Health care teams depend on electronic health records (EHRs) to compile important medical data from innumerable lab tests and medical devices, observations, treatments, and diagnostic codes. We rely on it so much that we consider the EHR to be a team member.
How Mayo Clinic Is Combating Information Overload in Critical Care Units
Though often overlooked, one of the biggest challenges facing many ICUs is the sheer volume of data collected for every patient. To address this information overload, the authors worked with Mayo Clinic to develop a set of data-driven decision-making tools called ambient intelligence. These tools helped clinicians to cut through the noise and identify key data points more quickly and easily. Based on their research, they found that these new automated technologies saved physicians an average of three to five minutes on chart review per patient per day, giving them back an extra hour every day to see more patients. Ultimately, the authors argue that these new tools highlight the importance of human-machine collaboration to help solve some of our most pressing health care problems.