Trends in students' knowledge, opinions, and behaviors concerning dental informatics and computer applications.
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Attitude to Computers↗
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Results for “Dental Informatics”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
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Some comments on the state of dental informatics.
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Databases, Bibliographic↗
Clinical informatics and the dental curriculum. A review of the impact of informatics in dental care, its implications for dental education.
The origins of informatics lie in the development of computers and data processing techniques since the 1950s. The subsequent application of these to the practice of healthcare continues to the present day, so that information technology now holds the potential to revolutionise healthcare through more rapid and efficient management of an ever increasing quantity of clinical information. In dentistry, no less than in medicine, electronic systems can make an extremely valuable contribution to clinical practice. For these systems to be clinically useful, however, they need to be properly understood by clinicians. This review paper outlines the scope of clinical informatics and argues that a grounding in clinical informatics is now essential for today's undergraduates to equip them to meet the challenge of practice in the 21st century.
Computer Communication Networks↗
Preparing for the third millennium: the views of life informatics.
The chief aspects of this paper are the condition of the birth of life informatics and its tasks, basic concepts, principles, and structure. There are three phases of combining informatics with medicine: product, technological, and theoretic application of which the goals are respectively the informatization of numerical and word processing, data of medical treatment, and the knowledge of medicine. While reached the third phase we have dealt with two types of biological information, physical and nonphysical, i.e., body information (i.e., the information about body's components and structure), and life information (i.e., the information about life codes and life programs). Life informatics is a main branch of bioinformatics. It is a new member of the medical informatics family, and as such is younger than health informatics, nursing informatics, and dental informatics. It's task is to assist biologists and medical doctors to recognize and interfere the human life information procedure just as they are doing well with human body's matter and energy system. Its basic concepts are life information, life information medicine, and life information therapy. Its most important principles are information materialism, general informatics, and information determinism. Its main branches are biomolecule, cellular, organic, individual, and social informatics. In the third millennium, the life informatics will be a leading discipline in biology, medicine and informatics, which will gradually influence modern philosophy and other humanities.
Biology↗
[Informatics and dental medicine].
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Dentistry↗
Informatics in dental education: a horizon of opportunity.
Computers have presented society with the largest array of opportunities since the printing press. More specifically in dental education they represent the path to freedom from the memory-based curriculum. Computers allow us to be constantly in touch with the entire scope of knowledge necessary for decision making in every aspect of the process of preparing young men and women to practice dentistry. No longer is it necessary to spend the energy or time previously used to memorize facts, test for retention of facts or be concerned with remembering facts when dealing with our patients. Modern information management systems can assume that task allowing dentists to concentrate on understanding, skill, judgement and wisdom while helping patients deal with their problems within a health care system that is simultaneously baffling in its complexity and overflowing with options. This paper presents a summary of the choices facing dental educators as computers continue to afford us the freedom to look differently at teaching, research and practice. The discussion will elaborate some of the ways dental educators must think differently about the educational process in order to utilize fully the power of computers in curriculum development and tracking, integration of basic and clinical teaching, problem solving, patient management, record keeping and research. Some alternative strategies will be discussed that may facilitate the transition from the memory-based to the computer-based curriculum and practice.
Attitude to Computers↗
Computers in dentistry.
Traditionally, each professional school has developed its own course or department of health care informatics. We may find it more efficient and productive to establish a department of Medical Informatics to serve all health science colleges. Therefore the initial costs would be reduced and the common knowledge bank would be greatly increased. In a position paper written for the Association of Academic Health Centers lies the detailed plans for the establishment of an integrated health sciences center computer resource. The inclusion of computer courses in the curriculum can be summarized in the following action step. The chief administrative officer of the academic health center should facilitate the work of the deans of the schools of the health professions in convening faculty task forces that will address the introduction of computer literacy and computer applications in health care to the curricula. Although dental informatics is still in its infancy, we must lay a solid foundation for the controlled growth and development of this field of dental science. The problems encountered in developing a course in dental informatics are not unique to this one area. All specialties of health care are grappling with the questions posed by medical informaticians. Although each specialty has its own needs and requirements, the basic underlying principles of medical informatics remains the same. The knowledge we can gain by the exchange of experiences between all fields can greatly increase the speed and accuracy of development. The primary goal of computer literacy in dental education should be to prepare our students for the changing practice environment of the future.
Computer Literacy↗
ADA initiates development of orthodontic informatics standards.
Standards are the key to interoperability across systems. The American Dental Association (ADA) has been accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards-developing organization. The ADA sponsors standards programs for all areas of dentistry, including dental materials and products and dental informatics. ANSI/ADA Specification No. 1000, Standard Clinical Data Architecture for the Structure and Content of an Electronic Health Record, is the first ANSI standard that defines the fundamental data structures used to make patient health records. The standard promotes the sharing of like data between dentists, physicians, and hospitals.
American Dental Association↗
Overview of bioinformatics and its application to oral genomics.
