Grant: Project Grant

Critically ill patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) need constant observation by several clinicians at any given time, including nurses, respiratory therapists, and physicians. These clinicians must observe and reconcile information from numerous bedside devices of numerous patients, to ensure they are prioritizing those with the most urgent need, and to plan appropriate treatment for each. Efforts to do so are hindered by a) information being limited to stationary bedside devices; b) information overload from the number of devices; c) a lack of integration and interaction between devices; d) displays that fail to present information in a way that is easy to understand; and e) lack of contextual information to support decision making. To overcome these challenges, and improve patient safety and care quality, we are creating the "VitalPAD" (VP), a portable intelligent decision support and information display system to be hosted on a mobile device. By integrating information from multiple monitors on one device, the VP will allow clinicians to monitor patients whether at their bedside or not, and to communicate faster and easier with other in the healthcare team. Toward developing the VP, we have completed a pediatric ICU work-flow analysis and developed device mock-ups. These mock-ups will be revised and refined with help from our clinical partners to ensure the VP presents information so it is rapidly noticeable and easily understood. We will evaluate whether the VP helps clinicians make better and quicker decisions; helps clinicians detect changes in vital signs in pediatric ICU patients before bedside alerts sound (reducing the overall number of alerts); and whether the VP facilitates administration of scheduled medications in a more timely fashion. In the future, we will transfer our experience from the ICU to other departments and provide clinicians with easy access to high resolution clinical data to drive quality improvement and improve patient care.