Table 5 Practical Improvement Suggestions for Data Integration and Visualization Software

Reduce redundant data streams.

Removal of redundant data is required to allow clinicians to efficiently and easily abstract, trend, and interact with the data.

Ensure preprocessing mass volumes of continuous real-time data. For example, employ algorithms that corrects etCO₂trends using pCO₂ blood gas values.

Provide user awareness.

User-aware applications that dynamically adjust the data display mode based on the user context can ensure that adequate and relevant data needs are being displayed and enhance clinicians’ efficiency and efficacy in extracting meaningful information.

Provide customized view of patient data tailored to the clinician’s needs. For example, if a respiratory therapist is detected as the user, the system would display etCO₂ with pCO₂ to help respiratory therapist know if s/he should trust the etCO₂ continuous trend data.

Reduce clinician cognitive demand in interacting with the visual displays.

Ensuring that components that are important for decision-making are represented in the display in a perceptually similar manner as to improve the clinician’s decision-making accuracy and efficiency.

Present the components that are important for decision-making as an integrated object and/or by presenting them close together spatially or temporally.

Mandate integration of data integration and visualization software with existing medical record systems.

Integration of data integration and visualization software with medical record systems to provide a single source of patient data which facilitates data synchronization and may reduce use errors.

Technology procurement policies should require incoming data platforms to freely exchange data and information with existing clinical information systems.

Provide easy time navigation.

A critical function of the interface is enabling the user to rapidly select the time frame of continuous data, relative to the patient’s stay in the ICU.

Provide interface controls which support both exploratory data navigation across time and specific user defined timeframes.

Ensure interface is flexible to different types of users and levels of expertise.

Functions which are learned should provide shortcuts for accelerated performance.

Provide layered function description and interface shortcuts.

Ensure software responsiveness.

Additional data streams and access to denser data visualizations may slow down system performance and diminish user satisfaction and decision-making quality.

Ensure new data streams are compressed or back-end processing is sufficient to maintain adequate responsiveness.