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INTENSIVE CARE UNITS IT
The intensive care units daily handle an immense amount of information that it is generated and shared by several people, with the difficulty
that they have to make important decisions based on that information. We are talking about patients in critical condition whose vital constants,
oxygen levels, fluids balance, etc. have to be monitored constantly to be able to make the suitable decisions, coverall when alterations take
place.
This information is heterogenous, of different nature: graphs, balances, flows, etc., and makes management difficult. In fact, in spite of
the existence of medical information systems for several years, in the ICU they haven't been useful, until now. The excellence of an ICU
application is important, but it's even more important its adjustment to the service needs. There is a new challenge: to have an engineer
closely working with the professionals of the ICU, with the doctors, the nurses and other sanitary personnel, as a member of the team, but with
a clear research profile.
The information systems in the ICU services are very little deployed because of the mentioned problems. There are only three important
applications that fit the needs of the services, and only one of them can be integrated with the patient monitoring systems. But this is not enough
to be a leader in this market, so we have designed this project to make our engineers work together with the end user of the information system,
so that the system adapts perfectly to the service needs.
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The process is simple to describe but difficult to deploy. For that reason it requires time and research attitude. It's neccesary to observe
and to learn how the ICU works to parametrize the information that it manages: drugs (there are thousands, each one with its own characteristics),
vital constants, calculation of levels, calculation of biological indexes, measurement and calculation of flows (serum, soundings), balance of
weight/volume, etc.
But it's not enough. It's also necessary to integrate this information system with the other ones existing in the hospital, from suppliers
(for example electrocardiographs, laboratory, X-rays) or information petitioners (service of admission, operating rooms, etc.). And even more,
it must make easy to the different services the creation of the mandatory reports and orders.
This project demands a research work, a team work, to exactly define all the characteristics that will make this application one of the most
suitable ones for the Spanish ICU services.
This project is extremely useful for the doctors, and satisfies its needs perfectly. There are hospitals where they still work with hand written
papers and radiology plates; this creates a great stress and an excessive workload. Thanks to our work, we will facilitate the work of the doctors
and we will reduce the abusive use of papers and X-ray plates.
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