Computer Vision News - February 2019

We can make sure that they are actually delivering the intended care. Computer vision can also be used for the continuous monitoring of patients. When you don’t have a healthcare provider that can be by a patient’s side all the time, you can help keep monitoring for patient status. Another thing you can imagine is this being a smart space where you have an environment that is reactive and changing, predicting ahead of time what might be a doctor or nurse’s next step to help make changes in the environment, to anticipate that, and assist them in real time. Where do you stand now in putting this into practice? We’ve had some early prototypes that we’ve set up at Stanford Children’s Hospital as well as at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah. At these places, we’ve equipped pilot units, for example, one unit at each hospital with sensors capturing visual data and developed prototype pilot computer vision algorithm for these. We’ve had some exciting early results for these, looking at when anyone is performing hand hygiene, which is important for preventing infections that are acquired in the hospital. We’ve also looked at continuously monitoring for patient mobilization activities, healthcare workers working to move patients in and out of bed and mobilizing them a little bit when they’re in ICUs. These mobilization activities are really important for preventing ICU acquired weakness from lying too long in bed without moving. Can you explain that? ICU acquired weakness is a condition you acquire from lying too long in bed without moving. It can cause complications or prolong your stay in the hospital. How have the hospital personnel reacted? One thing I’ve really noticed has been the interest from the medical personnel we’ve worked with in investigating and studying these new types of technologies that can help provide better patient care. 20 Women in Computer Vision Computer Vision News Women in Science “It shows how much the nurses and clinicians really care about their patients. They are enthusiastic to be the guinea pigs trying out and shaping the future of this technology.”