Intelligent Split Menus for Data Entry: A Simulation Study in General Practice Medicine 

ABSTRACT: A compelling notion in menu design is that a few of the most frequently selected items should be placed as a hot list at the top of the menu. A few researchers have explored this type of interface control, known as a split menu, and have investigated the identification of the hot-list items by statistical analysis of past data. We extend the technique to automated development of dynamic hot-lists for entry of medication data in a General Practice setting. Using clinical data from 113,000 visits, a statistical model is developed and evaluated by simulated data entry of cases held back from training. The results show that length-12 hot lists hold desired selections of drug and diagnosis over 70% of the time as a SOAP note is entered. Intelligent split menus should improve user efficiency if current selection methods require 3 seconds or more per item. A prototype system will be demonstrated. 

Dr Jim Warren is a Senior lecturer in the School of Computer & Information Science, University of South Australia. His research interests include Data Mining, Human - Computer Interaction and Medical Informatics. Jim Warren B.S., Ph.D. Maryland University of South Australia http://www.cis.unisa.edu.au/~cisjrw WEDNESDAY 21st April 1pm-2pm, COMMERCE, 2.03