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The CAP cancer protocols--a case study of caCORE based data standards implementation to integrate with the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid.

BACKGROUND: The Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) is a network of individuals and institutions, creating a world wide web of cancer research. An important aspect of this informatics effort is the development of consistent practices for data standards development, using a multi-tier approach that facilitates semantic interoperability of systems. The semantic tiers include (1) information models, (2) common data elements, and (3) controlled terminologies and ontologies. The College of American Pathologists (CAP) cancer protocols and checklists are an important reporting standard in pathology, for which no complete electronic data standard is currently available. METHODS: In this manuscript, we provide a case study of Cancer Common Ontologic Representation Environment (caCORE) data standard implementation of the CAP cancer protocols and checklists model--an existing and complex paper based standard. We illustrate the basic principles, goals and methodology for developing caBIG models. RESULTS: Using this example, we describe the process required to develop the model, the technologies and data standards on which the process and models are based, and the results of the modeling effort. We address difficulties we encountered and modifications to caCORE that will address these problems. In addition, we describe four ongoing development projects that will use the emerging CAP data standards to achieve integration of tissue banking and laboratory information systems. CONCLUSION: The CAP cancer checklists can be used as the basis for an electronic data standard in pathology using the caBIG semantic modeling methodology.

Clinical Protocols↗

Keynote address: medical informatics and emergency medicine.

A personal look at some of the developments in practical clinical informatics over the past two decades, with discussion of several successful projects, including the National Center for Emergency Medicine Informatics, the Azyxxi system, Federal Project ER One, the Institutes for Innovation in Medicine, the Medical MediaLab, Project Sentinel, and others. Lessons learned, and hints and suggestions for future developers and informaticists.

Emergency Medicine↗

Developing and evaluating criteria to help reviewers of biomedical informatics manuscripts.

Peer-reviewed publication of scientific research results represents the most important means of their communication. The authors have annually reviewed a large heterogeneous set of papers to produce the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook of Medical Informatics. To support an objective and high-quality review process, the authors attempted to provide reviewers with a set of refined quality criteria, comprised of 80 general criteria and an additional 60 criteria for specific types of manuscripts. Authors conducted a randomized controlled trial, with 18 reviewers, to evaluate application of the refined criteria on review outcomes. Whereas the trial found that reviewers applying the criteria graded papers more strictly (lower overall scores), and that junior reviewers appreciated the availability of the criteria, there was no overall change in the interrater variability in reviewing the manuscripts. The authors describe their experience as a "case report" and provide a reference to the refined quality review criteria without claiming that the criteria represent a validated instrument for quantitative quality measurement.

Humans↗

Exploring the portability of informatics capabilities from a clinical application to a bioscience application.

This report describes XDesc (eXperiment Description), a pilot project that serves as a case study exploring the degree to which an informatics capability developed in a clinical application can be ported for use in the biosciences. In particular, XDesc uses the Entity-Attribute-Value database implementation (including a great deal of metadata-based functionality) developed in TrialDB, a clinical research database, for use in describing the samples used in microarray experiments stored in the Yale Microarray Database (YMD). XDesc was linked successfully to both TrialDB and YMD, and was used to describe the data in three different microarray research projects involving Drosophila. In the process, a number of new desirable capabilities were identified in the bioscience domain. These were implemented on a pilot basis in XDesc, and subsequently "folded back" into TrialDB itself, enhancing its capabilities for dealing with clinical data. This case study provides a concrete example of how informatics research and development in clinical and bioscience domains has the potential for synergy and for cross-fertilization.

Clinical Medicine↗

Biomedical informatics applications for asthma care: a systematic review.

Asthma is a common condition associated with significant patient morbidity and health care costs. Although widely accepted evidence-based guidelines for asthma management exist, unnecessary variation in patient care remains. Application of biomedical informatics techniques is one potential way to improve care for asthmatic patients. We performed a systematic literature review to identify computerized applications for clinical asthma care. Studies were evaluated for their clinical domain, developmental stage and study design. Additionally, prospective trials were identified and analyzed for potential study biases, study effects, and clinical study characteristics. Sixty-four papers were selected for review. Publications described asthma detection or diagnosis (18 papers), asthma monitoring or prevention (13 papers), patient education (13 papers), and asthma guidelines or therapy (20 papers). The majority of publications described projects in early stages of development or with non-prospective study designs. Twenty-one prospective trials were identified, which evaluated both clinical and non-clinical impacts on patient care. Most studies took place in the outpatient clinic environment, with minimal study of the emergency department or inpatient settings. Few studies demonstrated evidence of computerized applications improving clinical outcomes. Further research is needed to prospectively evaluate the impact of using biomedical informatics to improve care of asthmatic patients.

