Potential for meeting clinician information requirements in an intensive care unit (ICU) via the web

A web interface allows ICU-oriented information to be accessed from other patient care areas and clinical applications, optimizing information integration in the hospital. In preparation for installation of a web-enabled bedside patient charting application, we attempted to maximize the percentage of our ICU-information requirements that could be met via the web and designed a web interface for accessing this information.

A comprehensive inventory of the information needs of our ICU was made by taking an inventory of existing paper and electronic documents, manuals, handouts, patient chart elements, and clinician communication about patients. We then designed a web site, created web-based prototype applications, and linked to hospital web applications.

Before and after implementation of the web site, each category of requirements that were identified were marked as available, partially available, or unavailable via the web.

After implementation of the ICU web site, 56.3% of identified information category requirements (+18.3%) were available via the web, 23.9% were partially available (+4.2%) and 19.8% were still unavailable (-22.5%). Implementation of the web-enabled bedside charting application would increase the percentage of information categories available via the web to 73.2% (+16.9%) and 18.3% of required information would be partially web-accessible.

The majority of information required by clinicians in an ICU can be made accessible via the web if a systematic approach is taken to identify needs and to develop or link to applications and web pages to meet these needs.