Pictorial Visualization System with Patient Portal for Problem-based Electronic Medical Record

Abstract

The use of electronic medical records (EMRs) has yet to reach its potential for information visualization and achieve corresponding expected outcomes. Current EMR systems show numerous health data with large amounts of texts, which are sometimes integrated in various tables. This type of presentation presents difficulties in promptly determining medical conditions or quickly finding desired information given the volume of texts that needs to be read. Amid these problems, researchers and developers have not explored the creation of easy and intuitive user interfaces for visualizing EMRs. To bridge the gap between current EMR and ideal EMR systems, we propose a prototype web-based pictorial visualization system that can be used by both patients and doctors. The system allows spatial interactivity through representations of human body images (front and back views) and temporal interactivity through interconnected time axes. Medical histories are classified using 11 physiological systems to enable efficient browsing of selected information. This classification enables physicians to quickly understand patients’ health conditions and accordingly make medical decisions, which are useful in emergency rooms and intensive care units.