AN INTEGRATED GRAPHIC DATA DISPLAY IMPROVES DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL EVENTS DURING ANESTHESIA

Objective. To show that an integrated graphic data display can shorten the time taken to detect and correctly identity critical events durin g anesthesia. Methods. We developed a graphic display which presents 3 0 anesthrsia-related physiologic variables as shapes and colors, rathe r than traditional digits and waveforms. To evaluate the new display, nle produced lour critical events on a computer-based anesthesia simul ator and asked two groups of five anesthesiologists to identify the ev ents as quickly as possible. One group observed the new display while the other group viewed a traditional cardiovascular monitor with digit al and waveform displays, Results. The group which observed the integr ated graphic display saw changes caused by inadequate paralysis 2.4 mi n sooner, and changes caused by a cuff leak 3.1 min sooner than those observing the traditional display. The integrated display group correc tly identified the reason for the change 2.8 min sooner for inadequate paralysis, 3.1 min sooner for cuff leak and 3.1 min sooner for bleedi ng. These differences were all statistically significant. Conclusions. The results show that some simulated critical events are detected and correctly identified sooner, when an anesthesiologist views an integr ated graphic display, rather than a traditional digital/waveform monit or.