SUMMARY
The primary research interest of Vitaly Herasevich, M.D., Ph.D., is applied clinical informatics. He seeks to understand the role computerized systems and ambient intelligence play in fast-paced hospital environments, such as intensive care units (ICUs) and perioperative environments. His training in medicine, medical informatics and clinical research allows Dr. Herasevich to work on a full spectrum of clinical informatics projects in a critical care setting.
Realizing the tremendous progress of information technology and electronic medical records, Dr. Herasevich is focused on studying, innovating, developing and applying novel technologies in the hospital environment. The end goal of this research is to enhance patient safety and improve outcome, and increase health care professional satisfaction.
Dr. Herasevich was fortunate to pioneer studies leading to the creation of clinical syndromic surveillance alerting systems. These data "sniffers" promote early detection of specific organ failure syndromes such as shock, sepsis and acute lung injury. Early on, Dr. Herasevich designed a near real-time intensive care datamart. Its ability to track and integrate data now makes possible studies involving clinical prediction, reporting and data mining, as well as traditional epidemiological studies. Dr. Herasevich's later work resulted in the creation of the Ambient Warning and Response Evaluation (AWARE) System, which improved compliance with best practices using a new electronic medical record (EMR) interface with built-in tools for error prevention, practice surveillance and reporting. Later, the Food and Drug Administration cleared AWARE and the sepsis sniffer prediction tool for use as software-based medical device systems.
Dr. Herasevich's current research is centered on enhancing patient safety and effective practice through virtual care. This is accomplished using wearable sensors and computer vision monitoring to augment traditional EMR.
Focus areas
- Clinical information representation, information overload and usability. Complex human-computer interactions — especially information overload — present major challenges for enhancing patient safety and practicing efficient, rational and error-free critical care medicine. Understanding cognitive and organizational ergonomics while embedding those findings in electronic interfaces at the bedside could significantly decrease the cognitive load for health care professionals and reduce medical errors. Dr. Herasevich's work in this area focuses on creating novel patient-centered EMR interfaces.
- Predictive and prescriptive analytics. Dr. Herasevich is developing decision support systems that can analyze and correct a course of treatment in a semiautonomous fashion. In addition to traditional data from electronic health records and bedside monitors, this approach uses wearable and advanced sensors including computer vision and virtual care.
- Technology development and information management. Dr. Herasevich is passionate about designing and developing secure clinical data representation, linkage and sharing to support clinical decision-making, reporting and science of health care delivery research. Since his early days in clinical informatics, Dr. Herasevich has continued to innovate in this domain.
- Clinical surveillance and virtual care. The recent proliferation of telemedicine use during the pandemic has highlighted the tremendous opportunity to deliver quality care to remote and underserved populations. Similar technologies allow for patient monitoring everywhere in the hospital, as well as proactive screening using electronic algorithms. Dr. Herasevich's research in this area pioneered the Clinical Control Tower concept for ICU and hospitalwide surveillance.
- Health information technology (HIT) evaluation. Dr. Herasevich's long-standing interest in health information technology evaluation resulted in the publication of two textbook editions that outlined approaches for validation of new technologies interventions. Currently, he is focusing on developing simplified valid methods for HIT evaluation.
Significance to patient care
Dr. Herasevich's research in the development, study, implementation and evaluation of computerized systems directly impacts patient care. Enhancing the automatization of clinical workflows has improved outcomes for people who are critically ill.
Dr. Herasevich co-leads the Clinical Informatics in Intensive Care Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. This hospital-based lab is a computerized resource that engages in activities including the initial design and development of informatics tools through rigorous evaluation, practice implementation and measurement of the impact of the developed systems. The lab team's ultimate goal is to discover new digital tools to assist front-line health care professionals that positively impact clinical practice. Currently, the Acute Care Multi-Patient (AMP) Viewer system developed in the lab monitors almost 2,000 hospitalized patients across all Mayo Clinic geographic locations.
Professional highlights
- Co-director, Office of Digital Innovation, Center for Clinical and Translational Science, Mayo Clinic, 2024-present.
- Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM).
- Fellow, American College of Critical Care Medicine (FCCM), 2016-present.
- Presidential citation for outstanding contribution, 2023.
- Chair, vice chair, past chair, Tele-ICU committee, 2017-2020.
- Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).
- Fellow (FHIMSS), 2023-present.
- Board of directors, Minnesota chapter, 2020-present.
- Board of directors, Society for Complex Acute Illness (SCAI), 2022-present.
- Fellow, American Medical Informatics Association (FAMIA), 2020-present.
- Senior member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2020-present.
- Associate program director, Clinical Informatics Fellowship, Mayo Clinic, 2013-2017.
- KL2 scholar, National Institutes of Health, 2007-2010.