Systems and methods for creating a form for receiving data relating to a health care incident

A computer system for dynamically generating an electronic form for receiving electronic data relating to a health care incident, the electronic form adapted to provide a flexible meta-schema allowing a new or modified taxonomy to be adopted or accommodated without modifications to applications that process the electronic form, the system comprising:

• a user interface component on a connected device configured to receive a request to create the form;
• a storage device having a metabase associated therewith to maintain the meta-schema;
• and
• at least one processor configured to execute instructions to provide a form engine and a system interface, the form engine configured to:
• establish a communication link between the system interface and the user interface component over a network,
• receive, at the system interface from the user interface component via the network, the request to generate the electronic form using the form engine,
• store in the storage device, a dictionary of field objects in the metabase, wherein an instance of a field object is a form field, and wherein the form field is configured to receive a field value, the metabase structuring the dictionary of field objects into corresponding meta-tables and establishing meta-relations defining parent-child relationships between nodes representing the one or more field objects of the metabase, the meta-relations being maintained as corresponding foreign keys used to reference the corresponding field objects and the corresponding meta-tables, the metabase configured to have a dynamic number of columns that is dynamic according to a number of field objects in the dictionary,
• process the request from the user interface component to create the electronic form,
• add one or more additional user-defined field objects in the metabase,
• automatically maintain, by the metabase, electronic representations of relationships between the field objects and the form fields, the one or more additional user-defined field objects representing the new or modified taxonomy, the form engine configured to automatic maintain the electronic representations by:
• establishing, by the metabase, one or more new columns corresponding to the one or more additional user-defined field objects;
• and
• establishing new meta-relations defining the one or more additional user-defined field objects as new child nodes to corresponding parent nodes of the one or more additional user-defined field objects,
• generate the electronic form for the user interface component, wherein the form includes an ordered collection of form fields instantiated using the field objects, the ordered collection based at least on the relationships stored in the metabase including at least the meta-tables, the meta-relations, and the new meta-relations,
• control the display to automatically return and display, from the system interface to the user interface component, the electronic form along with a set of selectable field values for each form field in the electronic form, wherein each selectable field value corresponds to a potential field value associated with the corresponding field object used to instantiate the form field;
• and
• control the electronic form using the relationships stored in the metabase to adopt or accommodate the new or modified taxonomy.

A data storage and retrieval system for a computer having a memory, a central processing unit, and a display, adapted to generate an electronic form for receiving electronic data relating to a health care incident, the electronic form adapted to provide a flexible meta-schema allowing a new or modified taxonomy to be adopted or accommodated without modifications to applications that process the electronic form, the electronic form including an ordered collection of form fields, each form field configured to receive a field value that is operatively linked to a corresponding field object, the data storage and retrieval system comprising:

• a data storage device adapted to configure a metabase maintaining the meta-schema;
• the central processing unit is configured to:
• receive a request to generate the electronic form,
• store in the data storage device, a dictionary of field objects in the metabase, wherein an instance of a field object is a form field, and wherein the form field is configured to receive a field value that is operatively linked to a corresponding field object, the metabase structuring the dictionary of field objects into corresponding meta-tables and establishing meta-relations defining parent-child relationships between nodes representing the one or more field objects of the metabase, the meta-relations being maintained as corresponding foreign keys used to reference the corresponding field objects and the corresponding meta-tables, the metabase configured to have a dynamic number of columns that is dynamic according to a number of field objects in the dictionary,
• process the request to create the electronic form,
• add one or more additional user-defined field objects in the metabase,
• automatically maintain, by the metabase, electronic representations of relationships between the field objects and the form fields, the one or more additional user-defined field objects representing the new or modified taxonomy, the form engine configured to, when the one or more additional user-defined field objects are added to the metabase:
• establish, in the metabase, one or more new columns corresponding to the one or more additional user-defined field objects;
• and
• establish new meta-relations defining the one or more additional user-defined field objects as new child nodes to corresponding parent nodes of the one or more additional user-defined field objects,
• generate the electronic form for presentment on the display, wherein the form includes an ordered collection of form fields instantiated using the field objects, the ordered collection based at least on the relationships stored in the metabase including at least the meta-tables, the meta-relations, and the new meta-relations,
• control the display to automatically return and display the electronic form along with a set of selectable field values for each form field in the electronic form, wherein each selectable field value corresponds to a potential field value associated with the corresponding field object used to instantiate the form field,
• wherein the electronic form is controlled based at least on the relationships stored in the metabase to adopt or accommodate the new or modified taxonomy.