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The supercomputer that can predict when you'll DIE: Boston researchers reveal supercomputer they say has 96% accuracy

Collects data on patients every three minutes
Measures everything from oxygen levels to blood pressure
Loaded with information about more than 250,000 people from the 30 years

Published: 13:54 EST, 14 September 2015 | Updated: 01:19 EST, 15 September 2015

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Boston researchers have developed a supercomputer they claim can predict with 95% probability if a patient is about to die.

The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has linked monitors on its patients to the system, which is said to be better at spotting illnesses than human doctors.

It is loaded with information about more than 250,000 people from the past 30 years, drawing on this data to make speedy diagnoses.

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Dr Steven Horng, at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, poses for a portrait wearing Google Glass. The team has also developed a supercomputer they say can predict with 95% efficiency if a patient will die.

HOW IT WORKS

It collects data on patients every three minutes, measuring everything from oxygen levels to blood pressure.

It is loaded with information about more than 250,000 people from the past 30 years, drawing on this data to make speedy diagnoses.

Analyses data to spot patients at risk.

This speedy disease recognition could allow a quick cure, potentially saving lives as well as predicting patients' imminent demise.

'The big picture is that we're trying to harness the power of big data,' Dr Steve Horng, who is leading the project, told Dailymail.com.

'If you come in, we can take everything we know about you, both in your current visit and previous visits.

'We can compare that to other patients with similar conditions, and predict diagnoses you might have in the future.'

It collects data on patients every three minutes, measuring everything from oxygen levels to blood pressure.

It is also loaded with information about more than 250,000 people from the past 30 years, drawing on this data to make speedy diagnoses.

'We try to come up with a very simple summary of what happened in the past, and what is happening now,' said Dr Horng'

'We integrate everything into our clinical system, and it drives what kind of clinical pathways you go into.'

The groundbreaking research is the first time the 'big data' principles have been applied in this way.

Dr Steve Horng told the BBC: 'Our goal is not to replace the clinician.

'This artificial intelliegence is really about the augmenting of doctors' ability to take care of patients.'

'We can predict with 96% confidence when patients [are facing a high] probability of dying,' Dr Horng continued.

'If the computer says you're going to die, you probably will die in the next 30 days.'

Earlier this year doctors at the hospital in Boston became the first in America to use Google Glass for everyday medical care.

The system collects data on patients every three minutes, measuring everything from oxygen levels to blood pressure to give doctors 'everything we need to know about a patient'.

Doctors are looking up patients’ records on Google Glass and checking things online whilst they walk around rather than wading through big files.

They have also put codes on the doors to patients’ rooms so that they can instantly access a patient’s medical records.

Beth Israel says that it is using the most modern technology to help patients - but privacy campaigners have long said Google Glass is invasive.

However, the hospital said the camera is switch off at all times.

Google Glass, which costs $1,500 a pair (£980), is currently on limited release to a few thousand people but will be more widely available later this year.

Beth Israel says that it is using the most modern technology to help patients - but privacy campaigners have long said Google Glass is invasive

HOW CAN GOOGLE GLASS HELP?

Google Glass is being used at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre:

- look up patient’s file on the spot without thumbing through a big file

- allow them to stay with a patient for longer

- access patient’s files through QR codes on the patient’s doors

- keeps doctor’s hands free to interact with patient

In the future Google Glass could allow:

- surgeons to watch colleagues operating in real time

- doctors making the rounds remotely whilst a robot with a camera and a monitor showing their image visits them in person

- patients to remotely show their doctors their injuries via the Google Glass camera

It is connected to the Internet via wi-fi and has a tiny screen that lets the user see text and images in front of their eye.

Beth Israel has rolled it out in its entire emergency department and and doctors including Steven Horng say it is helping them to do their jobs.

He told the Boston Globe: 'We’re doing this to prove that the technology can work and really motivate others to explore this space with us.

'Not only is it hands free, it’s always on, always in front of you and always giving you information.

‘Rather than having to excuse myself, it means I can quickly access that information without having to interrupt the patient, lose eye contact, or even leave the room’.

Dr Horng said that in January he thinks that Google Glass may have helped to save a patient’s life.

The man had bleeding in the brain and needed drugs to stop the hemorrhage but he was allergic to a certain kind.

Dr Horng was able to look up the medical files on his eyewear rather than taking vital seconds out to search through his paper files.

Beth Israel is also experimenting with QR (Quick Response) codes on the doors to patient’s rooms which doctors scan with the camera on Google Glass to bring up the records.

How Glass works: A German designer created this infographic to show how the eyewear projects an image

Each code is unique to the patient, though it is not clear if anyone can access them if they have a scanner.

Beth Israel is not the first hospital to use Google Glass and surgeons at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis have used to in an operation to cut out an abdominal tumor.

The surgeon was able to call up MRI scans without having to put his instruments down.

At the University of California-Irvine Medical Center, senior doctors are also monitoring junior medics as they make their rounds.

Outside of the medical profession, Google Glass is being used by Virgin Atlantic flight crew to check in passengers on trans-Atlantic trips.

But there has also been controversy and some cafes in America have banned the eyewear out of concerns for privacy.

Google Glass users Cecilia Abadie was also given a driving ticket in California for using Google Glass behind the wheel, though the case was later dropped.