Development and implementation of an integrated mobile situational awareness iPhone application VigiVU™ at an academic medical center.

PURPOSE: We describe the decision drivers, development and implementation of an integrated mobile situational awareness application for the perioperative environment. This digital operating room tool for anesthesiologists facilitates direct supervision of in-room staff without requiring being tied to a stationary computer workstation.
METHODS: The iOS platform was used to create the VigiVU™ mobile application at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The first working version was completed in 3 weeks with a scalable application for department-wide distribution requiring less than 1,000 development hours.
RESULTS: The VigiVU™ application provides situational awareness via access to real time operating room video, patient vital signs, anesthetic interventions, OR management visualization tools, patient data protection, bidirectional voice and text communication, and integrated electronic medical record access. The application allows anesthesiologists to know the status of their patients in up to four locations simultaneously. The application provides the ability to visually follow the flow of patients through the operative suite and prioritize which patients need attention. The application provides a consistent user environment on several compatible iOS devices. A group of 40 beta testers has consistently used and maintained their copy of the application, suggesting user acceptance.
CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated that it is possible to develop and implement an integrated mobile situational awareness application at a large academic medical center. Future research may determine whether perioperative deployment and utilization of VigiVU™ at our institution enhances patient safety and/or operating room efficiency.