The Improvement of the Electronic Health Record User Experience by Screen Design Principles.

The amount and complexity of data accumulated in electronic health record (EHR) is quite large, and the quantity of information that clinicians can examine and handle is very limited. Thus, it is necessary to enhance the accessibility of EHR by improving the user experience (UX). To apply information visualization that turns EHR data into an understandable visual format, we propose following five screen design principles when designing UX interfaces. #1: One view should contain single patient data. #2: Data should be summarized or titled for overview and details should be given on-demand. #3: Data should be displayed in time-series. #4: Data should be categorized by primary type. #5: More data should be displayed at the same time. Three screen designs are plausible utilizing the above-mentioned principles. To measure the UX of screen designs and validate the design principles, we built an EHR viewer system that has three windows corresponding to these screen designs and had it tested by medical staff. The results of the test revealed that the UX of the screen design is proportional to the number of design principles that the screen design incorporates. It shows that the proposed screen design principles improve the UX of EHR.

Analysis for the Annual Text Amount of Electronic Medical Records.

The amount of text of electronic medical records and its changes over time are not clear. In designing an electronic medical records system, prediction of the amount of text is important. We analyzed the number of characters described in the electronic medical records. As a result, it became clear that the annual text quantity of electronic medical records follows the lognormal distribution, and also the amount has been increasing year by year.

Nurses' Actual Usage of EMRs: An Access Log-Based Analysis.

Access logs for electronic medical records (EMRs) are a useful source of data for understanding how nurses' perform their duties. The purpose of this study was to understand how nurses' used an EMR system, by inspecting and analyzing from one week EMR access logs (394,708) of accessing 'outcome Input' screen. Anytime day and night, nurses accessed 'outcome Input' screen. Viewing and information input obtained from observations, in order to monitor patients' conditions over tasks such as keeping nursing records.

Study of Screen Design Principles for Visualizing Medical Records.

To improve UX of EMR/EHR, the screen design principles for the visualization are required. Through the study of common attributes of medical records, we present four principles and show three screen designs by applying them.

Nine cases of piriform sinus fistula with acute suppurative thyroiditis.

OBJECTIVE: Acute suppurative thyroiditis is a disease of an infection originated from the piriform sinus via congenital fistula. The purposes of this study are the establishment of accurate and necessary examinations for the diagnosis and necessary treatment for complete remission of this disease. METHODS: We reported nine cases with acute suppurative thyroiditis who were treated by operation. Preoperative examinations and operative procedures for nine cases were investigated. RESULTS: A congenital fistula was detected in seven of nine patients preoperatively, and in all seven patients, the fistula was detected during the operation. Serum thyroglobulin was elevated in four of five patients who were examined the serum level. Ultrasonogram was performed in eight cases, and localized swelling of the thyroid lobe was observed in all cases. No inflammatory recurrence was observed in eight cases, and recurrence was observed in one case where complete fistelectomy was not performed. CONCLUSION: Measurements of serum thyroglobulin, ultrasonography, and pharyngoesophagography were useful in the diagnosis of acute suppurative thyroiditis. Complete removal of the fistula with or without affected thyroid lobe is necessary to prevent recurrent suppuration.