Patent Publication Number: US-2010125175-A1

Title: Icon-based healthcare interfaces based on health condition events

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     In the field of healthcare technologies, healthcare records may be compiled indicating the health state of an individual described as one or more health conditions, such as a disease or disease risk factor, a disability, an illness, etc. The information in this record may be derived from various data sources, such as complaints of the individual, medical tests, observations by various caregivers (generally including any entity involved in servicing the healthcare of the individual), etc. The healthcare record may therefore document the onset, progression, care, and prognosis of the health conditions of the individual. 
     SUMMARY 
     This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key factors or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. 
     While electronic healthcare records may be usable for evaluating the health condition of an individual according to empirical data relating to such health conditions, it may be comparatively difficult to extrapolate other information from such healthcare records. For example, the healthcare record may feature information describing the status of the individual&#39;s health condition (e.g., “individual complains of complications from diabetes; blood glucose measured at 220 mg/dL; insulin administered.”) However, information about particular events relating to the health conditions of the individual may be more difficult to extrapolate from the data captured in the healthcare record. For example, the individual may report to a caregiver a series of events related to the individual&#39;s health condition, such as incidents of high blood sugar; however, the caregiver may be more directly focused on diagnosing and treating the diabetic health condition rather than documenting the particular events reported by the individual. Thus, the healthcare record of the individual may document the events relating to the health conditions of the individual only tangentially or not at all (e.g., “individual diagnosed with diabetes.”) 
     It may be advantageous to orient the healthcare record of the individual to facilitate the capturing and documenting of the health condition events relating to the health conditions of the individual. This information may be of direct value in the healthcare of the individual (e.g., the accuracy and specificity of diagnostic and prognostic conclusions of a health condition may be improved by including the particular health condition events, such as the frequency and distribution of hyperglycemic and/or hypoglycemic events.) This information may also be of value in other aspects of healthcare, such as for insurance and billing purposes. For example, a healthcare organization (such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) may allocate healthcare resources to the caregivers of an individual based on the frequency and distribution of health condition events related to the health conditions of the individual. 
     Additional advantages may be achieved by exchanging such health condition event information among caregivers through an easily understandable mode of communication. It may be appreciated that the information about the health state of the individual may be generated and shared among many caregivers (including the individual), and that an accurate conveyance of such information may be complicated by differences in the regions, cultures, languages, literacy rates, education levels, and intellectual capacities of such caregivers. It may be desirable to orient the communication of health condition event information among the caregivers for the individual (including the individual) through the use of a set of icons of predominantly pictorial form. For example, a standardized icon set may be developed for communicating information about individuals&#39; health conditions and events related thereto, and may be incorporated in various information technologies (such as systems, devices, and user interfaces exposed therethrough.) Such icons may be more readily, widely, and consistently understandable as compared with other modes of communication, such as text, numeric data, and charts and other medical illustrations. 
     Accordingly, healthcare information technology systems, devices, and user interfaces may be devised that record a health condition of an individual according to the health condition events significantly related thereto (e.g., by documenting the diagnosis and prognosis of a diabetic condition of an individual according to incidents of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.) This captured information may then be communicated among the caregivers for the individual (including the individual) through the use of healthcare-related icons of predominantly pictorial form. Healthcare-related information technology systems configured in this manner may therefore facilitate the provision of healthcare to the individual in both clinical aspects (e.g., by improving the convenience, speed, and accuracy of communicated information among such caregivers) and non-clinical aspects (e.g., by permitting a more efficient allocation of healthcare resources by a healthcare agency according to the needs of the individual, as illustrated by the recorded health condition events of the health conditions of the individual.) 
     To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the following description and annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative aspects and implementations. These are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which one or more aspects may be employed. Other aspects, advantages, and novel features of the disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the annexed drawings. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a Uniform Markup Language (UML) diagram illustrating an exemplary representation of a health condition record. 
         FIG. 2  is an exemplary health condition record represented according to the exemplary representation of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary computer-implemented method of representing a health condition of an individual. 
