Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Public Health 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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 955 records · Page 53Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Academic and commercial development of open source applications in international health informatics. Opposite sides of the same coin?

Whilst covertly in the past many ideas developed in academic environments have made their way into commercial applications, there is growing acknowledgment that this model may be necessary for both funding academics and for project enrichment in private ventures. This paper seeks to explore and expound on the various pressures related to protocol development and the creation of a MAP (Multiphasic Algorithimic Protocol) Engine as a commercial venture based on an evolution from an academic environment, into a service oriented commercial product. It has been determined in a series of symposia that an Object Oriented; Open Source (OS) environment may best meet the needs for this endeavor. Numerous barriers and agreements remain, and explorations of these will, we believe, bring out the best of both sides of the coin - reflecting the strengths of both cultures.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

An Internet health care information resources server as a component of a statewide medical information network.

A health care information server utilizing Internet resource discovery technology is presented as a component of a statewide medical information network. The development of an information server, including the development process and its design and operation, is presented. Menu design and implementation, which involved providing access to information resources in support of the tasks that make up the health care delivery process, are described. The potential impact of this technology on the health care delivery process is explored, and ways in which access to information can be facilitated and matched with the information needs of the various health care delivery tasks are identified. Issues associated with the use of public domain information resources are discussed, including control over Internet resources, access to information resources, network operational delays, client connection and software availability, information quality, and menu navigation. This project has demonstrated that Internet information resources exist that match the information needs of the tasks that make up the health care delivery process. Positive response has been received from physicians after initial utilization of the server in a stand-alone context. In the future, more applications will integrate the vast information resources on the Internet with traditional computing systems.

Alabama↗
PubMed1995

[Contribution of computers and telepathology in cancerologic pathology].

The histologic or cytologic diagnosis of a tumoral lesion may be sometimes very difficult to do even for a senior pathologist. Nevertheless, it is necessary to recognize a malignant process with reliability and security. The usual way to solve some difficult problems is firstly to search documentations in books or atlas and then to discuss the slides in common. Sometimes it is necessary to dispatch the original documents to a national or international expert. Now computers are used in any private or public department of Pathology. Some new informatics developments allow to send good digitized pictures to an expert and to discuss with him. It is also possible to elaborate a data base of digitized images which can be edited on CD-Rom. We describe the development and the use of these technics in France and elsewhere. It seems that they could have an increasing role for quality assurance in tumoral pathology.

Cancer Care Facilities↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Advanced Technology Program's information infrastructure for healthcare focused program: a brief history.

This review examines how a "bottom-up" model of a civilian technology program works by recounting the story of the "genesis" of the Information Infrastructure for Healthcare (IIH) focused program of the Advanced Technology Program. The IIH program began with an exchange of ideas among members of the private and public sectors (through the submission of "white papers" by members of industry, workshops conducted by the ATP, and meetings among persons from both groups) to identify the technologies that are necessary for the development of a national information infrastructure in health care. What the ATP hoped to gain through this process and how the private sector responded are noted. A statistical description of the participants and a discussion of changes in the ATP review and selection process is included.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1995

Medical resources on the Internet.

Advances in telecommunications technology in the last decade have fostered the development of computer networks that allow access to vast amounts of information and services. Of the many computer networks that have been developed, the most prominent is the Internet. Originally intended to be a way to share computing resources among academic and research institutions in the United States, the Internet has gradually evolved into a worldwide network of computers that provides various services reflecting the eclectic nature of its component networks. The recent upsurge in interest in the Internet is due to several mutually reinforcing factors: increased ease and availability of access to the Internet, lower access charges, faster communications, and more organizations offering commercial and noncommercial services over the Internet. Of particular interest to the medical community is the large and increasing number of technical, scientific, and biomedical resources that can be accessed through the Internet. Most large medical centers have publicly accessible information, and some large organizations, such as the National Institutes of Health, have extensive databases and services that can be used by medical researchers, clinicians, and educators. In addition, many medical organizations and some medical journals are advertising their services over the Internet and can be contacted through electronic mail. As the cost of telecommunications decreases and the speed of telecommunications increases, new forms of computer communication, such as long-distance, real-time audio, and video services will become available. Computer networks in general and the Internet in particular are likely to play more important roles in many aspects of medicine in the future.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed2003

Electronic technology: a spark to revitalize primary care?

The computer revolution has enormous potential to improve primary care in the areas of medical records, communication between physicians and patients, information sharing among health care providers, and rapid access to reliable medical information for both physicians and patients. A number of barriers must be overcome before computerization is widely embraced in primary care: e-health often takes too much time and is too expensive; the quality of Web-based medical information is inadequate; software programs may not interact with one another; patient privacy must be protected; public and private insurers rarely pay for electronic communication with patients; and the computer could interfere with the patient-physician relationship. Studies have shown that some computerized systems, such as reminder prompts and physician performance feedback, may improve physician performance and patient outcomes, but if these systems are too time-consuming, physicians may not use them. If primary care practices are to benefit from the electronic revolution, they must redesign their clinical processes to ensure that e-health facilitates rather than hinders the work of physicians.

Clinical Laboratory Information Systems↗
PubMed2001

Ngi and Internet2: accelerating the creation of tomorrow's internet.

