Omogbadegun, Zacchaeus O. and Uwadia, C. O. and Ayo, C. K. and Mbarika, Victor and Omoregbe, N. A. and Ashipa, Oluwaseun (2011) Clinical Decision Diagnosis Support System for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Practitioners in Lifestyle-related Diseases Management. In: 2nd AMA-IEEE International Medical Technology Conference, 16 - 18, October 2011, Boston, MA, USA.
![[img]](http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png) |
PDF
- Published Version
Download (420kB) |
Abstract
Chronic diseases accounted for 60% of all deaths – corresponding to a projected 36.65 million deaths worldwide in 2007. 2.8% of the world population suffers from diabetes mellitus and it may cross 5.4% by the year 2025. Hypertension is a major burden on health care. Prevalence of lifestyle-related diseases increases. Low accessibility to and non-affordability of orthodox medicine by rural dwellers and their need to keep healthy to be economically productive have led to their dependence on medicinal plants to remedy afflictions. Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) attracts patronage due to patients’ dissatisfaction with conventional health care, a desire for treatment and care that work, good relationship with practitioner, provision of information, a desire for greater control over one’s health, and a desire for cultural and philosophical congruence with personal beliefs about health and illness. Medicinal plants’ threatened sustainability makes adulteration and species’ substitutions reduce their efficacy, quality and safety. It was found that CAM practitioners who participated in this study relied heavily upon knowledge that had 'stood the test of time' (traditional theory and practice) and 'that which worked' (experientially based knowledge) as the basis for clinical decision-making. The safe, effective and efficient delivery of client care is informed primarily by sound clinical decision making. Body mass index (BMI) plays a significant role in the process. Strategies that guide practitioners through the process of decision making may not only foster professional excellence in CAM practice, but also help to improve the quality of client care. Clinical decision-making is a complex process that is reliant on accurate and timely information. Clinicians are dependent (or should be dependent) on massive amounts of information and knowledge to make decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. CAM practitioners of modern time need currency and timeliness on computations of patients’ body mass index, waist circumference and body shape combination; product/therapy data on therapeutic efficacy; product quality and safety; adverse reactions and herb-drug interactions. This paper presents a clinical decision diagnosis system supporting CAM practitioners to effectively treat emerging lifestyle-related diseases with medicinal plants. Keywords: body mass index, complementary and alternative medicine, lifestyle-related diseases, medicinal plants, clinical decision support system
| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Electronics and Computer Science |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Zacchaeus Oni Omogbadegun |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Nov 2012 11:00 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Mar 2015 15:23 |
| URI: | http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/770 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
