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Can DiCoT Improve Infection Control?: A Distributed Cognition Study of Information Flow in Intensive Care

Inhibited information flow in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) can degrade patient wellbeing and expose hospital staff to hazardous conditions. To identify areas for improvement, we applied the Distributed Cognition for Teamwork (DiCoT) methodology and representational framework in a large hospital in the Southeastern US. We conducted ethnographic observations and interviews for 4 months, discovering systemic information flow barriers. This paper focuses on patient isolation status, which is put into place when a communicable disease is discovered, and how status propagation is sometimes delayed, increasing risk of Hospital-Acquired Infection (HAI). We use DiCoT to navigate the solution space, and propose introducing digital signs. Our main contribution is describing how DiCoT principles quickly led us to solutions to improving information flow in critical care. In future work, we will conduct further investigation, with additional design iterations.