Searching Electronic Health Records for Temporal Patterns in Patient Histories: A Case Study with Microsoft Amalga

TitleSearching Electronic Health Records for Temporal Patterns in Patient Histories: A Case Study with Microsoft Amalga
Publication TypeJournal Articles
Year of Publication2008
AuthorsPlaisant C, Lam S, Shneiderman B, Smith MS, Roseman D, Marchand G, Gillam M, Feied C, Handler J, Rappaport H
JournalAMIA Annual Symposium ProceedingsAMIA Annu Symp Proc
Volume2008
Pagination601 - 605
Date Published2008///
ISBN Number1942-597X
Abstract

As electronic health records (EHR) become more widespread, they enable clinicians and researchers to pose complex queries that can benefit immediate patient care and deepen understanding of medical treatment and outcomes. However, current query tools make complex temporal queries difficult to pose, and physicians have to rely on computer professionals to specify the queries for them. This paper describes our efforts to develop a novel query tool implemented in a large operational system at the Washington Hospital Center (Microsoft Amalga, formerly known as Azyxxi). We describe our design of the interface to specify temporal patterns and the visual presentation of results, and report on a pilot user study looking for adverse reactions following radiology studies using contrast.