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COMPUTER EXPERTS TO HELP INTENSIVE CARE PATIENTS TO COMMUNICATE

December 08, 1999

The researchers, based at the University of Dundee and Ninewells Hospital, are hoping to have produced a prototype computer-based communications system within the next
18 months. The work is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

"Patients in intensive care units often have tubes down their throats which prevent them from speaking," says Professor Ian Ricketts of Dundee University's Department of Applied Computing. "So while there is a need for medical staff and visitors to communicate with these patients, they have been temporarily robbed of their ability to reply in the normal way."

"Often patients can communicate only by a nod or shake of the head, and that requires their communication partner to ask the right question in the first place. And while the patient's immediate needs may be communicated relatively simply, emotional communication is much more difficult. It is one thing to indicate that you want a drink, quite another to say 'I still love you and don't blame you for what happened'."

The situation is made worse by the fact that many patients arrive in intensive care without any warning - for example people who have been involved in traffic accidents - and are often not fully conscious, are confused and in a state of shock.

A communication aid would have to be extremely simple to use, given that the patients would have had no previous experience of using such a device and would find learning difficult in the high stress environment of the intensive care unit.

"What we are seeking to do is create a system which requires very little training - it must be intuitive in its use and be able to convey information relevant to the particular patient using it," says Professor Ricketts.

The first stage in the process is to identify what patients communicate while in intensive care. This is being done by having an observer in an intensive care unit monitor and record on a computer the communication between patients and medical staff and relatives. This information will be used to form a 'core vocabulary' of phrases that all patients will use. Such a vocabulary might include phrases such as 'could I have something for the pain' or 'where am I?'

As well as containing a core vocabulary the system could be customised to the patient's individual circumstances. The team is devising a computerised questionnaire for acquaintances of patients to complete. This would include more personal information - the names of members of the patient's family, for example. The precise form that the communication device would take is not yet known. "We are thinking in terms of a portable computer," says Professor Ricketts. "But we have to bear in mind that the patient is lying in bed, often extensively wired up, and is unlikely to be able to operate a keyboard. We need to think carefully about an appropriate interface for a patient in intensive care - a touch screen might be helpful."

"Ideally the system would require very little input from the patient to express what they want to say, and would not require any training. That really is a challenge of significant magnitude."

-ENDS-


Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)