A Review of Visual Representations of Physiologic Data

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Critical Care Medicine

Background:

• Modern patient monitors generate vast amounts of physiological data, increasing the risk of cognitive threats like information overload and diminished situational awareness.
• A systematic review was conducted to identify novel visual representations of physiological data tailored for critical care environments.
• The review focused on addressing cognitive, analytic, and monitoring requirements in intensive care settings.

Approach:

• A systematic review of scientific literature published up to August 2016 was performed.
• Titles and abstracts were screened using inclusion criteria, followed by a full-paper review.
• Data extraction forms were used to collect comparative data from selected studies.

Key Points:

• Thirty-nine full papers were selected, revealing diverse visual representations of physiological data, including tabular, graph-based, object-based, and metaphoric displays.
• Metaphoric displays were most common (n=19), followed by waveform (n=18) and object displays (n=9).
• Optimal use of visual variables (color, shape, size, texture) and user involvement in design require further investigation. Limited interactive functionality was found, with only one display supporting multi-patient analysis.

Conclusions:

• Visual representations beyond traditional waveforms show promise for critical care, but face challenges.
• Key challenges include extensibility (applicability to specific subsets/locations), interoperability (expressiveness beyond physiological data), and instantaneity (limiting interactive user engagement).
• Further research is needed to overcome these limitations and enhance the effectiveness of physiological data visualization.