A research project designed to help doctors detect subtle changes in the condition of critically ill premature babies has been launched by IBM and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).

A group of researchers will use advanced stream computing software developed by IBM Research to work towards enhancing the decision making capabilities of doctors. The software ingests a constant stream of biological data such as heart rate and respiration, along with environmental data gathered from advanced sensors and more traditional monitoring equipment on or around the babies.

The type of information that will come out of the research project is not available today. Currently physicians monitoring ‘preemies’ rely on a paper-based process that involves manually looking at the readings from various monitors and getting feedback from the nurses providing care.

Project leader, Dr. Carolyn McGregor, explained: “This research has the potential to greatly impact neonatal care through reduced mortality and morbidity rates and overall health-care costs.

“By merging our research and technology, we are able to collect more detailed patient data in a systematic manner, do online health analysis and decision support, and get advanced early warning of emerging patterns that could predict a medical event.”

When fully developed, IBM’s software will be capable of processing the 512 readings per second generated by some of these medical devices and UOIT researchers will further test and develop its ability to analyse these vast quantities of data in real time.