Asthma↗

Information and informatics literacy: skills, timing, and estimates of competence.

BACKGROUND: Computing and biomedical informatics technologies are providing almost instantaneous access to vast amounts of possibly relevant information. Although students are entering medical school with increasingly sophisticated basic technological skills, medical educators must determine what curricular enhancements are needed to prepare learners for the world of electronic information. PURPOSE: The purpose was to examine opinions of academic affairs and informatics administrators, curriculum deans and recently matriculated medical students about prematriculation competence and medical education learning expectations. METHODS: Two surveys were administered: an Information Literacy Survey for curriculum/informatics deans and a Computing Skills Survey for entering medical students. RESULTS: Results highlight differences of opinion about entering competencies. They also indicate that medical school administrators believe that most basic information skills fall within the domain of undergraduate medical education. CONCLUSIONS: Further investigations are needed to determine precise entry-level skills and whether information literacy will increase as a result of rising levels of technical competence.

Computer Literacy↗

What is health informatics?

Health informatics is a relatively recent jargon term for a subject that may be of great interest to health services researchers and policy makers. Most countries with highly developed health systems are investing heavily in computer hardware and software in the expectation of higher quality for lower costs. Recent systematic reviews have indeed demonstrated the health benefits of a range of electronic tools, particularly in the areas of prevention and therapeutic monitoring. However, there remains a relative lack of published evaluations of informatics tools and methods. Uncritical adoption of new systems based on the pressures of technological push continue to discredit policy makers who have had to commit significant resources despite inadequate information on what can be realistically expected from a proposed system. There are great opportunities for researchers interested in evaluation to fill the vacuum left by informaticists who are too busy writing their next line of code.

Health Services Research↗

A training network for introducing telemedicine, telecare and hospital informatics in the Adriatic-Danube-Black Sea region.

DIMNET is a training mechanism for a region of central Europe. The aim is to upgrade the information technology skills of local hospital personnel and preserve their employability following the introduction of medical informatics. DIMNET uses Internet-based virtual classrooms to provide a 200-hour training course in medical informatics. Training takes place in the cities of Drama, Kavala, Xanthi and Varna. So far, more than 600 people have benefited from the programme. Initial results are encouraging. DIMNET promotes a new vocational training culture in the Balkans and is supported by local governments that perceive health-care as a fulcrum for economic development.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Consumer Health Informatics--integrating patients, providers, and professionals online.

Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) means different things to patients, health professionals, and health care systems. A broader perspective on this new and rapidly developing field will enable us to understand and better apply its advances. This article provides an overview of CHI discussing its evolution and driving forces, along with advanced applications such as Personal Health Records, Internet transmission of personal health data, clinical e-mail, online pharmacies, and shared decision-making tools. Consumer Health Informatics will become integrated with medical care, electronic medical records, and patient education to impact the whole process and business of health care.

Access to Information↗

Medical informatics: the Pittsburgh experience.

This column reports the results of a survey conducted of medical librarian participants in medical informatics training at the University of Pittsburgh. This small study was undertaken in order to identify issues in training different kinds of library and information science practitioners in medical informatics.

Academic Medical Centers↗

Nursing informatics: learning from the past to build a new future.

Health care and health information have been around since the time of Hippocrates or even before. Through the historical evolution, it is observed that the knowledge and information that were simple and easy to learn and retain by that time, became much more complex. This paper presents a brief reviewing on the evolution of nursing informatics and how it grew up and made itself visible during all these years of International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) conferences.

Forecasting↗

Challenges and opportunities for technology assessment in medical informatics. Report of a MEDINFO '92 workshop.

