Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare of Memphis, Tenn. has joined the University of Memphis Center for Healthcare Technology on an innovative research program aiming to help nurses do their jobs.

The research method, known as "data farming," uses computer simulation to analyze thousands of nurse workflow scenarios and find ways to apply healthcare IT and physical layouts, increasing the capacity of a nurse to be at bedside.

According to W. Joseph Ketcherside, MD, senior vice president and chief medical informatics officer at MLH, data farming was originally used by the Marine Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., to improve understanding of modern combat situations.

Ketcherside said the MLH data farming project, which has only just started, is relatively new for healthcare and will look at all the variable options of what a nurse does in a day to determine ways to get the best care with the fewest amount of resources. By doing a sample workflow with simulated patients, MLH can analyze treatment of 5,000 imaginary patients overnight and we can manipulate it in all sorts of ways, rather than building it in the real world which would take months and months, Ketcherside said.

"I thought what doctors did was hard, it turns out what nurses do in a day is 10 times more complicated in terms of workflow than what anyone else does in a day," he said. "Most products on the market don't handle everything that nurses do. Commercial products are still very immature." Data farming aims to allow the hospital to use products most efficiently.