Leveraging the Power of Routinely Collected ICU Data

link.springer.com January 8, 2025

With the steady advent of electronic health records, the abundance of routinely recorded data related to the treatment and care of intensive care unit (ICU) patients can be nothing short of overwhelming.

Over tens of thousands of data points may typically be registered for every single ICU patient each day, sourced from a multitude of channels.

These include readouts and waveforms from devices for monitoring and life support, medication administration records, imaging studies, laboratory tests and microbiology results, and detailed clinical documentation such as fluid charts, nursing notes, procedural reports and care plans.

Researchers and clinicians are increasingly advocating for making these data available for secondary use, especially given the current scientific and societal interest in data science and artificial intelligence to leverage the power of big data.