| Medical laboratory testing is an important tool for physicians in disease screening, diagnosis and progress monitoring. Currently, laboratory reports are printed on paper. Despite their popularity, paper-based reports are slow, access-limited and difficult to share. In view of these problems, this thesis investigates methods of delivering laboratory results to personal digital assistants (PDAs) electronically. The prototype was designed following the user centered design process, and based on investigations on the characteristics of the target users, the laboratory report interpretation task, the characteristics of the PDAs, and the nature of the laboratory data. The main features of the design include an anatomical overview for rapid patient status assessment, the use of a hierarchical + elision presentation technique for better diagnostic support, and the provision of disease profiles for better patient management. In addition, various visualization techniques were used to minimize limitations imposed by the small screen size, limited CPU processing power and slow and intermittent wireless connectivity. The prototype was evaluated in an observational user study with eight physicians and received very positive feedback. The hierarchical + elision technique was further studied to quantify its potential costs and benefits as a presentation technique for lists on small screens. The comparative user study indicated that in general, the hierarchical + elision technique can provide the same potential benefits and costs when compared to the conventional linear technique, and is well suited for displaying laboratory results. |
