Brain IT
Background
Brain IT is a 3-year, €2M, EU-funded project involving 30 Neurosurgical Intensive Care Units in 14 countries across Europe. The project goal is to collect highly detailed, structured clinical data about the management of head injury patients to promote international research studies.
Key Issues
- Neurosurgical Intensive Care involves complex information processing by highly trained professionals in a very challenging "24-hours-a-day" work environment.
- PCs are not convenient to use at the bedside.
- Given the geographical dispersion of the 30 centres, the data capture solution had to be very easy to install and use, with minimal training.
- The European dimension required a multilingual solution.
- Patient and centre confidentiality was a significant issue for the project.
- Data from all centres had to be incorporated into a single central database in Glasgow.
- Time and budgetary constraints for new system development were very tight.
The Solution
- We worked with the Project Steering Group to produce a highly innovative hand-held data capture system, together with a set of server utilities for managing the data captured.
- Use of our powerful graphic system-building tool allowed us to modify the design very rapidly according to feedback.
- The system was fully translated into 8 different languages.
- All data produced by the system is represented in XML. This had major benefits for post-capture data processing
The Results
- We provided a highly innovative, hand-held system within the agreed timescale and budget.
- Early feedback is very positive. For example, project partners said:
"I think it is an excellent solution" (UK)
"In a word, we were amazed in PDA demonstration. Such a way to collect data seems to be very attractive" (Lithuania)
"We are very interested as I think that the system could simplify the nurse's and physician's jobs" (France)
"... seems to me a great idea. My centre and all the Italian centres would like to have the opportunity to use it from the beginning" (Italy) - Although it was originally intended that the hand-held system be installed in only 5 of the 30 centres, in view of the feedback from clinical users, the hand-held system has now been installed in all 30 centres.
- Detailed case data is now accumulating in the central project database.