This Small Research proposal is a pilot study for generating initial scenarios and use cases that identify critical links between the healthcare facility information and the medical information from a patient safety perspective. In a hospital setting, a vast amount of dynamic data related to the availability of rooms, technical equipment, waste management, food services, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and maintenance status is processed daily to provide for a smooth operation. Recent examples show that processing the healthcare facility information together with the medical information is important for tracking patients, caregivers, medical equipment and medication, as well as keeping track of contaminations and hospital related infections. Putting healthcare data into its spatial context introduces a significant amount of additional information, and enables the identification of patterns and reasoning mechanisms for usefully interpreting the available information. Although strategies for effective use of information technology to improve patient safety address the medical safety problems during the diagnosis and treatment, patient safety in relation to the healthcare environment and the role of healthcare facility information in this context has not yet been explored adequately. This approach involves developing an overall systems perspective that includes the link between medical information and the whole facility information with content-aware healthcare facilities as the main goal.
The specific aims of this proposal are to: (1) investigate specific links and overlaps between patient/medical information and healthcare facility information;(2) develop scenarios and use cases for the critical use of healthcare facility information in relation to patient safety;(3) evaluate developed scenarios and use cases in a real world setting for defining characteristics of a future ontology. The research site is Hershey Medical Center, which is a teaching hospital for the Penn State College of Medicine. A major outcome of the project would be a characterization of facility management processes that have the most impact on the healthcare delivery process and how to maximize their positive impacts and minimize their negative impacts. The project would also identify scenarios where advanced or real-time access to facility information can enhance healthcare delivery and improve patient safety.
Strategies for effective use of information technology to improve patient safety address the medical safety problems during the diagnosis and treatment, however, patient safety in relation to the healthcare environment and the role of healthcare facility information in this context is not explored yet. This approach involves developing an overall systems perspective that includes the link between medical information and the whole facility information with content-aware buildings as the main goal.
