ViDis: A Platform for Constructing and Sharing of Medical Algorithms

Abstract

The literature and the Internet provide different sources, in which medical community as well as patients can browse through medical algorithms. These algorithms are dispersed and use different formats of presentation. We present visualized diagnosis (ViDis), a web platform aimed to construction and sharing of graphical representations of medical algorithms in a single place and in a unified format. ViDis is accessible as a web application, which can run on an arbitrary platform with a modern web browser. The platform's user friendly interfaces allow the users with different backgrounds to construct, share, and browse through medical algorithms. Visualization of the algorithms can be created using a flowchart diagram notation that is commonly applied in the design of computer software and is very intuitive to use and understand. Algorithms can be viewed in two different formats, that is, in the format of flowchart diagrams or in the format of sequential steps that guide the user from the beginning to the end of a medical procedure in dependence on his or her decisions made in each step of the process. ViDis enables registered users to create, edit, and share visualized medical algorithms and guest users to view these visualizations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first platform for efficient sharing of medical algorithms with the community. We believe that ViDis provides an excellent platform for sharing medical knowledge and information among diagnosticians, clinicians, researchers, and patients.