An object-oriented taxonomy of medical data presentations.

J Starren,S B Johnson

doi:10.1136/jamia.2000.0070001

Abstract

A variety of methods have been proposed for presenting medical data visually on computers. Discussion of and comparison among these methods have been hindered by a lack of consistent terminology. A taxonomy of medical data presentations based on object-oriented user interface principles is presented. Presentations are divided into five major classes-list, table, graph, icon, and generated text. These are subdivided into eight subclasses with simple inheritance and four subclasses with multiple inheritance. The various subclasses are reviewed and examples are provided. Issues critical to the development and evaluation of presentations are also discussed.

Highlights

Many different approaches have been taken to the presentation of medical data on computer screens
Because different groups often use different terminology to describe similar methods, it is not always clear which of these are new methods, which are incremental improvements on existing methods, and which are existing methods applied to new data types
We have developed a terminology and taxonomy based on object-oriented principles for user interface design.[1]

Summary

Nominal

Elements of the domain set are not ordered. Medical examples would include diseases and medications. The most common method of displaying medical data on a computer is a simple list, such as a list of medications, procedures, diagnoses, or active problems It has the advantage of being the simplest display format and one of the easiest to program (Figure 3). Because the number of modifiers and the depths of the nesting are variable, this type of data is difficult to display as either a simple list or a table (discussed ). By far the most well known example of nested lists with optionally displayed sublists is the Microsoft Windows display of file directory structure In this and most other graphical computer interfaces, only the top level of the directory is shown initially.

Discussion

Conclusion