Using information technology to improve quality in the OR

Brian Rothman; Warren S Sandberg; Paul St Jacques

doi:10.1016/j.anclin.2010.11.006

Using information technology to improve quality in the OR

Anesthesiol Clin. 2011 Mar;29(1):29-55. doi: 10.1016/j.anclin.2010.11.006.

Authors

Brian Rothman¹, Warren S Sandberg, Paul St Jacques

Affiliation

¹ Perioperative Informatics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 1301 Medical Center Drive, 4648 TVC, Nashville, TN 37232, USA. [email protected]

PMID: 21295751
DOI: 10.1016/j.anclin.2010.11.006

Abstract

This article summarizes the current state of technology as it pertains to quality in the operating room, ties the current state back to its evolutionary pathway to understand how the current capabilities and their limitations came to pass, and elucidates how the overlay of information technology (IT) as a wrapper around current monitoring and device technology provides a significant advance in the ability of anesthesiologists to use technology to improve quality along many axes. The authors posit that IT will enable all the information about patients, perioperative systems, system capacity, and readiness to follow a development trajectory of increasing usefulness.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anesthesia / standards*
Data Display
Decision Support Systems, Clinical
Humans
Information Systems*
Monitoring, Physiologic
Operating Rooms / organization & administration*
Quality Improvement*
User-Computer Interface