Generating Insight for Continuing Care through Exploration of RAI-MDS Data with Data Analytics and Computational Mode

The Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set (RAI-MDS) is used by health authorities for collecting information about individuals in continuing care facilities. Collected quarterly, RAI-MDS records contain more than 500 data elements, including cognition, psychosocial well-being, health conditions, communication, physical function, and activity patterns. Because of this it has great potential for providing an incomparable quantitative view on the lives of the oldest and most vulnerable Canadians. This research will focus on applying Big Data methods and modelling to RAI-MDS data, using visual analytics to enable exploration of the data. This will include IBMs Watson, a group of powerful computing systems capable of searching vast amounts of information and performing multiple forms of data analysis. The methodology and tools resulting from this research will allow health authorities, residential care facilities, and other stakeholders to ask powerful questions about critical topics, such as how to allocate resources in order to best help residents.

Faculty Supervisor:

Arthur Ted Kirkpatrick

Student:

Piper Jackson

Partner:

IBM Canada

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

Simon Fraser University