Research
Information and clinical reasoning
Medical professionals make important decisions under time pressure. The exponentially growing volume of scientific evidence and data - be that biometric data, clinical databases or data from our smartphones - has enormous potential to support those decisions. But more information and more sophisticated tools do not automatically improve results. When poorly integrated into practice, they can add work, obscure relevant information and make decisions harder and slower.
The answer is not simply more capable models or greater computing power. To improve care with technology, we need to understand how clinical decisions are actually made, and how information can support them: what clinicians need to know, when they need it, and how it should be presented. This relationship between digital information, professional expertise and clinical work is the focus of my research.
ChildScreen
My current research examines information flow in the pediatric emergency department. Parents are often the first to notice a change in a child's condition. We are studying how to give those observations structure, understand their value and integrate them into pediatric emergency care.
ChildScreen is a digital symptom questionnaire completed by a parent or guardian of a child under seven while waiting in the emergency department. It asks about observable signs such as breathing, drinking and alertness. I am the principal investigator of the study, currently underway at Tampere University Hospital, where we are studying whether the questionnaire can identify children who need urgent evaluation, how usable it is for families, and how it fits into clinical work.
In the current study phase, questionnaire results are hidden from clinical staff and do not guide care. This phase evaluates the questionnaire's predictive value and its usability for caregivers. Alongside this evaluation, we are examining how the information should be presented to nurses and doctors in the emergency department. The work forms the core of my doctoral thesis at Tampere University, alongside a systematic review of caregiver-completed digital tools.