         FIG. 4  is a component block diagram illustrating an exemplary system for representing a health condition of an individual. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating another exemplary computer-implemented method of representing a health condition of an individual. 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of an exemplary automated diagnosis of a health condition of an individual based on a set of health condition circumstance descriptors. 
         FIG. 7  is an illustration of an exemplary medication reminder device configured to display health-related icons representing health condition action descriptors associated with a health condition event descriptor in an event-oriented health condition record. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an exemplary computing environment wherein one or more of the provisions set forth herein may be implemented. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The claimed subject matter is now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. It may be evident, however, that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the claimed subject matter. 
     Information technology systems in the field of healthcare often involve a representation of a health state of an individual. The health state is often described and represented in terms of one or more health conditions, such as a disease, illness, injury, or disability. The health condition, in turn, may be represented through a variety of recorded data, such as descriptions of the health condition or sensory perceptions by the individual, results of medical tests, clinical observations of caregivers, and records of remedial actions performed to address the health condition or its symptoms. This set of data may provide a depiction of the cause, onset, progression, and prognosis of the health conditions of the individual. 
     Healthcare information technology systems may also be configured to facilitate the receiving of this data from the caregivers (including the individual), the analysis of such data by caregivers and automated processes, the communication of such data to caregivers (including the individual), and the automated exchange of such information with other devices. These tasks are often oriented around representations of the health conditions as a set of qualitative and/or quantitative measurements of the status of the health condition, which may be recorded and represented in absolute terms or relative to other measurements of the health condition of the individual, exemplary cases, medical standards, etc. A caregiver may find a measurement-oriented description of this nature useful in the assessment and treatment of the health condition. For example, a caregiver tasked with assessing and treating a diabetic condition of an individual may record periodic assessments of the individual, such as blood glucose levels, and the remedial measures undertaken to address the evaluated health state of the individual (e.g., the prescription of diabetic control medications.) However, the caregiver may fail to record episodic events, such as the incidents of hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia reported by the individual during a particular period, because such event-based information may be of limited value to the caregiver in the immediate task of evaluating and treating the diabetic health condition. 
     However, healthcare data may be used in many types of analysis and representation, and for some forms of analysis and representation, a measurement-oriented representation of the health condition of an individual may be less helpful than other representations. As a first example, a second caregiver who is tasked with treating the diabetic health condition of the individual may wish to review the events associated with the diabetic health condition, such as onset, frequency, and distribution of hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic conditions. As a second example, a researcher may wish to review event-related information for a particular health condition for a particular individual, for a group of individuals (e.g., an epidemiologist reviewing a set of healthcare records to determine patterns of events among victims of a particular disease.) As a third example, an insurance company may wish to evaluate the health risks of an individual based on an assessment of the episodic history of the health condition of the individual, or based on event-related information of other individuals with the health condition. As a fourth example, a healthcare organization, such as a public health agency, may wish to utilize event-related information in order to allocate healthcare resources in an efficient manner (e.g., by compensating caregivers and assessing performance based on the health condition of a treated individual, as evidenced by the health condition events experienced by the individual before, during, and after treatment.) However, information about the events associated with health conditions of one or more individuals may be only partially documented by first-line caregivers dealing with the immediate task of assessing and treating the health conditions of the individuals. This may be particularly true if the healthcare record of the individual is predominantly focused on measurement and observation data, and is not oriented to record health condition events as a significant aspect of the health condition. 
