Issue link: https://tmcpulse.uberflip.com/i/610185
t m c » p u l s e | d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5 15 Those analytics make up the backbone of Medical Informatics' vision for the future. The company's "Sickbay" technology platform collects continuous streams of high-resolution physiological data from an entire spectrum of monitoring equipment—bedside monitors, EMRs and other ancillary devices. Weaving together science, analytics and medicine, Sickbay, has the ability to reduce alarm noise at the source, enable virtual patient monitoring and even predict patient deterioration before it occurs. "Essentially, we're GPS for doctors," said Craig Rusin, Ph.D., co-founder and chief technology officer of Medical Informatics. "Our goal is to use mathemat- ical tools to extract hidden information from within patient data and present that to doctors in an intuitive way so they can treat their patients more effectively." The idea of predictive analytics can seem abstract and removed—a data scientist's interpretation of the sci-fi conceit behind the movie Minority Report, where supernatural psychics prevent crimes before they occur—but Medical Informatics isn't looking to some far-flung future. With their system in place at Texas Children's Hospital and the recently demonstrated ability to predict cardiac arrest in single ventricle patients one to two hours beforehand, Medical Informatics is helping span the gap between the bench and bedside. By putting their discoveries into practice, individual patients are already reaping the benefits of their technology. "A great example of that involves one particular patient who was in respiratory distress for many days," said Fauss. "The problem was that because they weren't deteriorating, the snapshots of the monitor data that you would see next to the bedside didn't accurately reflect the fact that the patient was fighting their own ventilator. By using the analytics that we were providing, the providers realized, within seconds, that this kid was in respiratory distress and they needed to change the treatment. "When we talk about approaching science fiction, that's really what it is," she added. "We're pushing the edges of what is possible in individualized patient care." Down the hall at TMCx+—the fully furnished space contains 13 modular suites, each complete with two executive offices and a pod of desks that can support up to eight people—what looks like athletic wear adorned with strands of Christmas tree lights is draped over the back of a chair and sewing machines line the windowsill. The inspiration behind this high- tech vest? Nothing too ambitious—just an attempt to expand human perception beyond the limits of our five senses and provide a new sense of hearing for deaf individuals in the process. "The VEST actually stands for 'Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer,'" said Scott Novich, Ph.D., co-founder and chief technology officer of NeoSensory. "It all stems from the idea that we can take in any sort of real-time information stream, like sound, and map it to your sense of touch to actually acquire a new sense—in this case it's for the benefit of people who are deaf." Known as a 'sound-to-touch sensory substitution system,' the VEST functions by picking up all the sounds in an environment, with the help of a cell phone, and converting them to electrical signals that vibrate in different locations and at different frequencies on an individual's torso. Within a few hours of training, someone deaf from birth can "feel" distinct, individual words. Neosensory's VEST (Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer) enables deaf individuals to "feel" individual words through small vibrations on their torso.