Visualizing risk: How information design can facilitate shared decision making in medicine

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master_Kekki_Heini_2021.pdf (8.94 MB)

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School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis
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Date

2021

Department

media

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Master’s Programme in Visual Communication Design

Language

en

Pages

109

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Abstract

This master’s thesis explores the use of information design and information visualizations in the context of shared decision making in medicine. More specifically, this thesis focuses on the visualization of risk through its case study, Oravizio. Oravizio is a risk assessment tool for joint replacement surgery that is used prior to surgery when the medical professional and the patient discuss treatment alternatives and how safe a surgical operation would be for that particular patient. The tool has a risk calculating algorithm that takes into account patient-specific data and a graphical user interface that shows the results visualized. The wider communicative context in which Oravizio is used is called shared decision making. Shared decision making is a practice where the medical professional and the patient discuss options related to a medical decision together. Shared decision making is considered a modern way of communicating at the doctor’s office and is used particularly in situations where different treatment options have differing pros and cons. This thesis assesses how well Oravizio and its information visualizations facilitate shared decision making at the moment and how the tool and its features could be improved in the future. A theoretical background is formed by drawing from various literary sources in information design, risk visualization and shared decision making. To enrich the findings from literature, professionals with experience using Oravizio in a clinical setting are interviewed to gain understanding of how, when and why they use the tool. This thesis concludes that although the current visualizations of Oravizio already work quite well according to the professionals, improvements can be made. To be able to compare the risk information to the potential gains of the surgery, a possibility of adding other data sources such as patient reported outcome measures to the tool are speculated. Before implementing any changes to the tool and its visualizations, this thesis calls for additional research and insights gathered from the other user group: the patients.

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Supervisor

Vyas, Rupesh

Thesis advisor

Vyas, Rupesh

Keywords

information design, shared decision making, data visualization, visual communication design, healthcare, elective surgery, decision aid, risk

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-2021123011024

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[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS