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IBM, Health Tech, Univ Designing Critical Care Mobile System

EKG (Photos8.com)
(Photos8.com)

23 October 2014. IBM, University of Michigan, and mobile health technology company AirStrip are developing a system to provide real time monitoring and analytics for patients with chronic or critical disorders. The system is being designed to collect data directly from patients and provide early warning initially for hemodynamic decompensation, a type of heart failure and potentially lethal complication for critically ill and injured people. Financial and intellectual property aspects of the collaboration were not disclosed.

Hemodynamic decompensation results in a sudden worsening of heart functions. The ensuing reduction in heart output is marked by hypertension, malfunctions in heart muscles, and restriction of blood supply to tissues. Attempts by the heart to compensate for these deteriorating conditions only increases the damage, leading to a downward spiral for the patient.

Data in this early warning system for hemodynamic decompensation will come from sensors worn by patients, while in the hospital and at home, linked to their electronic health records. University of Michigan’s Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care in Ann Arbor will design algorithms to process these data and identify predictive risk factors that can alert clinicians of impending deterioration in the patient’s condition.

IBM will adapt its InfoSphere Streams analytics platform to integrate the real-time patient monitoring data with health records information and the algorithms from Michigan. IBM says InfoSphere Streams is designed to combine structured and unstructured data, like those often found in health IT records.

AirStrip, in San Antonio, Texas, develops mobile systems for clinicians that combine real time patient monitoring with data from electronic health records. AirStrip will adapt its AirStrip One platform designed for reporting patient data for clinicians on smartphones and tablets, which will receive the stream of integrated real-time data and analytics, for display and interaction on clinicians’ Apple, Android and Windows devices.

Early intervention in these cases is expected to improve care of critically ill patients and help reduce admission to intensive care units. The partners in the project say if this first application is a success, the system could be expanded to to detect deterioration in other chronic conditions, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and congestive heart failure. The system can also be part of a more comprehensive model of continuous hospital-to-home patient monitoring.

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Hat tip: MedCity News

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