A wearable computing based system for the prevention of medical errors committed by registered nurses in the intensive care unit

The common occurrence of medical errors (MEs) is one of the most serious problems affecting healthcare delivery. Registered nurses (RN) are at the highest risk of committing MEs due to the extended time they expend with patients. The level of stress and the dynamics of the intensive care unit (ICU) make it the healthcare setting with the highest rate of MEs per patient. Information technology has been suggested as one the components of an aggregated solution to the problem of preventing MEs. We report an ongoing research toward the development of the registered nurse performance support system (RNPSS), a hardware/software wearable computing based system that would reduce and, it is hoped prevent MEs committed by RNs in the ICU.