     In addition, the communication of health condition information about the health conditions of an individual among caregivers (including the individual) may be complicated by various factors, such as regional and language differences and variations in educational backgrounds, literacy, and intellectual capacities. For example, a representation of a health condition recorded by a first caregiver may be reviewed by a second caregiver in another country who speaks a different language; by peripheral caregivers, such as pharmacists and home caregivers who assist the individual in a home setting; by an academic researcher reviewing the health condition record in a research context; by agents of health agencies, such as a department of public health or an adjuster in an insurance company; and by family members of the individual. Each of these individuals may have difficulty understanding the contents of the healthcare record of the individual if expressed in text, numeric data (such as results of medical tests), charts, and medical images. A more advantageous presentation of this information to caregivers (including the individual) involves the use of icons of predominantly pictorial form that represent both the health condition and the health condition event. The use of icons for representing such information may have several advantages. As a first example, caregivers may comprehend the health condition and health condition event information in a language-independent manner. Pictographic icons can be used to circumvent differences in language capabilities and skill levels among the caregivers and the individual. The icon set may be cognizable to individuals with limited literacy skills or with mental faculties, such as very young, elderly, and mentally handicapped individuals. Second, if a common set of medical icons is utilized by many caregivers and individuals, it may become a standard and standardized lexicon for the communication of health-related information, including medication regimen information. Regular and frequent exposure to the same icon set, especially from a variety of sources, may lead to quicker, fuller, and more accurate recognition and comprehension by caregivers and individuals of these icons and the illustrated concepts. Moreover, widespread exposure to and use of the same icon set may improve the speed, depth, and precision of communication of health-related information among many caregivers and individuals. 
     In view of these scenarios associated with the representation of health condition information, techniques may be devised for representing the health condition of an individual that ameliorate some of these difficulties and facilitate some of these uses. These techniques involve representing the health condition of the individual as a health condition descriptor associated with a set of health condition event descriptors, each representing an event associated with the health condition (e.g., a representation of a diabetic health condition of an individual as a set of hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic events.) If the healthcare record of the individual is structured in this manner, caregivers may be persuaded to record episodic information as part of the healthcare record, thereby preserving this information for a wide variety of uses. Moreover, the information may be communicated among caregivers (including the individual) by representing both the health condition and the health condition events through the use of icons of predominantly pictorial form. 
       FIG. 1  presents an exemplary representation  10  of a health condition record, illustrated as a Uniform Markup Language (UML) diagram. The exemplary representation  10  includes a health condition descriptor  12 , which may be selected from a set of health condition descriptors  12  representing various health conditions (e.g., a diabetes health condition descriptor, a cardiovascular disease health condition descriptor, and an epilepsy health condition descriptor.) A subset of health condition descriptors  12  may be selected form the set of health condition descriptors set to represent the health conditions afflicting an individual. Respective health condition descriptors  12  may have a one-to-many association  14  with a selected set of health condition event descriptors  16  that represent respective health condition events associated with the respectively represented health conditions. For example, a diabetes health condition descriptor  12  may be associated with three health condition event descriptors  16  representing hypoglycemia events, thereby describing a diabetic health condition of an individual according to three hypoglycemic episodes. In some embodiments, respective health condition event descriptors  16  may also be associated with other descriptors to add representations of details of the health condition events. For example, a health condition event descriptor  16  may have (e.g.) a one-to-many relationship  18  with a set of health condition circumstance descriptors  20  (which may add structured details to the representation of the represented health condition event, such as a date or time of the event, a duration, a location, or a qualitative or quantitative measurement of significance); a one-to-many relationship  22  with a set of healthcare action descriptors  24  (which may add data items representing healthcare-related actions undertaken by caregivers, including the individual, in response to the represented health condition event); and a one-to-many relationship  26  with a set of health condition event annotations  28  (which may add detailed comments to the represented health condition event, such as text-based narratives.) It may be appreciated that while (in some embodiments) these additional descriptors and details may be associated with a health condition event descriptor  16 , the healthcare record of a represented individual is more predominantly oriented around the representation of a health condition according to one or more represented health condition events, in accordance with the techniques discussed herein and the advantages that may be derived therefrom. 
     As further illustrated in  FIG. 1 , various descriptors may be represented through the use of icons  34  of predominantly pictorial form, again in accordance with the techniques discussed herein. For example, respective health condition descriptors  12  and health condition event descriptors  16  (as well as health condition circumstance descriptors  20  and health action descriptors  22 ) may have a one-to-one relationship  30  with respective icons  34  in a health-related icon set  32 , and a health condition of an individual may be presented for a caregiver (including the individual) by retrieving and displaying the associated icons  34  of the health-related icon set  32 . The presentation of the health condition record in this manner may facilitate the rapid, consistent, and language-independent communication of health-related information of a represented individual among caregivers. 
