Digitization of Perioperative Surgical Flowsheets; Analyzing the Sociotechnical Impacts of The Great British Baking Show

In this portfolio, there will be two projects, one about the Great British Baking Show and its impacts technically and socially, the other about creating a system to digitize perioperative surgical flowsheets. These two projects are connected by the topic of global health and how it’s continuously changing in society. Digitizing these perioperative flowsheets allow for steps towards analysis in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), while mental health is a growing field of interest as the health industry focusing on changing mental health’s perception.
Along with the field of mental health, global health in recording data in LMICs is often recorded manually on paper flowsheets during an operative. Perioperative data, or data collected during surgery, can be used to calculate the perioperative mortality rate (POMR). This POMR is often used to assess the performance of hospitals, allow for hospitals to report this rate for funding from the World Health Organization, and determine factors that lead to adverse surgical outcomes. The purpose of the technical report is to digitize manually recorded data on flowsheets for access in the country of Rwanda, which allows for further exploration of how perioperative data can be used in the health field as a strong indicator of other complications post-operation. In the STS research paper, exploring mental health and how its seen in “The Great British Baking Show” has implications on the way society has been impacted. Both of these topics allow for a furthering of development in the health industry and explores health is viewed globally. The goal of the technical report is to design a system to digitize the information contained in surgical flowsheets that have been in use for six years at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali in Rwanda. To accomplish this goal, the research team has done the following: 1) Designed a wooden scanning structure, SARA (Scanning Apparatus for Remote Access), to capture flowsheet images in a standard format, 2) Developed a web application to upload images and securely transfer them to UVA for the process, 3) Developed image processing software to digitize the data, 4) Created a SQL database system to store the digitized flowsheet data, and 5) Established an application to securely transfer the data back to Rwanda. This system was carefully designed to cater to the flowsheet that the team had received from Rwanda, and also allows for the medical team in Rwanda to receive the data they are sending to UVA to process.
The purpose of the STS research paper is to explore the research question addressed, “What are the sociotechnical impacts of ‘The Great British Baking Show’?” This topic focuses on the societal impacts that this show has had on British culture, how it can potentially translate to American culture, and the ways that it displays contestants on the show and their life stories with baking. Baking is a hobby that people are encouraged to try and can use this hobby as a form of stress relief. Documentary research methods that analyze the show and the contestants are used to discuss more their personal stories with baking. The technical impacts focus more on the rising popularity of video streaming services in America. With Netflix being a top company in the streaming services industry, this show has been reaching thousands more than it did while it was just on BBC in England. The historical case studies method will be used to analyze the ways video streaming services, such as Netflix, have grown exponentially because of the benefits it provides to consumers. These methods will use the theories for co-production and technological momentum as technology and society have continuously shaped each other through streaming services and shows like these that encourage healthy mental habits. Through research, this topic will expand the way a show can be analyzed in its effects on society and the ways technology has grown to increase its impacts beneficially or detrimentally.
These projects have allowed me to see the value of global health, and how a television show can also bring to light the issues that are seen across the world. The technical topic taught about the importance of data in an operational setting, and how Americans take for granted the ways we can analyze the data we collect from a hospital setting. Through this technical project, it challenged the team to think of alternative ways to approach a hospital setting with a less-than centralized system. The STS research has opened up my eyes to how television and social media can impact society in the way mental health is viewed and can be combatted. Each of these projects has allowed for new insights and perspectives in the health field, where I would not have been able to acknowledge or learn deeper had it not been for these projects. From an engineering perspective, these projects have allowed me to connect how society can be impacted by technologies that are created for the sake of entertainment and how medical data is of high value and needs to be kept for analysis purposes.

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering
Technical Advisor: Donald Brown
STS Advisor: Bryn Seabrook
Technical Team Members: Bhavana Channavajjala, Rex Focht, Luke McPhillips, Sarah Winston Nathan, Nathan Ohene, Angela Yi