A Real-Time Multi-dimensional Visualization Framework for Critical and Complex Environments

Abstract

The critical care environment is a complex and critical environment, containing numerous body sensors attached to critically ill patients and producing continuous streams of physiological data. In conjunction, human-generated clinical data are produced by clinicians providing care for those patients. Currently, physiological information is displayed in a limited univariate method, inherited from conventional practices of biomedical engineering firms who design and manufacture these medical devices. However, the method in which this information is displayed was developed with limited consideration from user-centered design practices, and largely excludes influential relationship to their underlying medical knowledge and experience. Moreover, these univariate displays have limited abilities to project trends. This paper proposes a framework for displaying multi-dimensional and complex data to users in the critical care environment. We present a case study of neonatal intensive care, a form of critical care for premature and ill term infants to illustrate the framework's practical impact.