Enhancing ICU Patient Recovery: Using LLMs to Assist Nurses in Diary Writing

TL;DR

This paper explores how large language models can assist ICU nurses in diary writing to improve patient recovery, addressing practical challenges and proposing future research directions.

Contribution

It identifies key socio-technical challenges and suggests ways to leverage LLMs for enhancing ICU diary documentation.

Findings

Highlights barriers to ICU diary adoption

Proposes LLM-based solutions for diary assistance

Outlines future research directions for implementation

Abstract

Intensive care unit (ICU) patients often develop new health-related problems in their long-term recovery. Health care professionals keeping a diary of a patient's stay is a proven strategy to tackle this but faces several adoption barriers, such as lack of time and difficulty in knowing what to write. Large language models (LLMs), with their ability to generate human-like text and adaptability, could solve these challenges. However, realizing this vision involves addressing several socio-technical and practical research challenges. This paper discusses these challenges and proposes future research directions to utilize the potential of LLMs in ICU diary writing, ultimately improving the long-term recovery outcomes for ICU patients.