The new gold standard for clinical assessment will drastically improve healthcare

Clinical assessments lay the groundwork for the care patients receive, helping physicians determine the best course of action for each patient. Unfortunately, there is currently no gold standard for these assessments, meaning the quality of care patients receive varies widely because it is subject to the experience and clinical knowledge of their own physician.

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In order to arrive at a clinical assessment, health providers engage in clinical reasoning, which represents the process of connecting the dots between a patient's clinical presentation (including symptoms and tests) and reaching a diagnosis. When physicians conduct clinical reasoning, they essentially apply their own “mental map” of medical knowledge and experience to the specific patient, a process that today has no benchmark or gold standard.

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This variability can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the physician's level of experience, their training, and even how their day is going. This can lead to inconsistent results and a lower level of care for some patients.

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How can health organizations achieve the gold standard in clinical assessments?

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Many industries have embraced technology to improve their processes and achieve better results. The healthcare industry has been slow to adopt these technologies, and many patients are still being treated the same way they were 30 years ago.

But there is hope. Technology, combined with the right clinical guidance and training, can help introduce a new standard for clinical intake and care. This can lead to more consistent and thorough assessments, and ultimately, better care for patients.

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At Kahun, we have developed a clinical reasoning solution that generates clinical assessments that can be understood and trusted by physicians. Its engine performs clinical reasoning at scale by basing its decisions on the company’s proprietary map of over 30 million evidence-based medical insights. Kahun’s algorithmic engine utilizes this map in real time to generate clinical insights tailored to each specific patient. Insights are referenced and backed by links to originating knowledge. 

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Kahun’s tool employs the same reasoning expected from trained providers, asking all the right questions and dynamically calculating the best follow-up questions. The questions are tailored to each specific patient in order to take in all the pertinent findings and rule out rare diseases or urgent conditions. The process takes three to five minutes, leaving no stone unturned and providing physicians with a clinical summary including recommendations for further evaluation. Since Kahun is solely based on medical evidence, it provides physicians with a gold-standard clinical assessment, saving precious interview and documentation time while offering an opportunity to improve the overall level of care.

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In conclusion, health organizations can reach a gold standard for clinical assessments using technology and introduce a new standard for clinical intake and care. This can lead to more consistent and thorough assessments, and ultimately, better care for patients.