IMPACT-ACE: Gold panning in the under-used critical care data stream

Much of the routine data generated during the provision of medical care in critical care units is discarded rather than fully used to help clinicians improve treatments. Multi-centre ‘intensive-care big-data’ initiatives such as the adult BrainIT group have successfully improved adult brain trauma care with new research ideas and data-driven improvement interventions. With the support of a prestigious EU grant, I have successfully set- up a new paediatric brain trauma ‘big-data’ initiative (KidsBrainIT) that uses high-quality bedside physiological data from patients recruited in 15 PICU in 5 countries to better understand the importance of bespoke management improvements (e.g. treatment of increased brain pressure from brain swelling). I am using KidsBrainIT as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the benefits of data-intensive informatics in improvement research and to translate this concept into IMPACT-ACE that will ultimately improve patient care, safety and outcome in the broader critical-care setting and other medical specialities in the future. In this talk, I will summarise the challenges we have overcome using this research approach and how we may make better use of big data generated routinely within critical care units.

Dr. Milly Lo is a consultant paediatric intensivist and research lead at Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. Dr. Lo’s research training included successful completion of a PhD degree in Edinburgh and post-doctoral research training in Toronto (Canada) to better understand how acute physiological insults, genetic, and biochemical factors influence life-threatening childhood brain trauma outcome. This research training prepared Dr. Lo for the role of Hon. Reader at the University of Edinburgh. Dr. Lo is the first paediatric intensivist to be awarded a prestigious EU research grant to set-up and lead an international data informatics paediatric brain trauma research initiative called KidsBrainIT. Dr. Lo was also the first paediatric intensivist to be awarded an NRS Career Research Fellowship in 2013 to set up and lead the first data informatics improvement research programme in paediatric critical care in the UK (IMPACT-ACE). Dr Lo’s current research focuses on employing data informatics approach to big data generated from routine clinical care for research to improve patient treatments, outcome, and safety in the paediatric critical care setting. This approach minimises data wastage and helps to unlock vital information and research ideas that allow a more personalised approach to tailor treatment for our patients.