Design, implementation and validation of a graphical user interface for analysis of patient monitor event logs

With the emergence of networks and sophisticated programming languages, it has become possible over the years to accumulate and translate large amounts of data in a short time period. And as biomedical engineering departments gain more active roles in the hospital, the opportunity to use such data to improve the effectiveness and safety of patient care increases. The patient monitoring network at Hartford Hospital lends itself to data elements such as patient alarms and indicators that can be used to track a patient´s medical record or history. These error logs are created on GE Clinical Information Center (CIC) computers, but such logs remain there without being analyzed until there is a need to investigate suspected device malfunctions or operator errors. These data log files were previously accessed through a manual process using DOS commands to export the data from the CIC to a floppy disk for further manual analysis. Thus, with the large amounts of patient data, there is a need to create an application that allows engineers and clinicians to make better, faster data-driven decisions. The proposed developments to existing utilities provide an excellent opportunity to utilize biomedical engineering principles and skills in the clinical environment.