Supporting protocol-based care in medicine via multiple coordinated views

Computer supported protocol-based care aims to aid physicians in the treatment process. The main focus of current research is directed towards the formal methods and representations used "behind the scenes" of such systems. This work on the contrary, is situated at the human end of the human-machine chain. We describe the development of interactive visualization methods to support protocol-based care. We provide multiple simultaneous views to cover different aspects of a complex underlying data structure of treatment plans and patient data. The tightly coupled views use visualization methods well-known to domain experts and are designed to facilitate users' tasks. The views are based on the concepts of clinical algorithm maps and Lifelines which have been extended in order to cope with the powerful and expressive plan representation language Asbru. The user-centered development approach applied for these interactive visualization methods has been guided by user input gathered via a user study, design reviews, and prototype evaluations.