PROBLEM DEFINITION RESEARCH PROBLEM - Importance of medical expert systems in the medical field. Medical experts are not always available in a timely manner, that is, when they are most needed. RESEARCH QUESTION – How do expert medical diagnostic systems help doctors and patients? HYPOTHESIS – Expert medical diagnostic systems help doctors and patients diagnose disease and recommend medications. There is an alarming shortage of doctors in countries around the world, especially in rural areas. This is a serious problem because patients cannot get medical help immediately when they need it, but receive it later. For some critical patients waiting for a doctor, it could mean a chance at life or the end. RATIONALE An expert system is a computer program capable of operating at a human expert level in a restricted problem domain (Hasan et al., 2010). A Medical Diagnostic Expert system is used by both medical staff and patients to diagnose disease. It mimics the performance of a human expert and performs tasks that would otherwise be performed by the expert to assist or replace the expert. Through the use of an expert system, patients far from medical facilities can help themselves by diagnosing their illness and obtaining appropriate medications. Expert systems are also useful to doctors because they help them make logical decisions when diagnosing patients. LITERATURE REVIEWA computer program capable of operating at a human expert level in a narrow problem domain is called an expert system (Hasan et al ., 2010). Physicians and other healthcare professionals are faced every day with making difficult decisions that involve the lives of their patients, based on their accumulated knowledge...... middle of paper ...... e a in-depth knowledge of connections and rules if inference • Unlike the human expert, the expert system can only derive information from user input. He cannot use past experiences or scenarios in reference to a current problem because he lacks fundamental knowledge; it only contains information in the knowledge base. The expert system does not have the capacity to learn about its environment. Knowledge transfer is subject to bias. Works Cited Hasan, MA, Sher-E-Alam, KM, Chowdhury, AR, (2010) “Diagnosis of human diseases using fuzzy expert system”, Journal of Computing, Volume 2 (Issue 6), June 2010, ISSN 2151-9617 Available at: HTTPS://SITES.GOOGLE.COM/SITE/JOURNALOFCOMPUTING/WWW.JOURNALOFCOMPUTING.ORG 66Jankowska, D., Milewska, AJ, Górska, U., (2010) “Applications of logic in medicine", Studies in logic, grammar and rhetoric, volume 21 (number 34)