Using a context-aware medical application to address information needs for extubation decisions.

Information overload has been one of the causes of preventable medical errors [1] and escalating costs [2]. A context-aware application with embedded clinical knowledge is proposed to provide practitioners with the appropriate amount of information and content. We developed a prototype of a context-aware medical application to address clinicians' information needs that arise in a data intensive unit, the Cardio-Thoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU). A major clinical decision supported by the prototype, the extubation decision, is illustrated.