     In accordance with the exemplary representation  10  of health condition records illustrated in  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 2  presents an exemplary scenario  4  featuring an exemplary health condition record  44  representing a diabetic health condition of a particular individual  42 . The health condition record  44  may comprise a health condition descriptor  46 , such as a “diabetes” health condition descriptor indicating that the individual  42  is afflicted with diabetes. The health condition descriptor  46  may be associated with a set of health condition event descriptors that represent health condition events relating to the represented health condition. For example, the health condition descriptor  46  in the exemplary health condition record  44  of  FIG. 2  is associated with a first health condition event descriptor  48  representing a hyperglycemic event, a second health condition event descriptor  50  representing a first hypoglycemic event, and a third health condition event descriptor  52  representing a second hypoglycemic event. Together, these health condition event descriptors describe the episodic history of the diabetes condition of the individual  42 . As further indicated in the exemplary representation  10  of FIG.  1 , in some embodiments, additional data items may be associated with the health condition event descriptors. For example, in the exemplary health condition record  44  of  FIG. 2 , additional data items are associated with the health condition event descriptors; e.g., a health condition circumstance descriptor  54  is associated with the second health condition event descriptor  50  indicating that the event occurred at the home of the individual  42 ; a healthcare action descriptor  56  is associated with the first health condition event descriptor  50  indicating that the individual  42  was prescribed a diabetes medication (“Glyburide”) in response to the first hyperglycemic event; and a health condition event annotation  58  is associated with the third health condition event descriptor  52  that provides a clinical narrative of the second hypoglycemic event and responsive treatment of the individual  42  (indicating that a serving of orange juice was given to the individual to address the second hypoglycemic event.) Finally, as indicated in  FIG. 1 , the descriptors of  FIG. 2  are represented by displaying icons of predominantly pictorial form, which may communicate the health-related information more quickly and conveniently to other caregivers (including the individual) than may be achieved through the presentation of text, data, and/or medical illustrations. 
       FIG. 3  presented a first embodiment  60  of the techniques presented herein, illustrated as an exemplary computer-implemented method  60  of representing a health condition of an individual. The exemplary computer-implemented method  60  begins at  62  and involves selecting  64  from a health condition descriptor set at least one health condition record, wherein the health condition record comprises a health condition descriptor representing the health condition of the individual, and at least one health condition event descriptor respectively representing a health condition event associated with the health condition of the individual. The exemplary computer-implemented method  60  also involves selecting  66  from a health-related icon set, comprising health-related icons of predominantly pictorial form, a health condition icon representing the health condition descriptor and at least one health condition event icon representing a respective health condition event descriptor. The exemplary computer-implemented method  60  also involves displaying  68  the selected health condition icon and the selected at least one health condition event icon. Having generated and presented a health condition representation of the health condition record the use of icons of predominantly pictorial form, the exemplary computer-implemented method  60  thereby achieves the language-independent and event-oriented representation of the health condition(s) of the individual, and so ends at  70 . 
       FIG. 4  presents a second embodiment of the techniques discussed herein, illustrated as an exemplary scenario  80  featuring an exemplary system  82  for representing a health condition of an individual  42 . The exemplary system  82  comprises a health-related icon set memory  84 , which is configured to store a health-related icon set  32  comprising health-related icons  34  of predominantly pictorial form. The exemplary system  82  also comprises a health condition record store  86 , which is configured to store at least one health condition record comprising a health condition descriptor representing the health condition of the individual  42 , and at least one health condition event descriptor respectively representing a health condition event associated with the health condition of the individual  42 . The exemplary system  82  also includes a health-related icon selecting component  88 , which is configured to select from the health-related icon set memory  84  a health condition icon representing the health condition descriptor and at least one health condition event icon representing a respective health condition event descriptor. Finally, the exemplary system  82  includes a displaying component  90 , which is configured to display the selected health condition icon and the selected at least one health condition event icon. Having achieved the displaying of icons in order to present an event-based representation of the health conditions of the individual  42 , the exemplary system  82  achieves the communicating of the health condition record of the individual  42  in a more convenient and consistent manner than other representations. 
