Care Plan Builder: an expert system for the bedside nurse

The authors present a working prototype of Care Plan Builder (CPBuilder), a computer tool for nursing that utilizes expert system technology in the development of patient care plans. CPBuilder is a specialized component of NURSExpert. The rule base used in CPBuilder was compiled by a veteran nurse with over 20 years experience in the obstetrical unit of a major urban hospital. The authors summarize the process she used in translating daily nursing duties into a functional knowledge base. They prove the assertion that a veteran nurse is capable of understanding the complexities involved in expert system development. The present work contributes to validating the use of nursing expert systems in a hospital computing environment. System examples have been implemented using the Level 5 expert system shell