The Marcus Autism Center (MAC), Cisco, and Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) partnered to develop a state-of-the-art telemedicine suite to serve families in Georgia and neighboring states. Observations of formative design studies and clinical telemedicine/training sessions have revealed the need for an efficient means of organizing, storing, and sharing documents and recorded videos between sites, providers, and caregivers.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders frequently have increased sensitivity to external stimulation such as noise and touch, making MRIs a particularly jarring procedure. For this population, MRIs are commonly performed under sedation to manage the child’s anxiety and ensure the child remains still. Researchers at Marcus are investigating alternatives to manage anxiety through the use of a mock MRI to simulate the scanning experience, allowing children to slowly become comfortable with the MRI.

The goal of this Reduced Touch Contamination Connector project is to develop a new safer style of medical connectors that is less prone to mishandling and touch contamination.  By reducing touch contamination of medical connector tips entering the intravascular fluid path, the risk of bloodstream infections is expected to be reduced.  In the case intravenous access, human error is a frequent source of contamination.

Created a method to measure how much force was being applied to scoliosis brace fasteners to measure patient compliance. Created a patient portal website that allowed the data to be uploaded.  Created a clinician website to allow access to the data.  The initial method employed strain gages on the brace’s fasteners.  This approach was abandoned when GA Tech failed to file a patent application and another team successfully field an application that covered the same technique.

This research systematically investigates how access to pediatric radiology reports can be broadened to include a care community consisting of patients and their family members. Specifically, the proposed research will elucidate how family members of pediatric patients utilize the CHOA personal health record portal to access and utilize radiology reports in gauging patient status and care progress. We will study how access to this information subsequently impacts patient-provider communication: how information is shared among patients and their care team in practice.

Relatively little is known about which factors correlate to prolonged post-concussive symptoms in children. This lack of prognostic data has led to uncertainty as to which patients would benefit from specialist management, modified academic accommodations, delayed return to school, or abstinence from high-risk activities. Our goal is to analyze the natural history of children with persistent concussion symptoms using informatics based prognostic decision tools.