We have recently updated the critical care datasets we host, as part of our programme to respond to data changes in clinical services as well as project requirements. We host critical care data for people treated in general intensive care units (ICU), and the majority of specialist ICUs and high dependency units (HDU). We have critical care datasets at three different scales.
Daily data: broadest scale critical care data
Data collected for submission to The Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group provides the most general overview of critical care. These data provide episode- and daily-level information.
The audit data is collected using the WardWatcher system. NHS Lothian migrated to a new WardWatcher installation around October 2024. Critical care audit data for this date onwards is available in a new, easier to use format. Critical care audit data from the previous installation is available but remains in the older harder to use format. We currently do not plan to convert the old data into the new format.
Hourly data: mid-scale
Our mid-level critical care data includes hourly data and stores details of patient physiology, medication and fluid intake. The physiology data contains 76 different variables including heart rate, blood pressure, blood-oxygen levels, and body temperature. Medication data includes how the drugs are administered alongside dosage details. These mid-level critical care data are obtained from the Philips IntelliSpace Critical Care & Anaesthesia (ICCA) system which went live in NHS Lothian around April 2024.
250Hz data: finest level of data
The most detailed level of critical care data is waveform data collected in real time from patient bedside monitoring in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. These data are comprised of high-resolution signals including multi-channel ECG (capturing the heart’s electrical activity), invasive blood pressure, pulse plethysmography (assessment of blood flow using a light source, like a pulse oximeter) and more. All of these waveforms are sampled at rates up to 250Hz (i.e. 250 times a second).
Currently the data are collected across all critical care and cardiology beds. In the future, this could expand to include other departments, such as operating theatres, the acute medical unit, and parts of the emergency department, including resus. The volumes of data being collected are vast with the nearly 80 beds across critical care and cardiology streaming on average seven signals of continuous waveform data. This yields approximately 300,000 hours of waveform data per month, or the equivalent of 2.5 billion heartbeats a year.
The possibilities developing new insights
We believe this is the first time in the UK that large-scale routine waveform data are available for research purposes. Researchers with whom we have discussed these data are very excited about the opportunities for these data to answer new clinical questions, with the data being ideal for machine learning approaches.
Get in touch
These waveform data are not yet included in our Metadata Catalogue, however they are available for projects. Contact us to explore how these datasets could be of use:
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Image by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
