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Supporting Transitions, Information Sharing, and Sensemaking Between Physicians

This is an ongoing project.

Description 

Through this research project we intend to inform the design of future technological solutions that will facilitate information sharing, patient transfer from one medical professional to another, and sensemaking processes. While information transfer between physicians is a common activity, many traditional practices have yet to be adapted to take advantage of new computer technologies and in cases where new technologies are changing the way information is passed between medical care providers, much is left to learn about how these technologies are being used in daily practice and how these new technologies can inform the development of future tools and technologies. In order to explore this problem space and inform the design of future technologies we will observe current practices of physicians working in the Intensive Care Unit and a working / teaching ward of the Foothills Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The contributions of this thesis work will include, a) informing the computer science and medical communities of which current information sharing and sensemaking practices utilized by physicians are valuable and successful for transferring information between physicians, b) identifying the current limitations and advantages of technologies used in medical institutions that affect information transfer between physicians, and c) will inform future designs of new technologies that facilitate information flow and sensemaking amongst physicians.

Partners 

NSERC – TR Tech