IRIS: A Modular Platform for Continuous Monitoring and Caretaker Notification in the Intensive Care Unit

Objective: New approaches are needed to interpret large amounts of physiologic data continuously recorded in the ICU. We developed and prospectively validated a versatile platform (IRIS) for real-time ICU physiologic monitoring, clinical decision making, and caretaker notification. Methods: IRIS was implemented in the neurointensive care unit to stream multimodal time series data, including EEG, intracranial pressure (ICP), and brain tissue oxygenation (P
_bt
O
₂
), from ICU monitors to an analysis server. IRIS was applied for 364 patients undergoing continuous EEG, 26 patients undergoing burst suppression monitoring, and four patients undergoing intracranial pressure and brain tissue oxygen monitoring. Custom algorithms were used to identify periods of elevated ICP, compute burst suppression ratios (BSRs), and detect faulty or disconnected EEG electrodes. Hospital staff were notified of clinically relevant events using our secure API to route alerts through a password-protected smartphone application. Results: Sustained increases in ICP and concordant decreases in P
_bt
O
₂
were reliably detected using user-defined thresholds and alert throttling. BSR trends computed by the platform correlated highly with manual neurologist markings (r
²
0.633-0.781; p <; 0.0001). The platform identified EEG electrodes with poor signal quality with 95% positive predictive value, and reduced latency of technician response by 93%. Conclusion: This study validates a flexible real-time platform for monitoring and interpreting ICU data and notifying caretakers of actionable results, with potential to reduce the manual burden of continuous monitoring services on care providers. Significance: This work represents an important step toward facilitating translational medical data analytics to improve patient care and reduce health care costs.