Entries.Drohan2009 History
Hide minor edits - Show changes to markup
Summary of the Tool
Summary of the Tool
Family history of disease can provide important insight into the potential presence of a hereditary condition, and is therefore an important tool in preventative medicine. There are many roadblocks that clinicians face in terms of collecting data, analyzing the information, and deciding on the appropriate course of action. The tool presented here was developed in collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Newton Wellesley Hospital to develop and deploy an integrated clinical information system for identifying patients at risk for developing hereditary breast or ovarian cancer.
Summary of the Impact
By working largely within the visual landscape that is familiar to clinicians and scientists, the researchers were able to develop an enriched display that is intuitive and support their workflow. There were an increasing number of referrals to the risk clinic, genetic testing recommendations, resulting in ultimately finding more BRCA mutation carriers, all without crippling the workflow by demanding additional resources. It was very beneficial to integrate data collection and algorithmic analysis into an electronic system. These structured and quantitative data can directly be matched against standards of care for decision support. The more interesting outcome was how users responded strongly to the interactive and enriched pedigree visualization. This qualitative analysis tool was the most referred to benefit of using the software when the clinician end users were interviewed.
Links
Visualizing Hereditary Cancer Risk
Brian Drohan | 1University of Massachusetts, Lowell |
Georges Grinstein | University of Massachusetts Lowell |
Kevin Hughes | Massachusetts General Hospital |
Published: October, 2009
Full article |