Monitor-driven data visualization: SmartDisplay.

Exhaustive display of all available clinical data, particular in data-rich environments like the intensive care unit, can easily overwhelm the ability of clinicians to comprehend the clinical status and evolution of their patients and may reduce their ability to detect pathological trends in a reliable and timely manner. SmartDisplay is a system we have designed that restricts the data sets displayed to time-lines of those parameters that are relevant to the patient context and to the particular care provider. The relevance criteria are provided by monitoring programs which may range in complexity from simple threshold alarms to full-fledged diagnostic engines. SmartDisplay can specify which parameters to display and the time intervals during which they should be displayed.