Evaluating collaborative features of critical care systems: a methodological study of information technology in surgical intensive care units.

Purpose: This study evaluates the collaborative features of a critical care system, CV, used in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). In the evaluation, we take a socio-technical perspective--a view that the technical features of the system and social features of the work are fundamentally interrelated.

Methods: We utilized qualitative data collection and analysis methods. We undertook seven months of observations and conducted more than thirty interviews of healthcare providers in the SICU.

Results: We found that there are a wide variety of collaborative activities such as morning rounds and medication administration that a critical care system must support. We further found that CV supports healthcare providers by providing them awareness of others' activities.

Discussion: We discuss the issue of awareness in greater detail. We also provide some recommendations on how to evaluate how well a system supports collaborative features such as multiple perspectives on information, workflow dependences, and context.