RT Assistant - handheld patient safety tool for mechanical ventilation

PROJECT SUMMARY Respiratory TherapistsRTsare increasingly tasked to improve the quality of care provided for their patients on mechanical ventilation while controlling cost amidst a high workloadChallenges for the RTs include maintaining continuous awareness of patient ventilator interactionsassuring compliance with best practice protocolsand providing efficient communication during shift changesWhile new technology has been recently introduced to improve medical record documentationthere is a scarcity of innovative electronic tools that can improve compliance with best practices and communications in respiratory careIn Phase I of the grant we propose to build a hand heldelectronic platform called RT Assistant to provide continuous remote monitoring of ventilated patientsThe device will provide real time management guidelines based on pathophysiologyguidance on patient safety and best practices and a standardized hand off communication toolThe Phase I prototype is designed to evaluate the feasibility of the tool and its integration into an RT s workflowThe features of Phase II will greatly assist the RT in improving patient careRT Assistant will serve as a platform for future modular upgrades that will provide clinical decision supportCDStailored for respiratory careIn Phase Iwe propose two specific aimsAimCreate a prototype RT Assistant systemwe will design and build small inexpensive dongles based on Internet of ThingsIOTtechnology that will transmit continuous data from ventilators and physiologic monitors where it can be accessed in real time by a mobile device containing the RT Assistant softwareThe software embedded in the mobile device will collect data and intuitively present it for a quick interpretation of the patient statusThe software will interpret the data in view of best available evidence and highlight issues requiring corrective interventionsThe software will contain a hand off check list and provide real time updates based on the unit s accepted best practice protocolsThe RT Assistant will be able to display all ventilator and relevant physiologic data from all of their assignedconnected roomsAimEvaluate effectiveness of RT Assistant in a simulated clinical environmentWe will simulate an RT critical care environment using standard hospital equipment and spontaneous breathing test lungsFive rooms will be simulated each with a unique clinical scenarioA series of RTs will perform ventilator patient assessments with and without the RT Assistant to assess their ability to maintain LPV guidelinesAfter completionthe RTs will perform a shift change hand off that will also be evaluated PROJECT NARRATIVE Respiratory therapistsRTprovide life supporting care to patients on mechanical ventilators and need help to properly comply with clinical best practices and overcome understaffingIn this proposal we will build an electronic tool to improve the quality of care and patient safety for ventilated patientsImproved care will be realized by assisting RTs with a variety of clinical decision support tools includingcontinuous stream of relevant dataclinical decision supportsmart thresholds and alarmsprotocol supportand shift change handoff support