SBIR-STTR Award

Interoperability and interconnectivity of medical devices in clinical environments can significantly enhance patient safety and workflow efficiency. To achieve this goal, a standards-based approach to an overall medical device plug-and-play architecture for an Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE) has been proposed by the MD PnP program. However, the process of accepting and implementing communication and interoperability standards is a lengthy process, and device manufacturers have avoided building interoperable devices primarily on economic grounds. To overcome these difficulties and start capitalizing on the potential benefits of networked medical devices, a technology is needed that would provide a communication layer for current and legacy devices, enable interoperability, and provide concrete examples of its potential benefits. LiveData together with Draper Lab and MGH/CIMIT propose to develop the MD-ICEMAN, that will facilitate the transition to a networked medical device environment and help materialize the potential benefits of a patient–centric networked system. MD-ICEMAN will use the standardization efforts as guideposts and provide a framework with metadata which describes a standard layer of capabilities for common devices and driver architecture that can be used interchangeabily. The proposed solution will focus on the Operating Room, however it will apply to the entire continuum of clinical environments.

Keywords:
Medical Device Interoperability, Medical Device Plug And Play, Medical Decision Support System, Patient Safety, Data Integration, Patient Monitoring

Advances in interoperability promise to take patient safety to a new level via the application of process control engineering. While the path to a fully engineered process is difficult, benefits accrue each step toward it. This project will advance us along this path by demonstrating a prototype "Context-Aware Notification System." By bringing together comprehensively 1) physiologic data, 2) patient history, 3) people and asset location, 4) ambient environmental and equipment, and 5) readiness and quality data, combined with a sophisticated hierarchical Workflow Model, the prototype will ensure that the right information is provided to the right clinicians at the point in time where it can do the most good. This project includes a prototype easy-to-use Notification Authoring Tool, which allows clinicians to author, test, and deploy rules that can send them text messages or update a Dashboard with the exceptions to workflow that often precede errors and near-misses. This project includes a multidisciplinary team from LiveData, CIMIT, and the Massachusetts General Hospital 'OR of the Future', including some of the nation's thought leaders in the areas of patient safety and OR workflow efficiency. The proposed work furthers the goal of creating a 'zone of safety' for high acuity care.

Keywords:
Medical Device Interoperability, Medical Device Plug And Play, Medical Decision Support System, Perioperative, Patient Safety, Data Integration, Patie