, the World Health Assembly approved the eleventh revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11), containing a chapter on traditional medicine. This means that the traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) is now officially recognized as a part of mainstream medical practice. However, the patterns presented in the ICD-11 traditional medicine chapter are only the tip of the iceberg of TEAM clinical practice, and it will be necessary to supplement and upgrade the contents. In order to implement this, objectification and standardization of TEAM must be premised, and grafting with proper modern science and technology is imperative. Pattern Identification and Prescription Expert-11 (PIPE-11), which is a TEAM clinical decision support system, adopts vastly from clinical literature on pattern identification and the prescription. By adopting the rule-based reasoning method, the way of diagnosis and prescription by a TEAM practitioner in actual clinical practice is implemented as it is. PIPE-11 could support to improve both the accuracy of medical diagnosis and the reliability of the medical treatment of TEAM in clinical practices. In the field of research, it might facilitate the usage for reliable reference for symptoms and signs retrieval and patient simulation. In the field of education, it can provide a high level of training for learning pattern identification and prescription, and further be used to reinforce skills of diagnosis and prescription by providing self-simulation methods. Therefore, PIPE-11 as a digital application is expected to support the traditional medicine chapter of ICD-11 to successfully contribute to the improvement of human health.