Technology assessment in medical informatics is an emerging area. One of the recommendations of a joint IMIA-ISTAHC working conference (1990) was that this area should be further explored, e.g. by a special session at MEDINFO '92 and by a dedicated working group. The MEDINFO '92 workshop 'Challenges and opportunities for technology assessment in Medical Informatics' addressed these recommendations. It aimed to set the scene for a possible IMIA-ISTAHC working group. Prior to the workshop a questionnaire was distributed. This paper gives an overview of workshop and questionnaire results.

Forecasting↗

Informatics competencies for nurses at four levels of practice.

Valid and comprehensive nursing informatics (NI) competencies currently are lacking. Meanwhile, nursing leaders are emphasizing the need to include NI in nursing curricula, as well as within the roles of practicing nurses in all settings. This article presents the initial work of a team of NI experts toward development of a valid and reliable set of NI competencies. Previous work primarily has focused on computer-related skills, rather than examining a broad definition of informatics competencies. For this current work, NI competencies encompass all skills, not only computer-related skills, as well as knowledge and attitudes needed by nurses. The first two authors created a database of NI competencies from the existing literature. A larger panel of NI experts then affirmed, modified, added, or deleted competencies from this database. Competencies were placed into four distinct skill levels. Definitions of each skill level and an initial master list of competencies are provided.

Computer Literacy↗

Legal issues in medical informatics: a bird's eye view.

The present paper is the result of a study investigating the legal issues, problems and obstacles which have arisen as a result of the R&D projects financed by the AIM Program 1991-94. Two parallel lines of investigation were adopted in this study. First of all, a questionnaire was sent to all project partners listed in the AIM 93 Report, with the objective of collecting information on the legal questions with which the individual projects were confronted in the course of their R&D work. This allowed for an initial mapping out of the legal aspects relevant in the field of medical informatics. Secondly, the actual projects were studied as to their legal content and in particular those which included a legal workpackage. This allowed for an assessment of further legal questions, some of which had as yet perhaps not been perceived as such. The present paper deals with five key aspects, describing the nature of the issues and the relevant law and case law or legal vacuum as it may be. It must be emphasised that, as pointed out in the title, this study offers an overview of the legal issues debate in medical informatics and is somewhat exploratory in nature. It is not intended to offer a critical analysis of existing picces of legislation or case law. This would call for more fundamental legal research. Instead the study restricts itself to a general description of existing legal principles and their relevance in the health care sector. As the reader will gather from this paper, legally speaking information technology is still a relatively new entity in the health care sector, which means that legal research and any resulting recommendations may have a real impact on the future course of the law in this field.

Computer Security↗

Where does informatics fit in health care organizations?

Why is medical informatics important to health care leaders? As an emerging science, informatics focuses on applying computing and communication technology to decision making for clinicians and managers. It enhances the understanding of how information and communication systems can impact the work health care managers must accomplish. As the cost of technology for digital information management continues to decline, organizations and individuals will look for ways to offset the human costs of managing and conveying information. The way of the paper medical record is being replaced by the less expensive and more efficient digital information systems. Leaders of health care organizations need to look for every opportunity to deploy networks and computers to reduce the labor costs of data collection, storage, retrieval, and analysis.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Nursing informatics in a registered nurse graduate program.

For many Registered Nurses the question is not whether to advance their education, but how to attain the requisite formal learning experiences given their professional and personal responsibilities. One innovative approach to facilitating the pathway to graduate education for a group of very experienced nurses lacking the BSN is the RN-MS Program at Northeastern University. This graduate-level curriculum provides an opportunity for selected Associate Degree and Diploma prepared nurses to integrate their basic nursing education, extensive clinical practice, professional leadership experience, and practical knowledge base within an extended (85 quarter hours) formal graduate program of study in a nursing specialization. The learning paradigm includes Nursing Informatics and computer competency. The intent of this work was to analyze the experience of RN applicants--students who participated in the faculty designed seminar and developed a typed portfolio using word processing software as part of the admission process in the RN to MS Program. The Nursing Informatics (computer competency component) and its integration throughout the curriculum will be evaluated.

Adult↗

New challenges for nursing informatics.

Long a leader in health informatics, nursing faces new challenges. The full and effective use of technology requires an understanding of cognitive processes and organizational behavior. Nursing can play a key role in addressing aims supportive of a new vision of health informatics. The evolving paradigm for knowledge transfer will give rise to new educational models and new institutional entities which will nurture learning and relearning.

Education, Nursing↗