Medcin: A New Nomenclature for Clinical Medicine

This computer-based nomenclature attempts to create an universal envir onment for the creation of computer programs for acquisition, review, and transmission of medical information independent of language. Durin g the patient interview, the patient describes his own symptoms to the clinician who then interprets and records the results for future anal ysis. This is the most important part of the examination, and an accur ate record of the data from the interview, coupled with a physical exa m, is vital to making a diagnosis and establishing a treatment plan. M EDCIN systematizes this diagnostic process, by removing the subjective variables of patient information gathering, allowing for a more consi stent patient diagnosis, and more reliable data for research. Through a coding structure of hierarchical inheritance, MEDCIN accommodates th e individual thought processes of the clinician, while remaining struc tured enough to capture the clinical findings needed for documentation and analysis.