Big data and clinical research: focusing on the area of critical care medicine in mainland China

Abstract

Big data has long been found its way into clinical practice since the advent of information technology era. Medical records and follow-up data can be more efficiently stored and extracted with information technology. Immediately after admission a patient immediately produces a large amount of data including laboratory findings, medications, fluid balance, progressing notes and imaging findings. Clinicians and clinical investigators should make every effort to make full use of the big data that is being continuously generated by electronic medical record (EMR) system and other healthcare databases. At this stage, more training courses on data management and statistical analysis are required before clinicians and clinical investigators can handle big data and translate them into advances in medical science. China is a large country with a population of 1.3 billion and can contribute greatly to clinical researches by providing reliable and high-quality big data.

Keywords: Big data; critical care medicine; mainland China.

Figure 1

In Jinhua Municipal Central Hospital, every bed is equipped with a monitor (upper left) and a computer (upper right) so that data on vital signs (e.g., respiratory rate, heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature) and other physiological signals (e.g., extravascular lung water when transpulmonary thermodilution measurement is performed) can be automatically extracted from the monitor and stored in the electronic medical record (EMR) system in a predefined time interval. The lower screen displays parameters of ventilator setting, and these parameters can also be extracted to the EMR.