FEATURED CASE STUDIES

LiveData OR-Dashboard: Integrated Display for Perioperative Team Situation Awareness

OR of the Future

The Problem

The operating room can be a chaotic, complex and stressful place -- and patient safety is of paramount concern. LiveData, an innovative developer of real-time, visual applications, teamed with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) staff to systematically improve information capture, synthesis and contextual display. The primary objective: enhance patient safety by ensuring that the entire OR team has the information they need, when they need it, throughout the patient’s cycle of OR care. The challenge: determine the best way to select, organize and present information visually so that anyone, at a glance, can see and internalize exactly what is going on with the patient and operation.

The Solution

LiveData engaged Aptima for its expertise in man-to-machine user interface design, and its track record in modeling complex environments to streamline workflow. Together, the companies created a highly intuitive, workflow-driven visual design, providing a common operational view for the entire perioperative team. The end result is improved team communication and situation awareness that leads to enhanced patient safety.

The companies worked with MGH to identify key objectives for information display. These included: safety protocols and workflow, information consistency and quality, team collaboration and communication, and information visualization and diagnosis. The display also needed to facilitate prediction and anticipation of events, and enhance productivity and efficiency.

Aptima used a comprehensive approach to work-centered design, including a participatory design process that engaged clinician end users. Surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses identified: (1) key information elements; (2) information priorities; and (3) how to display the information in a way that would enhance understanding.

The outcome is a highly visual, instantly understandable data presentation embodied in LiveData’s OR-Dashboard. The OR-Dashboard presents a continuously updated view of all relevant patient information on a large, wall-mounted display, enabling everyone in the OR to instantly view, understand, and act upon crucial patient information.

LiveData software extracts patient data from diverse systems, medical devices and physiological monitors, and displays information that is relevant to staff needs at each phase of the patient’s care. Data elements include patient identity, allergies, information about the operation to be performed (what procedure, which site, which side, etc.), current procedure status (what has been done, what remains), safety checks as they are completed, physiological data (heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, fluids, even wave forms), data from key instruments (such as the insufflator or ‘smart’ tourniquet), which staff are in the room, and more.

The Results

The LiveData OR-Dashboard is operational at the MGH Operating Room of the Future, and is now being implemented or planned at major hospitals around the world. Clinician response has been overwhelmingly positive. Aptima and LiveData continue to work together on this and other visual applications, where user interface and presentation can make all the difference.