Contributions

In healthcare settings, healthcare consumers and providers both need quick and easy access to a wide range of online resources. Providing easy and focused access to those portions of medical knowledge that are needed to care for a specific patient can have enormous benefits. When the latest medical information is provided at the point of patient care, it can help practicing clinicians and physicians in training to avoid missed diagnoses, choose only effective interventions and diagnostic tests, and minimize impending complications. The latest medical information, when expressed in understandable terms, can empower patients to take charge of their healthcare, helping them to change lifestyles, take appropriate preventive measures, and make more informed choices regarding their treatment. It can improve the overall quality of healthcare, resulting in better outcomes because informed patients are more likely to comply with treatment plans and become a part of the healthcare team. In order to realize these benefits, our research on PERSIVAL is aimed at automatically providing personalized access to a distributed patient care digital library.