Web-enabled Healthcare System for Hypertension : Hyperlink-based Inference Approach

In the conduct of this study, a web-enabled healthcare system for the management of hypertension was implemented through a hyperlink-based inference approach. The hyperlink-based inference platform implemented using the hypertext capacity of HTML which ensured accessibility, multimedia facilities, fast response, stability, ease of use and upgrade, and platform independency of expert systems. Many HTML documents, which are hyperlinked to each other based on expert rules, were uploaded beforehand to perform the hyperlink-based inference. The HTML documents were uploaded and maintained automatically by our proprietary tool called the Web-Based inference System (WeBIS) that supports a graphical user interface (GUI) for the input and edit of decision graphs. Nevertheless, the editing task of the decision graph using the GUI tool is a time consuming and tedious chore when the knowledge engineer must perform it manually. Accordingly, this research implemented an automatic generator of the decision graph for the management of hypertension. As a result, this research suggests a methodology for the development of Web-enabled healthcare systems using the hyperlink-based inference approach and, as an example, implements a Web-enabled healthcare system for hypertension, a platform which peformed especially well in the areas of speed and stability.