The Design & Evaluation of an Information Visualization to Improve the Efficiency & Understanding of Patient Health State

Family physicians face the need to process and interpret an ever-increasing amount of patient data, which challenges their ability to address all relevant information in order to make informed decisions that influence patients' lives. Healthcare professionals report frustration in locating, customising and prioritising data in the Electronic Health Record, with almost no time before or during the consultation to review the patient's information. Presenting heterogeneous sources of data requires effective visualizations with considered organisation so users are not 'overwhelmed', and in turn to guide both the understanding and interpretation of the information. This postgraduate study seeks to design and evaluate a holistic information visualization, to provide clinicians in Primary Care with a quick overview and 'essence' of the patient. This offers an opportunity to capture and communicate a longitudinal history and story of a patient alongside assisting
clinicians in coping with information overload, enhancing efficiency in the understanding of the presented data, and consequently, facilitating clinical decision making and improving care and patient outcomes.

Aim
This study aims to design and evaluate a holistic information visualization, to provide clinicians in Primary Care a quick overview and 'essence' of the patient pre and during the consultation. Additional layers of information can contextualise the data presented, providing a rich and holistic summary of the patient's state of health alongside offering an opportunity to capture and communicate a longitudinal history and story of a patient. Through the holistic information visualization, the broader aim is to assist clinicians in coping with information overload, and enhance efficiency in the understanding of the presented data, consequently providing clinicians with essential data to make efficient interventions and decisions for the coming consultation.

Research Questions
How can an information visualization improve the efficiency in understanding the patient's state of health, and help clinicians cope with information overload?
What are the dimensions of visual communication in an information visualization?
What patient information do clinicians consider most important?

Research Design
Stage 1 will investigate visualizations in healthcare: its role, importance, applications, benefits and limitations. An exploration into mechanisms and models that represent and communicate data will provide an understanding of methods to encode, communicate and integrate data. The dimensions of visual communication in medical visualizations will be investigated towards a conceptual model of the 'ingredients' in an information visualization.
Stage 2 will design information visualization that improves the efficiency in understanding the patient's state of health. This will be guided by insights stemming from an initial qualitative study that investigates how clinicians in Primary Care use the Electronic Health Record system at present, alongside which patient information they consider most important. The information visualization will be developed through an iterative design approach. Feedback will be attained on the developing design through insights derived from an established advisory board, and will be used to refine and develop the design.

In evaluating the outcome, both qualitative and quantitative studies will be employed. A quantitative study will evaluate the understanding of the visualization and data, usability of the visualization, alongside a comparison against current methods of communicating patient information. A qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews with healthcare practitioners will provide insights and feedback on the effectiveness of communication and understanding; how the visualization can be embedded in practice; how the visualization can support different user groups and its role in making informed decisions.