     In view of the exemplary scenarios of  FIGS. 1-2  and the exemplary embodiments illustrated in  FIGS. 3-4 , it may be appreciated that the displaying of event-oriented health condition records using health-related icons is rendered from a health condition record  44  of the individual  42 . The health condition record  44  may be generated in many ways, such as an automated process that generates health condition records  44  based on various data sources, or that transforms existing data sources into event-oriented health condition records  44 . Alternatively or additionally, the same icons that are useful for displaying the information in a health condition record  44  of an individual  42  may be used to facilitate a caregiver in preparing the health condition record  44  of the individual  42 , such as in an icon-based data entry system. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of these techniques, comprising an exemplary computer-implemented method  100  of representing a health condition of an individual. The exemplary computer-implemented method  100  begins at  102  and involves displaying  104  for a caregiver a health-related icon set comprising health-related icons of predominantly pictorial form, including at least one health condition icon representing a health condition and at least one health condition event icon representing a health condition event related to a health condition. The exemplary computer-implemented method  100  also involves, upon receiving a selection of a health condition icon representing a health condition of the individual and at least one health condition event icon representing at least one health condition event related to the selected health condition, generating  106  a health condition record representing the health condition of the individual, where the health condition record comprises a health condition descriptor representing the health condition associated with the selected health condition icon and at least one health condition event descriptor representing respective health condition events associated with the selected health condition event icons. Having generated the event-oriented health condition record through the displaying of health-related icons in a user interface, the exemplary computer-implemented method  100  thereby facilitates a caregiver in generating the health condition record of the individual, and so ends at  108 . 
     The techniques discussed herein may be devised with variations in many aspects, and some variations may present additional advantages and/or reduce disadvantages with respect to other variations of these and other techniques. Moreover, some variations may be implemented in combination, and some combinations may feature additional advantages and/or reduced disadvantages through synergistic cooperation. The variations may be incorporated in various embodiments (e.g., the exemplary method  60  of  FIG. 3  and the exemplary system  82  of  FIG. 4 ) to confer individual and/or synergistic advantages upon such embodiments. 
     A first aspect that may vary among embodiments of these techniques relates to the types of information stored in the health condition record  44 . It may be appreciated that while the health condition record  44  includes at least one health condition descriptor  12  associated with at least one health condition event descriptor  16 , other types of information may also be included.  FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate some examples of such supplemental information, which may be presented (e.g.) through the displaying of icons of predominantly pictorial form that are stored in the health-related icon set  32  and associated with the descriptors representing the health condition(s) and health condition event(s). 
     As a first example, at least one health condition event descriptor  16  of the health condition record  44  may be associated with at least one health condition circumstance descriptor  20 , which may representing at least one health circumstance of the associated health condition event. For example, various health condition circumstance descriptors  20  may add information describing the event, such as the date or duration of the event, the location of the event, a qualitative and/or quantitative degree of the event, and a cause or symptom of the event. Multiple health condition circumstance descriptors  20  may also be added to supplement the health condition event descriptor  16  with many pieces of information. Moreover, the health condition circumstance descriptors  20  may be associated with health-related icons, which may be selected and displayed along with the icons associated with the health condition descriptor  12  and health condition event descriptor  16 . 
     As a second example of this first aspect, the health condition record  44  may also associate a health condition event descriptor  16  with one or more health condition action descriptors  24  that describe actions taken by caregivers in response to the health condition event. Such actions may include (e.g.) healthcare tests performed on the individual (such as diagnostic or prognostic tests, or eligibility or efficacy tests of potential remedial actions); healthcare procedures, such as medical or surgical intervention; and/or the prescription of one or more medications or services (such as home healthcare services) in response to the event. The health condition action descriptors  24  may also be associated with health-related icons, which may be selected and displayed along with the icons associated with the health condition descriptor  12  and health condition event descriptor  16 . 
     As a third example of this first aspect, the health condition record  44  may also associate a health condition annotation  28  with a health condition event descriptor  16 . Whereas other types of descriptors (such as health condition circumstance descriptors  20  and health condition action descriptors  24 ) may supplement a represented health condition event with well-structured details, a health condition annotation  28  may enable a caregiver to supplement the represented health condition event with less structured details, such as a textual or recorded narrative by a caregiver (including the individual) or device-generated data, such as medical images or charts. The health condition annotation(s)  28  associated with a health condition event descriptor  16  may be displayed, played, or otherwise rendered along with the icons representing the descriptors representing the health condition and health condition event(s). Those of ordinary skill in the art may devise many types of information that may be added to the health condition record  44  of the individual  42  in accordance with the techniques discussed herein. 
