DDx Generator - Impact Studies
Isabel can increase clinicians' clinical reasoning skills
Several medical schools in the USA have carried out randomised control trials showing how the use of Isabel can increase both individual clinician’s and medical team’s diagnostic accuracy by as much as 33%. These have important implications for workforce development and demonstrate how Isabel is a practical tool to increase the skills of your own clinical teams.
Nurse Practitioner Students' Perceptions of an Artificial Intelligence Differential Diagnosis Tool: A Pilot Study
This study provides an example of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) guided clinical decision-making training in nurse practitioner (NP) education. The findings can be used by educational institutions to trial similar AI-integrated learning approaches, enhancing diagnostic competence and potentially improving patient care outcomes.
McKay, N., Palamara, P., McCavery, A., Nosaka, K. and Kwok, W.H., 2026. Nurse practitioner students' perceptions of an artificial intelligence differential diagnosis tool: A pilot study. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 0:1–12.
Development and testing of a new framework to improve diagnostic reasoning in medical and health professionals
Using a diagnostic reminder system improved learners’ calibration of diagnostic accuracy and confidence.
Carlson, J., Abel, M., Bridges, D. and Tomkowiak, J., 2011. The impact of a diagnostic reminder system on student clinical reasoning during simulated case studies. Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 6(1), 11–17.
A Novel Use of an Electronic Differential Diagnosis Generator in the Emergency Department Setting
The use of such tools has not been well studied in the emergency department (ED). We aimed to characterize the use and perceptions of a DDx tool among emergency medicine (EM) clinicians.
Burkett, E.L. and Todd, B.R., 2023. A novel use of an electronic differential diagnosis generator in the emergency department setting. Cureus, 15(1), e34211. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.34211
Emergency Medicine Resident Use of Electronic Differential Diagnosis Generator When Evaluating Critical Patients (SAEM presentation)
DDx tools have the potential to improve EM resident DDx generation in the resuscitation setting by expanding the differential diagnosis and, to a lesser extent, altering diagnostic testing.
Assessing Use Of An Electronic Differential Diagnosis Generator By Emergency Medicine Providers (AAEM presentation)
Electronic differential diagnosis tools have the potential to assist ED clinicians in identifying rare diagnoses, however clinician adoption of the tool and integration of the tool into the provider’s workflow are potential barriers to utility in the ED setting.
Reaching 95%: decision support tools are the surest way to improve diagnosis now (Editorial – BMJ Quality & Safety)
“There is no one solution to the problem, but of all the proposed interventions to date, the case for promoting the use of decision support for diagnosis is strong. These systems are powerful, they are improving all the time, they are ready for use, they are simple and practical to use, and they work.”
Graber, M.L., 2021. Reaching 95%: decision support tools are the surest way to improve diagnosis now. BMJ Quality & Safety, 31, pp.426–433.
Should electronic differential diagnosis support be used early or late in the diagnostic process? A multicentre experimental study of Isabel (BMJ Quality & Safety)
“…unlike prior systems, Isabel uses a minimal amount of (primarily) historical data and yet achieves similar accuracy as previous systems that required far more information. An important implication of this efficiency is that it becomes feasible to integrate EDS into one’s processing of a case in real time.”
Sibbald, M., Monteiro, S., Sherbino, J., LoGiudice, A., Friedman, C. and Norman, G., 2022. Should electronic differential diagnosis support be used early or late in the diagnostic process? A multicentre experimental study of Isabel. BMJ Quality & Safety, 31(6). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2021-013493
Patient Perspectives on the Usefulness of an Artificial Intelligence–Assisted Symptom Checker: Cross-Sectional Survey Study
Patients are increasingly seeking Web-based symptom checkers to obtain diagnoses. However, little is known about the characteristics of the patients who use these resources, their rationale for use, and whether they find them accurate and useful.
Meyer, A.N.D., Giardina, T.D., Spitzmueller, C., Shahid, U., Scott, T.M.T. and Singh, H., 2020. Patient perspectives on the usefulness of an artificial intelligence–assisted symptom checker: cross-sectional survey study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(1):e14679.https://doi:10.2196/14679
Isabel to the Rescue! (Poster presented at SHM & ACP)
The ability to accurately estimate probability to make a diagnosis is one of the most important qualities of a good physician. Differential diagnosis generators may be helpful in creating more accurate differential diagnosis...
Evaluation of first-year medical student use of a diagnostic decision- making resource
The ability to access, appraise, and use information is critical in contemporary medicine. At Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine, first-year medical students develop these skills in a medical informatics course...
Does collaboration lead to fewer diagnostic errors
Missed and delayed diagnoses occur with relative frequency and pose a substantial threat to patient safety. Suggested strategies to improve diagnostic accuracy include active reflection through...
Use of Isabel Decision Support to Improve Diagnostic Accuracy Among Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP) Students
Patient safety experts have targeted errors in diagnosis as a problem for health care providers. 1 Developing diagnostic skills by using standardized clinical cases is a common...
The impact of a web based diagnosis checklist system on specialist referrals from primary care: Results of a survey of General Practitioners
To look at the impact of a web based diagnosis checklist system (Isabel) on referrals for specialist care in a UK primary care setting. It is generally estimated that 30-50% of such referrals are inappropriate leading to inefficient use of specialist...
Maude, J., Ramnarayan, P. and Tomlinson, A., 2010. The impact of a web‑based diagnosis checklist system on specialist referrals from primary care: Results of a survey of General Practitioners. Paper presented at the Society for Medical Decision Making Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada, 25 October 2010.
The impact on users of a web based diagnosis decision support system.
Isabel, a well-known web based diagnosis decision support system, is used by several hospitals across the USA. Some of these have approved the use of Isabel for CME purposes. In order to earn...
