Workflow Information Systems Research Articles

Towards structuring contextual information for workflow-driven surgical assistance functionalities

Abstract A workflow-driven cooperative working environment needs to be established in order to successfully unburden the surgeon and the OR staff from technical configuration and information-seeking tasks. An important prerequisite for autonomous situationaware adaptation of medical devices is a comprehensive representation of the operating context regarding the surgical process and situation. We propose a hierarchical structuring of process-related and situation-related information entities and include assessment scores that intraoperative workflow information systems may provide via OR networks. The conducted experiments on the proposed assessment scores included sixty recorded brain tumour removal procedures and considered 344 distinguishable surgical situations. A comprehensive modelling of surgical situations and process context will be a significant pre-requisite for reliable autonomous adaptation of medical devices and systems in digital operating rooms.

Evolutionary design of user interfaces for workflow information systems

In this paper we argue that user interface design should evolve from iterative to evolutionary in order to support the user interface development life cycle in a more flexible way. Evolutionary design consists of taking any input that informs to the lifecycle at any level of abstraction and its propagation through inferior and superior levels (vertical engineering) as well as the same level (horizontal engineering). This lifecycle is particularly appropriate when requirements are incomplete, partially unknown or to be discovered progressively. We exemplify this lifecycle by a methodology for developing user interfaces of workflow information systems. The methodology involves several models (i.e., task, process, workflow, domain, context of use) and steps. The methodology applies model-driven engineering to derive concrete user interfaces from a workflow model imported into a workflow management system in order to run the workflow. Instead of completing each model step by step, any model element is either derived from early requirements or collected in the appropriate model before being propagated in the subsequent steps. When more requirements are elicited, any new element is added at the appropriate level, consolidated with the already existing elements, and propagated to the subsequent levels. A workflow editor has been developed to support the methodology.

A Comparative Analysis of Task Modeling Notations

Task Models describe how to perform activities to reach users' goals. Task models represent the intersection between user interface design and more systematic approaches. Task models can be represented at various abstraction levels. When designers want to specify only requirements regarding how activities should be performed, they consider only the main high-level tasks. On the other hand, when designers aim to provide precise design indications then the activities are represented at a small granularity, thus including aspects related to the dialogue model of a user interface (which defines how system and user actions can be sequenced). In this paper a comparative analysis of selected models involving multiple users in an interaction is provided in order to identify concepts which are underexplored in today's multi-user interaction task modeling. This comparative analysis is based on three families of criteria: information criteria, conceptual coverage, and expressiveness. Merging the meta-models of the selected models enables to come up with a broader meta-model that could be instantiated in most situations involving multi-user interaction, like workflow information systems, CSCW.

Workflow User Interfaces Patterns

A collection of user interface design patterns for workflow information systems is presented that contains forty three resource patterns classified in seven categories. These categories and their corresponding patterns have been logically identified from the task life cycle based on offering and allocation operations. Each Workflow User Interface Pattern (WUIP) is characterized by properties expressed in the PLML markup language for expressing patterns and augmented by additional attributes and models attached to the pattern: the abstract user interface and the corresponding task model. These models are specified in a User Interface Description Language. All WUIPs are stored in a library and can be retrieved within a workflow editor that links each workflow pattern to its corresponding WUIP, thus giving rise to a user interface for each workflow pattern.

Classifying nursing care to improve patient outcomes: The example of WISECARE

Currently, the vast majority of nursing practice is not assessed in any quantifiable manner, making it difficult to demonstrate explicitly the value of nursing to cancer care. This results from the lack of any meaningful or universal system or language that makes visible what nurses 'do'. As a consequence, nursing is often deemed invisible in terms of its importance in healthcare. A model for classifying nursing care may therefore address this situation, making nursing visible not just to policymakers but also to patients. This paper highlights the need for clarity in classifying nursing practice and presents a potential solution through the Workflow Information Systems for European Nursing Care (WISECARE) project. WISECARE was an EC-funded project which utilised state of the art information technology to develop an information tool which allowed a systematic approach to nursing practice through the classification of patient problems.

Multicentre research and the WISECARE experience

The benefits of collaborative research are becoming recognized increasingly within the profession of nursing due to the associated increased likelihood of funding, variety of practice settings and increased access to resources that collaboration brings. While such benefits have made collaborative research one of the most desirable strategies for achieving the goals of research, the potential problems of language and communication, culturally sensitive instruments, access to subjects, availability of technology and lack of research resources have complicated collaborative international research initiatives. Review of the literature, although encouraging such initiatives, does little to provide information regarding the processes involved in multinational collaboration or the associated advantages and disadvantages to guide those embarking on such large scale, multinational, cross-cultural studies. The diverse meanings of collaboration within research initiatives further hamper this understanding. Positive definitions focus on aspects such as sharing expertise, making a valuable contribution to the research and ultimately shared ownership of the accomplishments of the research. One such research project led by nurses was the WISECARE project. WISECARE (Workflow Information Systems for European Nursing Care) was funded by the European Commission and aimed to improve cancer nursing practice and ultimately patient outcomes through the integration and utilization of state of the art information technology. Such a project was developed as a result of nursing's apparent invisibility within health care delivery and the problems experienced by nurses in articulating their worth within an increasingly cost-conscious health care system. Oncology care was selected as the domain for the project not only because this speciality of nursing already has an established network of nurses throughout Europe in the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) but also because the practice of cancer nursing encompasses all aspects of nursing care. This paper will address the advantages and disadvantages associated with collaboration, using the WISECARE project as an example.

Practising for the future: Utilizing information technology in cancer nursing practice

The development of pan-European nursing research is in its infancy as nurses across the continent struggle to deal with numerous barriers which prevent collaborative projects.To date, communication between nurses at a European level has been difficult, further hampering the potential for networking and comparisons of nursing care. Through a European Community funded project a group of researchers are attempting to overcome some of the problems inherent in collaborative projects through the medium of information technology.This paper presents a preliminary view of the Workflow Information Systems for European Nursing Care (WISECARE) project, discussing the background to and aims of the project. In addition, it explores some of the conceptual difficulties which nurses face in attempting to demonstrate the value of nursing practice and how WISECARE may add to the body of knowledge necessary to secure the future of nursing.