Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) benefits all sectors of our economy, increases efficiency, saves money and resources, and improves quality of life. From safety and security, to the environment and infrastructure, to health and education, the opportunities for DDI to improve our lives are boundless. In SIIA’s recent whitepaper, Data-Driven Innovation A Guide for Policymakers: Understanding and Enabling the Economic and Social Value of Data, we explored the ways our member companies are leveraging data to provide cutting edge solutions. Here’s one case study, from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
The rapid advance of medical monitoring technology has done wonders to improve patient outcomes. Today, patients are routinely connected to equipment that continuously monitors vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature. The equipment issues an alert when any vital sign goes out of the normal range, prompting hospital staff to take action immediately, but many life-threatening conditions do not reach critical level right away. Often, signs that something is wrong begin to appear long before the situation becomes serious, and even a skilled and experienced nurse or physician might not be able to spot and interpret these trends in time to avoid serious complications.
Project Artemis, part of IBM’s First-of-a-Kind pro-gram which pairs IBM’s scientists with clients to explore how emerging technologies, can solve real-world business problems. The system captured the data stream from bedside monitors and processed it using algorithms designed to spot the telltale signs of nosocomial infection. The truly significant aspect of the Project Artemis approach is how it brings human knowledge and expertise together with device-generated data to produce a better result. The system’s outputs are based on algorithms developed as collaboration between the clinicians themselves and programmers. The algorithm concept is the essential difference between the Artemis system and the existing alarms built into bedside monitors.
The flexibility of the platform means that in the future, any condition that can be detected through subtle changes in the underlying data streams can be the target of the system’s early-warning capabilities. Also, since it depends only on the availability of a data stream, it holds the potential for use outside the ICU and even outside the hospital. For example, the use of remote sensors and wireless connectivity would allow the system to monitor patients wherever they are, while still pro-viding life-saving alerts in near-real time.