Using a context-aware medical application to address information needs for extubation decisions.
Information overload has been one of the causes of preventable medical errors [1] and escalating costs [2]. A context-aware application with embedded clinical knowledge is proposed to provide practitioners with the appropriate amount of information and content. We developed a prototype of a context-aware medical application to address clinicians' information needs that arise in a data intensive unit, the Cardio-Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU). A major clinical decision supported by the prototype, the extubation decision, is illustrated.
Background ::: Spontaneously metastatic xenograft models of cancer are infrequent and the few that exist are resource intensive. In xenografts, caliper measurements can be used to determine primary tumor burden and response to therapy but in metastatic disease models determination of the presence of metastatic disease, metastatic burden, and response to therapy are difficult, often requiring serial necropsy. In this study we characterized the development of visceral metastases in a patient derived xenograft model (PDXM) using in vivo imaging.