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Message From the Executive Director
Hi Lab friends-
There’s no question that COVID-19 has turned our lives upside down. Here at the Lab, we’ve been largely working from home since mid-March and doing our best to contribute to BJC and Wash U’s efforts to combat this pandemic. We have found opportunities to do so in several important ways.
First, we have worked with our virtual care and BJC Medical Group colleagues to set up a remote monitoring program for our ambulatory COVID-19 patients. Using an app, thermometer, and pulse ox, we have monitored more than 1,500 patients at home to ensure that they recover safely from their COVID-19 infection. Second, we have worked with our WU School of Engineering colleagues to develop back-up personal protective equipment (PPE) for our fellow health care workers. Our efforts have led to over 1,000 face shields, 250,000 isolation gowns, and a novel ventilator prototype. Third, the pandemic has increased the urgency of delivering care in a virtual fashion. As a result, we have launched our digital efforts beginning with primary care virtual visits that enable our patients to receive care without direct exposure to physical clinics and hospitals. Finally, we are appalled at the continuing health and social disparities that COVID-19 has further magnified. In response, we have begun exploring innovative ways to respond to these disparities. We were excited to see the appointment of Jason Purnell, a noted researcher in health equity, as BJC’s new lead for community health, and anticipate partnering with his team in our efforts. We were also thrilled to support the recent expansion of Medicaid in Missouri, since access to health insurance is a critical step in any effective care delivery innovation.
Despite these challenging times, we are inspired by the opportunities that COVID-19 presents us and remain committed to innovative ways of delivering health care for all. Below, please find additional stories about Lab activities and events. We hope all of you are safe and well and would love to hear about any innovative work that you are conducting during this time.
Be well,
Tom
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Join us for Tom's presentation about the Lab in the Dissemination & Implementation Seminar Series!
Register Here
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Big Ideas 2020-2021 Updates
The six winners of the 2019-2020 Big Ideas competition will present the results of their research projects from 2:00-4:00 pm on Friday, Sept. 25. To comply with social distancing guidelines during the Coronavirus pandemic, the presentations will be shown virtually to a select audience of administrators, researchers, practitioners, and competition judges.
Sponsored by the Healthcare Innovation Lab (“The Lab”) and the Washington University Institute for Informatics (I2), the Big Ideas competition identifies and supports high-priority, novel projects from collaborative clinical, operational and research teams that are developing innovations in informatics and health care delivery. The competition is judged by BJC HealthCare and Washington University School of Medicine leadership. Drs. Thomas Maddox, Executive Director of The Lab and Philip Payne, Director of I2 awarded each winning team with $50,000 in research funds in April 2019.
During the event, each of the six winning teams will discuss how they accomplished their project goals, what barriers they faced and how they overcame them, and next steps in their research.
Following are high-level summaries of the six winning projects:
- Enhancing Palliative Care with Machine Learning: Develop a machine-learning algorithm that uses claims and EMR data to identify patients at high risk of mortality.
- Machine Learning Risk Predictions at OR-ICU Handoffs: Address the shortcomings of EHR-based hand-off templates within the context of post-operative hand-offs by designing and evaluating a machine-learning augmented hand-off report.
- Biosensors and Machine-Learning Algorithms to Detect Complications in Post-Pancreatectomy Patients: Leverage remote telemonitoring devices in conjunction with machine learning in the perioperative setting to address poor surgical outcomes among patients undergoing pancreatectomy.
- Programming the Future of Sepsis by Developing a Pragmatic, Real-Time Sepsis Prediction Model for Non-ICU Patients: Use cutting-edge advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop an algorithm to predict sepsis before patients even meet traditional diagnostic criteria.
- Voice User Interface Connecting Clinician with Supply Inventory Management via Alexa: Test the feasibility of streamlining the supply retrieval process using voice assistance via Alexa, enabling clinicians to be directed immediately to the correct location of supplies.
- Conversational Agents for Managing Perioperative Psychological Stress: Develop a comprehensive infrastructure for concomitant stress detection and mindfulness therapy delivery using commercial smartwatches for adult patients facing complex surgeries.
All six presentations will be recorded and made available for viewing following the Sept. 25 event.
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Brett Ramsey, MBA, Teams with AVIA Health for ICHP Presentation
In July, Innovation Lab Program Manager Brett Ramsey teamed up with AVIA Health Innovation Network’s Oliver Lignell to deliver a presentation to Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP) https://imperialcollegehealthpartners.com/. Based in Northwest London, England, ICHP is a network of health care services, clinical commissioning groups and leading universities that are collaborating to solve the health care challenges in their region. As part of their response to the COVID-19 pandemic they are looking at Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) solutions, and called on AVIA to share their frameworks in this area as well as the experience the Innovation Lab has gained through its work on several projects in this space. The primary topic was about how to install an RPM program based on the needs of a health system. |
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Continuous Improvement - ICAgile Certification
A cross-functional BJC team participated in Washington University’s ICAgile Certified Professional training through the Technology and Leadership Center. This ICAgile-accredited course reinforces Agile as a mindset, not a methodology. The curriculum was interactive, covering concepts such as value-driven development, adaptive planning, frequent feedback and continuous improvement. Lessons offered firsthand experience in avoiding common pitfalls and understanding how Agile can maximize value for our health care system. Participating members of the Healthcare Innovation Lab, BJC Information Technology, and BJC Virtual Care ranged in experience and expertise of Agile, which allowed for a dynamic and self-motivating classroom experience. The team will be using this training, and subsequent certification, to deploy agile projects in the near future.
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Meet Our 2020-2021 Innovation Fellows
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Bradley Fritz, MD, MSCI
Bradley Fritz joins the Lab as a Healthcare Innovation Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year. Dr. Fritz is an instructor in the Washington University Department of Anesthesiology. He earned his medical degree and his masters in clinical investigation at Washington University prior to completing his anesthesiology residency and critical care medicine fellowship at WU/BJH. His long-term career goal is to use clinical decision support to improve patient care in the perioperative and critical care settings. His innovation project is to determine whether access to machine learning model output during surgery can help anesthesiology clinicians more accurately assess patient risk for postoperative acute kidney injury and death.
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Ryan King, MD, PhD
Ryan King also joins the Lab as a Healthcare Innovation Fellow for the 2020-2021 academic year. Dr. King is a clinician in Anesthesiology and biostatistician at Wash U with an interest in integrating machine learning into perioperative risk assessment and monitoring. During his Lab Fellowship this year, he will focus on user-centered design and implementation of ML-based notifications for high risk postoperative patients, and he hopes the Innovation Lab will help bridge an academic focus into real-world program development and assessment.
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