Diagnosing infections and prescribing pharmaceuticals are the weak points of many practicing physicians

(according to E. H. Shortliffe, one of the developers of MYCIN). It seems, therefore, that society would be better served if analytics-based diagnosis systems were used by more physicians. Answer the following questions:

a. Why do you think such systems are used minimally by physicians?

b. Assume that you are a hospital administrator whose physicians are salaried and report to you. What would you do to persuade them to use the system?

c. If the potential benefits to society are so great, can society do something that will increase doctors’ use of such analytic systems?