CONSULTANT is a diagnostic support system used to
suggest possible diagnoses or causes for clinical signs
and to provide a brief synopsis of the diagnosis/cause including:
1) a general description, 2) species affected, 3) the
signs associated with it, and 4) a list of
recent literature references.
Database
CONSULTANT is supported by a database consisting of
hundreds of signs, thousands of
diagnoses/causes, and tens of thousands of literature references.
The database
is regularly updated with new information by its author:
College of Veterinary Medicine
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853
Use
CONSULTANT can be used in one of two basic modes by clicking the appropriate menu option or link in the header: Search
by Diagnosis or Search by Signs/Symptoms. In the Diagnosis mode
you can search for a specific diagnosis based on a species and
one or more diagnosis keywords.
In the Sign mode you can search for possible diagnoses based on a
species and one or more signs (specified using a keyword search or
by picking from a list.) When either search finishes, you
can display the synopsis of any of the "found" diagnoses.
Disclaimer
CONSULTANT can not and should not be used to make a
diagnosis; it is designed to provide assistance to trained
veterinarians similar to that provided by a textbook or
diagnostic test.
Environment
CONSULTANT is implemented using Microsoft's IIS with Active Server
Pages (ASP) and SQL Server. The program was developed by John Lewkowicz,
Director Emeritus, Veterinary Computing Services.