Vitals chart
Plots vital signs on stacked tracks over one time axis, with the band each value was given, so a trend and a deterioration can be seen at a glance.
Synthetic observation chart
Yesterday 15:00 – Today 15:00
Synthetic data. The bands are arbitrary and are not clinical thresholds.
Use it for
- Seeing how a patient's vital signs have moved over hours or days, and where they entered a band.
- Reading the vital signs of one round together: the crosshair lists every value at a moment.
- The chart beside an Observation table, which shows every value in rows.
Do not use it for
- The only view of the values. A chart shows the shape. Offer the Observation table beside it, which a screen reader reads in full.
- Working out a band or a score. The chart shows the bands it is given, from an observation schema, as Clinical safety explains.
- Values that are not over time. Build on the Track chart for another chart over time.
Lay the tracks out as the paper chart does
The tracks prop is the chart's layout: which series each track shows, top to bottom. A track is one series as a line, a pair such as systolic and diastolic with another series such as heart rate across it, or answers in words such as a level of consciousness. Follow the order of the paper chart your staff already know.
Trust a value written in words
A value that cannot go on its track's scale is written at its time rather than plotted: a value in another unit, such as a temperature in degrees Fahrenheit on a track in Celsius, a bound such as less than 95, or a value not recorded. A number is never drawn on the wrong scale.
Choose the time and the range for the question
The span tabs set how much time is in view, from 2 hours to 3 days. Start and Latest move to the first and newest rounds. The range tabs set each track's range of values: Default is the range the schema gives, Fit all fits all the values, and Fit view fits the values in view. A fitted range makes a small change look large, so go back to Default before judging a trend.
Point at a value for its details
The pointer over a value opens its tooltip: the series in full, the value, its level, when it was taken, its change and what the source said. Elsewhere, the pointer draws a line for timing, with the time and the time in words, such as "Yesterday, 6 hrs ago". Printed values are left off where they would collide, and the heart rate across a blood pressure track has none, so the tooltip is where every value can be read.
Read the total at the foot
Pass totals and a last track shows each round's total, in its level's colour. A round missing an observation the total requires says Incomplete, and its tooltip names what is missing. When a round has two values of one observation, the latest counts.
Name tracks by their short names in a dense view
Tracks are named by the short names a schema gives, such as RR, unless labelStyle is "full". A short name shows its full name on hover, and a screen reader reads the full name.
Accessibility
- Give the chart a
label. It is shown as the chart's heading and names the chart for a screen reader. - Offer the Observation table beside it. The chart is one tab stop, and the arrow keys move the crosshair from round to round, reading each out, but a table is the complete alternative.