Redlands, California—Children’s National Health System has been named a 2015 Computerworld Data+ Editors’ Choice Award honoree for its innovative use of location analytics. The prestigious honor recognizes big data initiatives that have delivered significant business value.
"We are pleased to announce the 2015 Data+ Editors’ Choice Awards honorees," said Scot Finnie, editor in chief, Computerworld. "This year’s honorees have used analytics to solve vexing business and humanitarian problems. They are taking data analytics to the next level – mining data to make fast business decisions, measure risk, create efficiencies, and much more."
The accolade commemorates a 2009 project in which Children’s National staff used geographic information system (GIS) technology from Esri to understand and transform the incidence of pediatric burns. The project team analyzed patient data and identified effective interventions by merging electronic health records (EHR) with GIS, a practice that is not commonly deployed.
"Using GIS, we’re able to provide clinicians with data-driven answers rather than anecdotal intuition that can positively impact patient care," said Jefferson McMillan, manager, Business Intelligence and Clinical Analytics at Children’s National Health System. "GIS is not yet widely used in clinical care but has great real-world applications. We’re able to identify health trends or areas of need within a particular region or neighborhood and provide clinicians with data to design interventions to reach those targeted populations."
Led by the IT department and the Division of Trauma and Burn Surgery in the Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Center for Surgical Care, the team mapped areas in Washington, DC, that had an increased number of pediatric burn injuries. The team employed Esri’s geospatial software, ArcGIS, to spatially analyze EHR data and determine the demographic and injury characteristics of children sustaining burns.
Through this analysis, the team discovered that the majority of burns were caused by high water heater settings and were concentrated in a handful of Hispanic communities. In response, Children’s National partnered with the District of Columbia’s Office on Latino Affairs to promote burn prevention tips in these communities. As a result, the health system saw a significant decrease in the number of pediatric burn cases in its emergency department.
The award-winning project marks one of the first initiatives in which Children’s National has applied geography to gain deeper insights from standard patient data.
"Children’s National demonstrates the power of geospatial analysis for painting a picture of the health of our communities and making data actionable. This award is well deserved," said Este Geraghty, MD, chief medical officer at Esri.
The Data+ Editors’ Choice Awards honorees and their achievements will be highlighted in a special September feature on Computerworld.com. For more information on Esri’s GIS solutions for health and human services, visit esri.com/health.
