title: MedView: an instrument for clinical research and education in oral medicine.
abstract: The etiology for many of the mucosal lesions we encounter in clinical practice is frequently uncertain or unknown and there is reason to believe that multicausality plays an important role. To detect multicausal relationships, the analysis must include multiple variables and large amounts of data. A traditional retrospective analysis is often based on a limited number of variables and frequently entails methodological errors where vital information may be missing. Prospective studies may be hampered by the fact that the prevalences of many conditions are relatively low. The search for new knowledge in oral medicine should therefore be facilitated by prospective use of formalized information gathered in multicenter studies. MedView is a computer program that is based on formalized input and registration of all clinical information. The output applications are focused on visualization and statistical analysis. MedView is aimed at clinical research and is well suited for multicenter studies. It also contains applications for education and distant consultations.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Oral Medicine and Department of Endodontology/Oral Diagnosis, Faculty of Odontology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, Göteborg, Sweden. jontell@odontologi.gu.se
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jontell
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mattsson
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Torgersson
mesh_terms: D015984:Causality; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003625:Data Collection; D003628:Database Management Systems; D019992:Databases as Topic; D018865:Dental Research / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004497:Education, Dental; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D007858:Learning; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D019242:Oral Medicine / Q000193:education*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface