7-Year Experience with Automated Pupillometry and Direct Integration With the Hospital Electronic Medical Record

Manual pupillary assessments are an integral part of the neurologic evaluation in critically ill patients. Automated pupillometry provides reliable, consistent, and accurate measurement of the light response. We established a computer interface that allows for direct download of pupillometer information to our hospital electronic medical record (EMR). Here, we report our single-center experience.

An interface allowing direct download of pupillometer data to our EMR was developed. We then performed a prospective study using an electronic survey distributed to nurses that used pupillometers in 2015, 2018, and 2020 using a 5-point Likert-style format to evaluate the acceptance of this implementation.

In 2015, 22 nurses were surveyed, with 50% of the respondents citing lack of pupillometers and 41% citing the labor intensity associated with data entry as the reason for the reluctance to use the pupillometer. The number of nurse responses in 2018 increased to 123, with 78% of nurses finding that the direct download to hospital EMR improved the efficiency of their neurologic exams. In 2020, 108 nurses responded with similar responses to those in 2018. We added 3 additional questions regarding utility of the pupillometer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifty-eight percent of nurses were reassured of the neurologic exam when using the pupillometer in lieu of a full exam to limit infectious exposure.

This is the first report of the implementation of a direct interface to download pupillometer data to the EMR. The positive effect on nursing workflow and documentation of pupillary findings is discussed.