A Search Engine for Heterogeneous Information Needs in the Clinical Workflow

Medsocket Of Missouri, Inc., Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Modern clinical practices represent a prototypical information-intensive, distributed and collaborative environment, where physicians struggle to find the right information at the right time to make effective clinical decisions. The situation is exacerbated not only by federal guidelines and policies regarding compliance to clinical quality metrics and meaningful use, but also by fragmented information networks of hospital information systems, library resources and organizational intranet. As a result, physicians are often left with several unanswered questions that may affect the quality of care they provide to patients. In this application, we describe the deployment and evaluation of 1-Search, an electronic health record (EHR)-integrated, federated medical search engine that enables physicians to search, filter and retrieve both clinical and organizational information at the point of care. We will integrate 1-Search into the EHR at University of Illinois Health Science System (UI Health) academic medical centers at Chicago and Rockford. After deployment, our preliminary evaluation will focus on pilot testing with a small group of physicians to fine-tune 1-Search for use at a large academic setting. The purpose of this preliminary evaluation is to develop a consistent feedback loop to incorporate insights from users and also to fine-tune 1-Search within specific clinical domains and specialties. The second phase of the evaluation will involve in-depth analysis of search logs, search patterns and search efficiency. We will also conduct a user study with a sub-group of physicians to characterize their interactions with 1- Search and their perspectives on its use. This multi-phased evaluation will help us develop comprehensive insights on the deployment, use, sustainability and adoption of 1-Search that can be translated for other commercial deployment efforts.