Chen LM et al, New England Journal of Medicine, 2013
The patient had not yet coded but was spiraling downward, prompting a request for a bed in the intensive care unit (ICU). But the ICU had no available beds. Hours passed before the decision was made that another patient could safely be “bumped” out of the unit to accommodate our patient.
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Thornton JD et al, Critical Care Medicine, 41(2)
Objectives:
To determine the prevalence and mechanism of copying among ICU physicians using an electronic medical record.
Design:
Retrospective cohort study.
Setting:
Medical ICU of an urban, academic medical center.
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Al-Dorzi HM et al, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 11
Background
Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems are recommended to improve patient safety and outcomes. However, their effectiveness has been questioned. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of CPOE implementation on the outcome of critically ill patients.
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Colpaert K et al, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 10(1)
Background
Information technology (IT) may improve the quality, safety and efficiency of medicine, and is especially useful in intensive Care Units (ICUs) as these are extremely data-rich environments with round-the-clock changing parameters. However, data regarding the implementation rates of IT in ICUs are scarce, and restricted to non-European countries. The current paper aims to provide relevant information regarding implementation of IT in Flemish ICU’s (Flanders, Belgium).
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Pickering BW et al, Applied Clinical Informatics, 1(2)
The introduction of electronic medical records (EMR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) into the intensive care unit (ICU) is transforming the way health care providers currently work. The challenge facing developers of EMR’s is to create products which add value to systems of health care delivery. As EMR’s become more prevalent, the potential impact they have on the quality and safety, both negative and positive, will be amplified.
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McCambridge M, et al. Arch Intern Med, 170(7)
Background
Little evidence exists to support implementing various health information technologies, such as telemedicine, in intensive care units.
Methods
A coordinated health information technology bundle (HITB) was implemented along with remote intensivist coverage (RIC) at a 727-bed academic community hospital. Critical care specialists provided bedside coverage during the day and RIC at night to achieve intensivist coverage 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. We evaluated the effect of HITB-RIC on mortality, ventilator and vasopressor use, and the intervention length of stay. We compared our results with those achieved at baseline.
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Herasevich, Vitaly et al, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 85(3)
OBJECTIVE:
To develop and validate an informatics infrastructure for syndrome surveillance, decision support, reporting, and modeling of critical illness.
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Li, Man et al, Bosnian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, 9 Suppl 1
Medical Informatics has become an important tool in modern health care practice and research. In the present article we outline the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) in complex environments such as intensive care units (ICU). We share our initial experience in the design, maintenance and application of a customized critical care, Microsoft SQL based, research warehouse, ICU DataMart.
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Laippala, Veronika et al, International Journal of Medical Informatics, 78(12)
Introduction
In this paper, we present steps taken towards more efficient automated processing of clinical Finnish, focusing on daily nursing notes in a Finnish Intensive Care Unit (ICU). First, we analyze ICU Finnish as a sublanguage, identifying its specific features facilitating, for example, the development of a specialized syntactic analyser. The identified features include frequent omission of finite verbs, limitations in allowed syntactic structures, and domain-specific vocabulary. Second, we develop a formal grammar and a parser for ICU Finnish, thus providing better tools for the development of further applications in the clinical domain.
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Berenson, Robert A. et al, Health Affairs, 28(5)
Intensive care units are an essential and costly component in most U.S. hospitals. However, little is actually known about what staffing and work-process interventions produce the best balance of quality and costs. We explore the reasons hospitals chose to either adopt or reject an innovative telemedicine approach to supporting delivery of intensive care.
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O'Connor, Chris et al, J Am Med Inform Assoc, 16(5)
Objective
To assess the impact of clinical communication using wireless email in an intensive care unit (ICU).
Design
We implemented push wireless email over a GSM cellular network in a 26-bed ICU during 6 months. Daytime ICU staff (intensivists, nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, clerical staff, and ICU leadership) used handheld devices (BlackBerry, Research in Motion, Waterloo ON) without dedicated training. We recorded email volume and used standard methods to develop a self-administered survey of ICU staff to measure wireless email impact.
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Burrell, Anthony R. et al, Crit Care Resusc, 11(2)
Contemporary information and communications technology (ICT), particularly applications termed “Web2.0″, can facilitate practice development and knowledge management for busy clinicians. Just as importantly, these applications might also enhance professional social interaction and the development of an interprofessional community of practice that transcends the boundaries of the intensive care unit, health service, jurisdiction and nation.
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Huang, Tannie et al, J Telemed Telecare, 14(5)
We examined records of all admissions to an isolated community neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in California between 2001 and 2006. We also reviewed the echocardiograms for diagnosis, disposition of patient and necessity for transport. In 2004, a telemedicine link (mainly store-and-forward) was established to a university children’s hospital (UCH) 290 km away. The number of NICU patients having an echocardiogram increased from 280 (27% of 1029 admissions) to 385 (40% of 963, P = <0.001) after telemedicine became available. There was an increase in the proportion of normal studies, from 31% to 37% (P = 0.03), and an increase in the number of patients diagnosed with cardiac pathology from 192 (19% of all admissions) to 241 (25%, P < 0.001).
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