FCS News

The NICHE Research Group in the Faculty of Computer Science has teamed up with Capital Health on an innovative research project that will enhance the quality of life for Nova Scotians living with Atrial Fibrillation (AF).

AF is the most common heart rhythm disorder affecting an estimated 20,000 Nova Scotians.  People living with the disorder are five times more likely to suffer a stroke than those without AF.

The research project is called “Integrated Management Program Advancing Community Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation (IMPACT-AF) and is supported by a research grant of more than five million dollars from Bayer Inc.

The NICHE research group is led by Computer Science professor Dr. Raza Abidi.  The team is also comprised of Dr. Samina Abidi from the Faculty of Medicine/Faculty of Computer Science and a group of post docs and grad students.  Together they will develop an interactive web based tool called the Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS).  

The CDSS, amongst other things, will computerize the Canadian best-practice guidelines for AF, analyze a patient’s medical history and then provide recommendations in the management of AF.

“The IMPACT-AF project offers a unique opportunity to utilize the innovative knowledge management and health informatics technologies that have been developed at the NICHE Research Group to better meet the need of both health professionals and patients, ” said Abidi. 

These technologies include semantic web technologies such as ontologies for knowledge representation and the reasoning over these ontologies, all in a web services architecture.

Abidi and his team anticipate the CDSS will improve the quality of life for AF patients and also reduce heart related hospital visits.

How it will work:

When a patient with a heart related issue visits their physician for health tests, the CDSS will scan their results and flag any potential issues.

“This is a decision support system that has built-in clinical knowledge (represented in the semantic web ontology), derived from the best clinical evidence for the management of AF,” said Abidi.  “The CDSS is going to proactively monitor the patient to detect any adverse events or health risks that may impact their heart condition.”

If a problem is detected, the CDSS can notify both the patient and their doctor via text message or email notification to their smartphone device.  Recommendations based on Canadian guidelines for the management of AF will also be provided.

In addition, a ‘smart’ patient interface, also planned for the project, is anticipated to offer personalized educational content and patient-self management support directly to individuals with AF.

“Right now many patients may not be receiving the best possible care as recommended by these guidelines,” said Samina Abidi, who also works as a medical doctor.  “The CDSS will help doctors support and enhance the care they would usually provide patients based upon their own training and experience.”

“In a way, patients with a history of AF will always be under observation and timely care can be provided to them,” said Abidi.

Next Phase:  

Abidi and his team anticipate the development of CDSS will be ready by mid 2014.  Upon completion the IMPACT-AF project will conduct a province-wide deployment and evaluation of the CDSS in primary care clinics.  A follow up study will determine if the CDSS can effectively support family physicians and their patients in the management of AF.

If the IMPACT-AF project team finds that the CDSS provides AF patients with better health outcomes, the CDSS technology can be expanded to manage a number of other chronic issues.  The study is expected to continue over the next five years.