Abstract
Purpose
We describe the decision drivers, development and implementation of an integrated mobile situational awareness application for the perioperative environment. This digital operating room tool for anesthesiologists facilitates direct supervision of in-room staff without requiring being tied to a stationary computer workstation.
Methods
The iOS platform was used to create the VigiVUTM mobile application at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The first working version was completed in 3 weeks with a scalable application for department-wide distribution requiring less than 1,000 development hours.
Results
The VigiVUTM application provides situational awareness via access to real time operating room video, patient vital signs, anesthetic interventions, OR management visualization tools, patient data protection, bidirectional voice and text communication, and integrated electronic medical record access. The application allows anesthesiologists to know the status of their patients in up to four locations simultaneously. The application provides the ability to visually follow the flow of patients through the operative suite and prioritize which patients need attention. The application provides a consistent user environment on several compatible iOS devices. A group of 40 beta testers has consistently used and maintained their copy of the application, suggesting user acceptance.
Conclusions
We have demonstrated that it is possible to develop and implement an integrated mobile situational awareness application at a large academic medical center. Future research may determine whether perioperative deployment and utilization of VigiVUTM at our institution enhances patient safety and/or operating room efficiency.
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Abbreviations
- VigiVU :
-
A hand-held; iPhone-based version of a desktop situational awareness, operating room monitoring (VigilanceTM), that has been in use at Vanderbilt University Medical Center since 2004
- UDID :
-
Unique Device ID is a unique identifier for every iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad
- AIMS :
-
Anesthesiology Information Management Systems
- OR :
-
Operating Room
- iOS :
-
Apple’s mobile operating system; formerly known as iPhone Operating System
- PCs :
-
Personal computers
- PHI :
-
Protected health information
- EMR :
-
Electronic medical record
- VPIMS :
-
Vanderbilt Perioperative Information Management System
- VUMC :
-
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- CRNA :
-
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist
- SRNA :
-
Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist
- VOIP :
-
Voice over internet protocol
- VPN :
-
Virtual private network
- HL7 :
-
HL7 (Health Level 7, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a collaborative international standard for the exchange, management, and integration of electronic health care information for more effective and efficient delivery. HL7 data focus on high level application layer protocols and consider the lower layers merely as tools
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Lane, J.S., Sandberg, W.S. & Rothman, B. Development and implementation of an integrated mobile situational awareness iPhone application VigiVUTM at an academic medical center. Int J CARS 7, 721–735 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-012-0683-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11548-012-0683-8