Patient modeling using mind mapping representation as a part of nursing care plan

Abstract

Nursing care plan reports are one of the most important documents in the application of nursing processes. In this paper, we describe how a text discourse analysis and an information extraction system can be used to convert a traditional nursing care plan into a mind mapping representation. Mind mapping is a process to allow the nurses to focus on the patients rather than on a disease process. Mind mapping encourages the nurses to maintain a holistic view of the patient. A mind mapping representation refers to a visual picture of a patient at the center with various nursing care related information visually linked to the patient's form. Our goal is to develop visually browsable models of the patients to aid in the nursing process education and also help the nurses focus on the patients in the actual care settings. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2006.