From Paper to Computer Screen . Human Information Processing and Interfaces to Patient Data . PREPRINT

The information tools in medicine have developed over a long time. There are certain reasons why they look the way they do. In a study of the use of the paper-based versions of these tools in daily practise, some interesting observations were made. Experienced physicians showed to have developed perceptual skills that enabled them to use patternrecognition as a complement to normal reading. The physicians were unable to give verbal accounts of such skills, but nevertheless, the skills were clearly demonstrated in tests. There are reasons to believe that these skills were crucial to the very efficient information processing observed. The shift of media from paper to screen have some consequences that have to be considered. We need to understand these in order to avoid making things that were easy with the paper-tools more difficult in the computerized media, but also to be able to exploit the possibilities offered by the new media for enhancement of human cognitive skills, such as using dynamical pictorial representations, colours, symbols and other visual codes. Medical concept representation is not only a matter of words and terminology. There is also a need for development of representations (2-D, 3-D, virtual reality) that provide overviews in some specific frequently encountered decision-making situations. Such representations should be rich in information content, elaborated and optimized for fast information extraction. Graphical and visual conventions should be developed, that are standardized within a community of collaborators. The conventions should exploit the new medium and capitalize on the available knowledge on human information processing. This is clearly not made today. As an example, most intensive care systems on the market today, present patient data in a way opposed to known principles of human information processing.