     A second aspect that may vary among embodiments of these techniques involves other elements that may be included in such embodiments to provide additional advantages and/or to reduce disadvantages. For example, additional elements may be added to the exemplary computer-implemented methods of  FIGS. 3  and/or  5 , and additional components may be added to the exemplary system  82  of  FIG. 4 , to extend the functionalities and capabilities of such systems and methods. 
     As a first example of this second aspect, an embodiment may both display the event-oriented health condition record and facilitate its entry through the displaying of health-related icons in a user interface. For example, an exemplary system may include a displaying component that is configured to display the health condition icons and health condition event icons for a caregiver, and a health record compiling component configured to generate the health condition record based on data entry (e.g., the selection of icons) from the caregiver, which may be received through an input device such as a keyboard or mouse. As one example, the health record compiling component may be configured to receive from the caregiver a selected health condition icon representing a health condition of the individual and at least one selected health condition event icon representing at least one health condition event associated with the selected health condition of the individual. The health record compiling component may then be configured to compile a selected health condition descriptor represented by the selected health condition icon and at least one health condition event descriptor respectively represented by the selected at least one health condition event icon. Alternatively or additionally, embodiments may also facilitate the entry by caregivers of health condition event annotations. For example, a system embodiment (such as the exemplary system  82  of  FIG. 4 ) may include a health condition event annotating component, which may be configured to receive from a caregiver at least one health condition event annotation associated with at least one health condition event of the individual and store the at least one health condition event annotation in the health condition record of the individual stored in the health condition record memory; and the displaying component  90  may be configured to display the at least one health condition event annotation with the at least one health condition event icon of the associated at least one health condition event. In this manner, embodiments of these techniques may facilitate both the generating and the displaying of the health condition record of an individual. 
     Alternatively or additionally, the health condition record may be generated, in whole or in part, based on automated processes, such as an automated compiling of a health condition record based on data detected by health-related detectors. Accordingly, in some embodiments of these techniques, at least one health condition circumstance descriptor may be detected by at least one detection component, which may be configured to detect a measurement of the health condition of the individual, select a health condition circumstance descriptor that describes the measurement from the health condition descriptor set; and store the selected health condition circumstance descriptor in the health condition record. For example, a blood glucose meter configured to detect hyperglycemic and/or hypoglycemic events associated with a diabetic health condition. The compiled health condition record is represented in an event-oriented manner and may be presented to caregivers (including the individual) through the displaying of health-related icons of predominantly pictorial form that are associated with the automatically compiled health condition record. However, those of ordinary skill in the art may devise many ways of compiling the health condition record in accordance with the techniques discussed herein. 
     As a second example of this second aspect, in addition to representing the health condition of the individual in an event-oriented manner and presenting it to caregivers (including the individual) by displaying health-related icons, embodiments of these techniques may also include a diagnostic capability that selects a health condition of the individual as a health condition diagnosis. The health condition events and associated health condition event descriptors may be evaluated to determine a likely health condition diagnosis, which may be included in the health condition record and/or represented for caregivers, such as through the displaying of health-related icons. For example, embodiments of these techniques may involve generating at least one health condition diagnosis representing the at least one health condition of the individual based on the at least one health condition event using a diagnostic database comprising at least one correlationally weighted relationship between respective health condition events and respective health condition diagnoses. The diagnostic database may be developed, e.g., by healthcare professionals who may attribute diagnostic weights to various health condition diagnoses (and health condition descriptors representing such diagnoses), through automated evaluation of historic data to identify correlations between symptoms and diagnoses, etc. Such embodiments may also involve selecting the health-related icons comprising: selecting from the health-related icon set the at least one health condition icon representing the at least one health condition represented by the at least one health condition diagnosis. 
