Providing multiple views to meet physician information needs

Browsing the entire electronic medical record of a patient can often be time consuming and inefficient. There is a great need for ways to organize and present views of clinical data that could satisfy physicians´ information needs without overwhelming them with extraneous information. We carried out a study on the information needs of physicians during patient care to determine the types of views which may best meet their needs. In the study, physician information needs in inpatient and outpatient settings were observed and classified. Our study showed that each type of view (time-, concept-, and source-oriented) is appropriate for certain situations, although there may not always be an advantage of one view over another in some situations. The findings confirmed our supposition that physicians need different types of views.