The present invention relates to methods, computer systems and computer
apparatus for obtaining references that assist in identifying a disease
or condition in an individual, wherein the reference has been described
or made part of a database having medical data. The steps of the method
include obtaining or identifying two or more symptoms, conditions,
procedures, medication or any combination thereof, experienced or used by
the individual; transcribing the symptoms, conditions, procedures,
medication or combination thereof into standardized medical codes to
thereby obtain transcribed codes; categorizing transcribed codes by
medical specialty; searching at least one medical literature database
using one of the transcribed codes to thereby obtain code-specific
results, and repeating this step for each of the transcribed codes;
cross-referencing the code-specific results for each transcribed code
with code-specific results of all other transcribed codes in the same
categorized medical specialty to obtain common references, and repeating
this step for each specialty for which the codes have been categorized;
and studying the references to determine references applicable to or
those that assist in identifying the disease or condition.
The computer system or computer apparatus of the present invention
includes a source of transcribed codes that comprises standardized
medical codes translated from two or more symptoms, conditions,
procedures, medication or any combination thereof experienced or used by
the individual; a processor routine coupled to receive transcribed codes
from the source, wherein the processor routine performs the above steps
of categorizing transcribed codes by medical specialty; searching the
medical literature database and cross-referencing the code-specific
results for each transcribed code with code-specific results of all other
transcribed codes in the same categorized medical specialty to obtain
common references. The computer system or apparatus further includes an
output device, coupled to the processor routine, for indicating common
reference grouped by the number of occurrences of transcribed codes
present in the reference.