       FIG. 6  presents one such embodiment, illustrated as an exemplary scenario  110  involving an automated diagnosis of a health condition and a selection of a health condition descriptor associated with the diagnosis using a diagnostic database  116 . In this embodiment, the generating of a diagnosis begins with a health condition event descriptor  112  (such as an incident of hypoglycemia) and a set of health condition circumstance descriptors  114  associated with the health condition event descriptor  112 . These health condition circumstance descriptors  114  may be compared with a diagnostic database  116  that attributes correlational diagnostic weights between various health condition circumstance descriptors  114  and various health condition diagnoses  118 . Accordingly, diagnostic weights  120  may be selected from the diagnostic database  116  for the health condition circumstance descriptors  116  for respective health condition diagnoses  118 . The automated process may then compute an aggregate diagnostic weight  120  for respective health condition diagnoses  118  based on the selected diagnostic weights  120  of the health condition circumstance descriptors  114  for the health condition diagnoses  118 , and selecting at least one health condition diagnosis  124  having a significant aggregate diagnostic weight  122 . Additional details and examples are presented in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/858,764, entitled “Automated Correlational Health Diagnosis,” which (excepting the claims) is incorporated herein by reference. Those of ordinary skill in the art may devise many techniques for generating health condition diagnoses based on the information in a health condition record while implementing the techniques discussed herein. 
     A third aspect that may vary among embodiments of these techniques relates to the displaying of health-related icons in order to present the health condition record of the individual to caregivers (including the individual) in an easily understandable manner. As a first example, the health-related icons may be displayed in many ways, such as a timeline layout that representing a chronological health history of the health condition of the individual (e.g., by organizing the visual layout of the icons by date), and/or a descriptive layout representing a descriptive health history of the health condition of the individual (e.g., by organizing the visual layout of the icons according to health conditions, and/or the significance of various health condition events to the health state of the individual.) 
     As a second example, the health-related icons representing the health condition(s) of the individual may be displayed on various devices, which may assist in various aspects of the healthcare of the individual.  FIG. 7  illustrates one such embodiment, where at least one healthcare action descriptor represents at least one healthcare action comprising at least one medication prescribed for the individual associated with at least one health condition of the individual. This medication prescription may be represented to the individual by displaying the corresponding health-related icon on a medication device  130 , which may be presented to the individual as a reminder for taking a prescribed medication at a designated time (e.g., for taking a dose of a diabetic medication named “Glyburide” for control of blood sugar.) For example, the medication device  130  may be configured to store the at least one medication instruction and generate a medication reminder message by displaying icons of predominantly pictorial form from a medication regimen icon set that pertain to the medication instruction. Additional details and examples are presented in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/712,376 (“Device for Facilitating Compliance With Medication Regimen”), which (excepting the claims) is incorporated herein by reference. 
     A second device that may be used to display health-related icons relating to an event-oriented health condition record of an individual may be utilized where at least one healthcare action descriptor represents at least one healthcare action comprising at least one healthcare service prescribed for the individual associated with at least one health condition of the individual. In order to facilitate the performance of such healthcare services for the individual, a service task facilitator device may be provided to a caregiver. For example, the health-related icons may be displayed by programming at least one service task instruction associated with the prescribed healthcare service into a service task facilitator device configured to store the at least one service task instruction and display service task icons representing the service task instructions. This device may therefore be used by the caregiver during the performance of the healthcare services for the individual. Additional detail and examples are presented in U.S. Patent Application No. 61/018,191 (“Icon-Based Facilitation of Service Task Performance”), which (excepting the claims) is incorporated herein by reference. Those of ordinary skill in the art may devise many ways of displaying the health-related icons of event-oriented health condition record, such as in various layouts and through various devices, according to the techniques discussed herein. 
     Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims. 
     As used in this application, the terms “component,” “module,” “system”, “interface”, and the like are generally intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a controller and the controller can be a component. One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. 
     Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term “article of manufacture” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the claimed subject matter. 
       FIG. 8  and the following discussion provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment to implement embodiments of one or more of the provisions set forth herein. The operating environment of  FIG. 8  is only one example of a suitable operating environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the operating environment. Example computing devices include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, mobile devices (such as mobile phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), media players, and the like), multiprocessor systems, consumer electronics, mini computers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like. 
