Wearable technology as a booster of clinical care

Wearable technology defines a new class of smart devices that are accessories or clothing equipped with computational power and sensors, like Google Glass. In this work, we propose a novel concept for supporting everyday clinical pathways with wearable technology. In contrast to most prior work, we are not focusing on the omnipresent screen to display patient information or images, but are trying to maintain existing workflows. To achieve this, our system supports clinical staff as a documenting observer, only intervening adequately if problems are detected. Using the example of medication preparation and administration, a task known to be prone to errors, we demonstrate the full potential of the new devices. Patient and medication identifier are captured with the built-in camera, and the information is send to a transaction server. The server communicates with the hospital information system to obtain patient records and medication information. The system then analyses the new medication for possible side-effects and interactions with already administered drugs. The result is sent to the device while encapsulating all sensitive information respecting data security and privacy. The user only sees a traffic light style encoded feedback to avoid distraction. The server can reduce documentation efforts and reports in real-time on possible problems during medication preparation or administration. In conclusion, we designed a secure system around three basic principles with many applications in everyday clinical work: (i) interaction and distraction is kept as low as possible; (ii) no patient data is displayed; and (iii) device is pure observer, not part of the workflow. By reducing errors and documentation burden, our approach has the capability to boost clinical care.