Intensive care units (ICU) generate large amounts of data necessary for the safe management of critically ill patients[1].The condition of critically ill patients varies over time, requiring staff to pay close attention to a great deal of information, such as vital signs and laboratory test results. However, the failure to capture the information necessary for the care of critically ill patients can be caused by multiple factors.
ICU alarms alert healthcare staff to changes in vital signs and equipment malfunctions; however, excessive exposure to these alarms can lead to a loss of concentration and inattention among medical staff. A systematic review indicated that alarm fatigue may have serious consequences for both patients and nursing personnel and may be linked to attention deficits [2].
In several ICUs, daily rounds by a multidisciplinary team are conducted and have been shown to improve patient outcomes [3].Multidisciplinary rounds enable team members to share information based on their expertise. However, a study comparing the summaries of physician trainees and oral presentations of ICU patient data with the original electronic health records reported that all presentations had omissions, with 22.9% and 42.4% of data missing from the summaries and presentations, respectively [4].Further, it was suggested that inaccurately communicated laboratory data is a prevalent and under-recognized patient safety concern [5].If clinicians make patient care decisions based on outdated data, or if inaccurate data fails to integrate information, patients may be misdiagnosed, resulting in harm [6].
Electronic health records (EHRs) promise several substantial benefits, including better care and decreased healthcare costs, and consistently deliver high-quality care; however, a substantial gap exists between current EHRs usability and potential optimal usability [7]. Moreover, EHR systems with suboptimal usability may contribute to possible patient harm [8, 9].
There are several problems with ensuring that adequate information is available for the care of critically ill patients. However, several studies have shown that visualization dashboard solutions decrease the time spent on data gathering; difficulty in the data gathering process; time for task completion, and errors; and further improve situational awareness [10, 11]. Hence, we developed a novel bedside display that enables rapid and accurate access to the information needed for critical care.