Batch 03 · EHR alerts
Silent failure of an interface feed
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System failure identification
A results feed stops delivering. No error surfaces, the screen simply shows nothing new, and the absence is read as no results rather than as no data. Clinicians act on an absence they have no reason to question.
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Data pipeline diagnostics
Monitoring covers connection state, not message flow. A connection that is open and idle is indistinguishable from one that is open and working, because volume is never compared against expectation. The monitored property is the one that is easy to observe rather than the one that matters.
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Predictive computational model
Forecast expected message volume per feed per hour from historical pattern and alarm on shortfall. Absence of data becomes a positive signal rather than a silence. Expected volume is highly regular per feed and per hour, so shortfall is a clean signal.
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Workflow integration
Route the alarm to integration support rather than to clinicians. The failure is technical, and the recipients have to be people who can restart a feed. An alarm delivered to someone who cannot act on it is noise.