STUDIES OF A PROTOTYPE NURSE EXPERT SYSTEM: UROLOGICAL NURSING INFORMATION SYSTEM.
Contributors: University of Maryland at Baltimore.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 208
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Computer Science.; Artificial Intelligence.
Description: A nurse expert system called UNIS (Urological Nursing Information System) was developed to increase nurses' knowledge of urinary incontinence and provide clinical consultations. Two studies of UNIS were performed to determine: (1) the appropriateness of the patient assessment attributes (PAAs) and (2) level of performance. The appropriateness of the PAAs were measured by 14 nurse reviewers. Total scores were derived by summing these ratings for each attribute over the 14 nurse reviewers (ranged from -14 to +14). Chi-Square Analyses were used to examine the relationship of the educational backgrounds and work settings of the nurse reviewers to their ratings of the PAAs. UNIS's level of performance was compared to four nurse experts on five case studies of incontinent, elderly patients. The relevance of questions asked, value of the recommendations provided, and overall performance were rated by six nurse evaluators blind to UNIS. The results were analyzed using One-Way Repeated Measure Analysis of Variance (ANOVAs).

Ninety-six percent of the PAAs (n = 155) had a total score above the cut-off indicating the reviewers perceived these attributes as appropriate. Four percent (n = 7) fell below the cut-off score and 13 additional attributes were suggested by the nurse reviewers. The results of the Chi-Square Analysis revealed no statistically significant relationship between the reviewers' educational level and their ratings of the PAAs. There was a statistically significant relationship between their work settings and their ratings of the PAAs: X (2) = 17.98, p $<$.05.

A total of 854 questions and 250 recommendations were rated by the six nurse evaluators. Results of the ANOVAs were not statistically significant for the questions and recommendations. Results of the ANOVA for overall performance were statistically significant: F (4, 16) = 10.40, p $<$.01.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-08, Section: B, page: 3782.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AT BALTIMORE, 1990.

School code: 0373.