The "informatics revolution" in both bioinformatics and dental informatics will eventually change the way we practice dentistry. This convergence will play a pivotal role in creating a bridge of opportunity by integrating scientific and clinical specialties to promote the advances in treatment, risk assessment, diagnosis, therapeutics, and oral health-care outcome. Bioinformatics has been an emerging field in the biomedical research community and has been gaining momentum in dental medicine. This area has created a steady stream of large and complex genomic data, which has transformed the way a clinical or basic science researcher approaches genomic research. This application to dental medicine, termed "oral genomics", can aid in the molecular understanding of the genes and proteins, their interactions, pathways, and networks that are responsible for the development and progression of oral diseases and disorders. As the result of the Human Genome Project, new advances have prompted high-throughput technologies, such as DNA microarrays, which have become accepted tools in the biomedical research community. This manuscript reviews the two most commonly used microarray technologies, basic microarray data analysis, and the results from several ongoing oral cancer genomic studies.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗
Informatics and education in the health professions.
Informatics, the applied use of information science, is undergoing definition and development in the health professions with the encouragement of the National Library of Medicine and other professional organizations. Medical informatics and disciplinary subsets such as nursing and dental informatics look to optimize a growing range of applications ranging from video-disks to expert systems. Recommendations call for the integration of informatics into the education of health care professionals. Academic health sciences centers are developing informatics programs; the University of Maryland Campus for the Professions has convened a task force and a national advisory board on informatics.
Health Occupations↗
Capabilities of computerized clinical decision support systems: the implications for the practicing dental professional.
This article presents the use of captured data within the range of patient care activities of the dental practitioner with an emphasis on prosthodontic activities. It describes the use of computer technology in dentistry during a typical patient encounter in a dental care facility. The oral health record, the need for speech recognition technology, and existing documentation software are discussed. Ongoing development of the capabilities of Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems is becoming an important part of the oral health setting; including systems applicable to prosthodontics. These systems all rely on a common standardized structure for the electronic (oral) health record (EHR/EOHR). Current developments in radiological technology and digital imaging are explained as well as fundamentals of decision support systems clarified. Recent developments in the representation of domain knowledge as well as the implementation of a dental nomenclature and metathesaurus are also presented. A quality matrix identifies target values for dental informatics while demonstrating an "importance-weighting" of dental characteristics.
Bayes Theorem↗
Dental public health for the 21st century: implications for specialty education and practice.
A panel of public health practitioners sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration met December 6-8, 1994, to examine current roles and responsibilities for dental public health workers and to recommend changes in education and training to meet challenges posed by an evolving health care system. Overall, at least the same number, if not more, dental public health personnel will be needed in the future. While some new roles were identified, the panel felt that only small numbers of personnel will be needed to fill these new roles. Not all of these roles necessarily require a dental degree. The panel felt that a need exists for more academicians for dental schools, schools of public health, dental public health residencies, and dental hygiene programs; oral epidemiologists and health services researchers; health educators; and specialists in utilization review/outcomes assessment, dental informatics, nutrition, program evaluation, and prevention. To meet these personnel needs: (1) dental public health residency programs should be structured to meet the educational needs of working public health dentists with MPH degrees through on-the-job residency programs; (2) the standards for advanced specialty education programs in dental public health should be made sufficiently flexible to include dentists who have advanced education and the requisite core public health courses; (3) flexible MPH degree programs must be available because of the rising debt of dental students and the decreased numbers of graduating dentists; (4) loan repayment should be available for dentists who have pursued public health training and are working in state or local health departments; and (5) standards for advanced education in dental public health should be developed for dental hygienists.
Certification↗
Digital dentistry in the computer age.
BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW: Computers are becoming an integral part of the practice of dentistry. Smaller, smarter and more ergonomic computing devices will support an increasing proportion of dental practice activities. Technology will make practice management more efficient, mainly by reducing transactional overhead. Educational software and intelligent assistants will increasingly support the needs for decision making in clinical practice. Research will benefit from automated tools for data acquisition, management and analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Dentistry must actively shape the application of technology. It can do this by developing a cadre of experts in dental informatics, relying on sound research principles, effectively disseminating best practices and developing strategic objectives for the implementation of technology. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Computer technology is an essential ingredient for state-of-the-art patient care. Dentists must stay current with this rapidly developing field to make appropriate choices in their use of technology.
Computer Communication Networks↗
Electronic curriculum implementation at North American dental schools.
