TOWARD A GENERAL-MODEL FOR THE DESCRIPTION OF MULTIMEDIA CLINICAL-DATA

The patient folder integrates information originating from heterogeneo us sources. For this reason computerized tools for patient data manage ment should exploit the advantages of multimediality and offer an inte grated environment for data presentation, and image and bic signal vis ualization, Object-oriented modeling is the best approach for designin g systems for multimedia patient folder management. We propose an obje ct-oriented model, able to define the entities constituting the patien t folder and their logical organization. This model has sufficient fle xibility to adapt to the most varied clinical environments. It allows the physician to structure the information needed for his/her patient folder without employing a programming language.