Using aggregate patient data at the bedside via an on-demand consultation service

Using evidence derived from previously collected medical records to guide patient care has been a long standing vision of clinicians and informaticians, and one with the potential to transform medical practice. As a result of advances in technical infrastructure, statistical analysis methods, and the availability of patient data at scale, an implementation of this vision is now possible. Motivated by these advances, and the information needs of clinicians in our academic medical center, we offered an on-demand consultation service to derive evidence from patient data to answer clinician questions and support their bedside decision making. We describe the design and implementation of the service as well as a summary of our experience in responding to the first 100 requests. Consultation results informed individual patient care, resulted in changes to institutional practices, and motivated further clinical research. We make the tools and methods developed to implement the service publicly available to facilitate the broad adoption of such services by health systems and academic medical centers.