     Although not required, embodiments are described in the general context of “computer readable instructions” being executed by one or more computing devices. Computer readable instructions may be distributed via computer readable media (discussed below). Computer readable instructions may be implemented as program modules, such as functions, objects, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), data structures, and the like, that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Typically, the functionality of the computer readable instructions may be combined or distributed as desired in various environments. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates an example of a system  140  comprising a computing device  142  configured to implement one or more embodiments provided herein. In one configuration, computing device  142  includes at least one processing unit  146  and memory  148 . Depending on the exact configuration and type of computing device, memory  148  may be volatile (such as RAM, for example), non-volatile (such as ROM, flash memory, etc., for example) or some combination of the two. This configuration is illustrated in  FIG. 8  by dashed line  144 . 
     In other embodiments, device  142  may include additional features and/or functionality. For example, device  142  may also include additional storage (e.g., removable and/or non-removable) including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical storage, and the like. Such additional storage is illustrated in  FIG. 8  by storage  150 . In one embodiment, computer readable instructions to implement one or more embodiments provided herein may be in storage  150 . Storage  150  may also store other computer readable instructions to implement an operating system, an application program, and the like. Computer readable instructions may be loaded in memory  148  for execution by processing unit  146 , for example. 
     The term “computer readable media” as used herein includes computer storage media. Computer storage media includes volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions or other data. Memory  148  and storage  150  are examples of computer storage media. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by device  142 . Any such computer storage media may be part of device  142 . 
     Device  142  may also include communication connection(s)  156  that allows device  142  to communicate with other devices. Communication connection(s)  156  may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a Network Interface Card (NIC), an integrated network interface, a radio frequency transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USB connection, or other interfaces for connecting computing device  142  to other computing devices. Communication connection(s)  156  may include a wired connection or a wireless connection. Communication connection(s)  156  may transmit and/or receive communication media. 
     The term “computer readable media” may include communication media. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions or other data in a “modulated data signal” such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” may include a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. 
     Device  142  may include input device(s)  154  such as keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch input device, infrared cameras, video input devices, and/or any other input device. Output device(s)  152  such as one or more displays, speakers, printers, and/or any other output device may also be included in device  142 . Input device(s)  154  and output device(s)  152  may be connected to device  142  via a wired connection, wireless connection, or any combination thereof. In one embodiment, an input device or an output device from another computing device may be used as input device(s)  154  or output device(s)  152  for computing device  142 . 
     Components of computing device  142  may be connected by various interconnects, such as a bus. Such interconnects may include a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), such as PCI Express, a Universal Serial Bus (USB), firewire (IEEE 1394), an optical bus structure, and the like. In another embodiment, components of computing device  142  may be interconnected by a network. For example, memory  148  may be comprised of multiple physical memory units located in different physical locations interconnected by a network. 
     Those skilled in the art will realize that storage devices utilized to store computer readable instructions may be distributed across a network. For example, a computing device  160  accessible via network  158  may store computer readable instructions to implement one or more embodiments provided herein. Computing device  142  may access computing device  160  and download a part or all of the computer readable instructions for execution. Alternatively, computing device  142  may download pieces of the computer readable instructions, as needed, or some instructions may be executed at computing device  142  and some at computing device  160 . 
     Various operations of embodiments are provided herein. In one embodiment, one or more of the operations described may constitute computer readable instructions stored on one or more computer readable media, which if executed by a computing device, will cause the computing device to perform the operations described. The order in which some or all of the operations are described should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. Alternative ordering will be appreciated by one skilled in the art having the benefit of this description. Further, it will be understood that not all operations are necessarily present in each embodiment provided herein. 
     Moreover, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims may generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. 
     Also, although the disclosure has been shown and described with respect to one or more implementations, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art based upon a reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. The disclosure includes all such modifications and alterations and is limited only by the scope of the following claims. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (e.g., elements, resources, etc.), the terms used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the disclosure. In addition, while a particular feature of the disclosure may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising.”