Approach to the Problem

There are other initiatives that focus on exportable guidelines such as GLIF and The SAGE Project. Our approach differs from these projects in that (1) we include all information you need at the bedside, not just guidelines, and (2) we are focusing on critical care and will include data from the patient monitors as well.

1. Bedside Information Analysis

This first step will investigate "information architecture" issues related to information used at the bedside. We will classify the information and develop structures associated with each classification. For example, performing the steps necessary to calculate a Glasgow Coma Score might be a "checklist" structure with the added attribute that a number is calculated. Issues related to how each structure would be displayed are also investigated in this step.

2. Develop an Exportable Format

We will develop a set of tags for XML (the eXtensible Markup Language) to create the Bedside Markup Language (BML). This language defines standard structures and, unlike HTML (the "language of the web") it knows about the content of the information and not just how to format it. Thus, a bedside data display could know what piece of information is relevant to what step in the care of the patient and could display it appropriately.

BML will be an open standard developed by a collaboration between users (clinical personnel), providers (publishers, manufacturers, policymakers, etc.) and experts in informatics and computer science.

3. Prototype and Test an Initial Application (Head Trauma)

We will be developing a bedside information display that will make use of this standard in order to test the concepts. For testing purposes we have limited the initial scope of the information to that associated with the management of head trauma.