Electronic curriculum, or E-curriculum, refers to computer-based learning including educational materials available on CD or DVD, online courses, electronic mechanisms to search the literature, email, and various applications of instructional technology including providing laptops to students, multimedia projection systems, and Internet-compatible classrooms. In spite of enthusiasm about the potential for E-curriculum to enhance dental education, there is minimal guidance in the literature to assist schools with implementation. The study objectives were: 1) identify U.S. and Canadian dental schools that have initiated mandatory laptop programs and assess cost, faculty development issues, extent of curricular use, problems, and qualitative perceptions; 2) determine the extent to which twenty-two other E-curriculum resources were available and used at North American dental schools; and 3) identify factors that influenced E-curriculum implementation. A twenty-six item questionnaire, known as the Electronic Curriculum Implementation Survey (ECIS), was mailed to all sixty-six North American dental schools (ten Canadian and fifty-six U.S. schools) during 2002-03 with a response rate of 100 percent. Twenty-five of the twenty-six ECIS questions employed a menu-driven, forced choice format, but respondents could provide amplifying comments. Fifty-three questionnaires were completed by associate deans for academic affairs, three by deans, and ten by instructional technology (IT) managers, IT committee chairs, or directors of dental informatics departments. The survey found that E-curriculum implementation among North American dental schools is following the classic innovation pattern in which a few early adopting institutions proceed rapidly while the majority of potential adopters make modifications slowly. Fourteen U.S. dental schools have established mandatory laptop programs for students. Ten of these laptop programs were created in the past two years; respondents reported numerous growing pains but were generally pleased with their progress. Other E-curriculum capabilities were incorporated into courses more frequently at laptop schools than the fifty-two non-laptop schools including websites, online course evaluations, and instructor use of email to communicate with students. Few dental schools use online courses, and at most schools, few faculty have received training in online instructional techniques. Virtually all North American dental schools have provided substantial instructional technology resources to their faculty, but use of twenty-two components and capabilities of E-curriculum was limited, especially at schools without laptop programs. Various faculty-related issues were reported as implementation barriers including lack of time, skill, and incentive to develop educational software. We conclude that many North American dental schools, especially those with laptop programs, are functioning at the "learn by doing" phase of initial implementation in a four-stage innovation adoption model. E-curriculum planners should pay close attention to implementation problems that occur at this stage where many innovation efforts break down.
Canada↗
The role of information technology and informatics research in the dentist-patient relationship.
A high-value doctor-patient relationship is based on a set of parameters which include the interpersonal relationship between the patient and the doctor. Based on the Primary Care Assessment Survey model, measures of the interpersonal relationship are associated with communication, interpersonal care, contextual knowledge of the patient, and trust. Despite the proven value of the doctor-patient relationship, current trends indicate that the quality of these relationships is on the decline. The advent of communication and information technologies has greatly affected the way in which health care is delivered and the relationship between doctors and patients. The convergence of communication and information technology with biomedical informatics offers an opportunity to affect the character of the doctor-patient relationship positively. This paper examines the intersection of the key features of the doctor-patient relationship and a variety of Internet-based, clinical, and administrative applications used in dental practice. This paper discusses the role of dental informatics research vis-à-vis the doctor-patient relationship and explores how it may inform the next generation of information technologies used in dental practice.
Communication↗
Assessing outcomes of an academic computing initiative.
Academic computing initiatives rank high on the list of priorities of many dental schools. However, outcomes of academic computing initiatives have not been presented. The objectives of this program evaluation were to: 1) document a strategic initiative for academic computing over a five-year period; 2) assess outcomes; and 3) demonstrate how outcomes assessment changed strategic goals for the future. In 1992, Temple University School of Dentistry developed an academic computing plan. The plan proposed to develop the computer literacy of faculty, teach students the computer skills they need to be successful in their careers, and introduce computer-aided instruction as a new teaching tool. Before a new five-year plan was developed in 1997, the original plan's outcomes were summarily assessed. Assessment instruments included faculty and student surveys, budgets, inventory records, and utilization statistics. The school has reached two of three goals of the 1992 plan. Eighty percent of all full-time faculty have computers, are computer literate, and use computers for a variety of purposes. The school has implemented a comprehensive predoctoral dental informatics curriculum. However, the implementation of computer-aided instruction has not met expectations. Goals of the 1998-2003 plan include establishing an online learning infrastructure, improving student access, implementing computer-based oral health records, and further improving the computer literacy of faculty and students. Planning and supporting academic computing initiatives is a substantial challenge. Factors such as institutional culture, capital investment, ongoing support, and technological change influence plans and their success. While process and structure can be assessed relatively easily, measures for changed educational outcomes are still lacking.
Budgets↗
Utilization of library outreach services by dental school alumni, 1988-1998.
BACKGROUND: The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry Library outreach service includes the Dental Reference Service, or DRS; Loansome Doc service, Career Opportunity Center, or COC; and the Instructional Resources Library, or IRL. The author reviewed usage of services for 1988-1998 to analyze use by alumni and nonalumni and to determine possible trends. METHODS: The author reviewed the UMKC School of Dentistry Library outreach service database from 1988-1998 to determine the total number of contacts for all services, numbers of contacts for each service, overall number of items sent and the number of dental health professionals contacting the services. RESULTS: The author found that the COC received 55 percent of contacts for the years 1988-1998, while the DRS received 26 percent of the total contacts and the IRL service received 19 percent. The DRS had the highest usage by alumni (80 percent); Loansome Doc service accounted for 11 percent of the DRS contacts. Total number of items sent in response to all requests was 34,325, of which 22,647 (66 percent) were to alumni. Alumni usage of all outreach services was consistent, ranging from 54 to 63 percent of the total. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that UMKC School of Dentistry alumni are active information-seekers. Several questions, however, remain, indicating that additional research should be done in the area of dental informatics. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Information-seeking behaviors are an important part of the active clinical practice and may become more important as evidenced-based dentistry becomes more prevalent.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