An Object-Oriented Model for a Multimedia Patient Folder Management System

The management of information related to clinical
activities is a complex task. In fact, patient related
information reported in patient folders comes
from heterogeneous sources and may be rendered
by means of different modalities. Data can
originate from direct observations made by
physicians like in the case of objective
examination. In other cases physiologic
phenomena are captured by means of the involved
electrical activity (like in the case of heart or brain
activity), whereas anatomical structure details are
obtained by means of radiologic techniques. In
this paper we propose an object-oriented model of
a multimedia patient folder. This model has an
adequate flexibility for adapting the most different
clinical environment. It allows the physician to
structure the information needed for his/her
patient folder without employing a programming
language. Finally we show some features of the
CADMIO system, a tool for designing patient
folder management systems, based on this model.