Internet2 is a consortium of leading U.S. universities working in partnership with industry and the U.S. government's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative to develop a faster, more reliable Internet for research and education including enhanced, high-performance networking services and the advanced applications that are enabled by those services [1]. By facilitating and coordinating the development, deployment, operation, and technology transfer of advanced, network-based applications and network services, Internet2 and NGI are working together to fundamentally change the way scientists, engineers, clinicians, and others work together. [http://www.internet2.edu] The NGI Program has three tracks: research, network testbeds, and applications. The aim of the research track is to promote experimentation with the next generation of network technologies. The network testbed track aims to develop next generation network testbeds to connect universities and federal research institutions at speeds that are sufficient to demonstrate new technologies and support future research. The aim of the applications track is to demonstrate new applications, enabled by the NGI networks, to meet important national goals and missions [2]. [http://www.ngi.gov/] The Internet2/NGI backbone networks, Abilene and vBNS (very high performance Backbone Network Service), provide the basis of collaboration and development for a new breed of advanced medical applications. Academic medical centers leverage the resources available throughout the Internet2 high-performance networking community for high-capacity broadband and selectable quality of service to make effective use of national repositories. The Internet2 Health Sciences Initiative enables a new generation of emerging medical applications whose architecture and development have been restricted by or are beyond the constraints of traditional Internet environments. These initiatives facilitate a variety of activities to foster the development and deployment of emerging applications that meet the requirements of clinical practice, medical and related biological research, education, and medical awareness throughout the public sector. Medical applications that work with high performance networks and supercomputing capabilities offer exciting new solutions for the medical industry. Internet2 and NGI,strive to combine the expertise of their constituents to establish a distributed knowledge system for achieving innovation in research, teaching, learning, and clinical care.

Internet↗
PubMed2006

Sensor, signal, and image informatics - state of the art and current topics.

OBJECTIVES: The number of articles published annually in the fields of biomedical signal and image acquisition and processing is increasing. Based on selected examples, this survey aims at comprehensively demonstrating the recent trends and developments. METHODS: Four articles are selected for biomedical data acquisition covering topics such as dose saving in CT, C-arm X-ray imaging systems for volume imaging, and the replacement of dose-intensive CT-based diagnostic with harmonic ultrasound imaging. Regarding biomedical signal analysis (BSA), the four selected articles discuss the equivalence of different time-frequency approaches for signal analysis, an application to Cochlea implants, where time-frequency analysis is applied for controlling the replacement system, recent trends for fusion of different modalities, and the role of BSA as part of a brain machine interfaces. To cover the broad spectrum of publications in the field of biomedical image processing, six papers are focused. Important topics are content-based image retrieval in medical applications, automatic classification of tongue photographs from traditional Chinese medicine, brain perfusion analysis in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), model-based visualization of vascular trees, and virtual surgery, where enhanced visualization and haptic feedback techniques are combined with a sphere-filled model of the organ. RESULTS: The selected papers emphasize the five fields forming the chain of biomedical data processing: (1) data acquisition, (2) data reconstruction and pre-processing, (3) data handling, (4) data analysis, and (5) data visualization. Fields 1 and 2 form the sensor informatics, while fields 2 to 5 form signal or image informatics with respect to the nature of the data considered. CONCLUSIONS: Biomedical data acquisition and pre-processing, as well as data handling, analysis and visualization aims at providing reliable tools for decision support that improve the quality of health care. Comprehensive evaluation of the processing methods and their reliable integration in routine applications are future challenges in the field of sensor, signal and image informatics.

Diagnostic Imaging↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Information technology and the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health.

Women are increasingly turning to the Internet for health information. The National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services) have as one goal the use of information technology to improve care of women. Telemedicine, the Internet, and Resource Centers were used for patient consultation, patient support, support of women in academics, and clinician education regarding women's health. Access of the lay public to high-quality health information was achieved using the Internet as well as Resource Centers employing Internet educational modalities. Telemedicine, distance learning for clinicians and patient consultations for those far from medical care, has been used successfully. For clinicians, continuing medical education regarding women's health and calendars of opportunities for education in women's health were made available on-line. Creative new uses of information technology have been developed by the Centers of Excellence in Women's Health. These modalities may be adopted, tested, and adapted by others seeking to improve the care and health of women.

Academies and Institutes↗
PubMed2004

Research in long-term care: issues, dilemmas, and challenges from the public purchaser's perspective.

Expenditures for long-term care for older Americans are sizable and likely to increase as the population ages. As the largest purchaser of health care for this group of citizens, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is working to improve the quality of the long-term care services it purchases through quality monitoring and enforcement, providing information to beneficiaries about quality of care and enhancing resources to improve quality. Although CMS has used the best scientific information available to inform the planning of quality initiative projects, there are a number of issues, dilemmas, and challenges for which the research base is insufficient to fully answer programmatic needs. In many instances, research needs in the long-term care setting differ substantially from those in acute care. Using the Nursing Home Quality Initiative as an example, this article presents a descriptive, conceptual discussion of strategic issues and a summary of research that would be valuable in informing critical areas of decision-making in quality and outcomes research over the next decade. The issues, dilemmas, and challenges discussed are grouped into 5 categories: measurement methods and tools, uses of quality data, organizational and cultural factors, information and informatics, and impact evaluation and research.

Health Services Research↗
PubMed2005

GEMSS: privacy and security for a medical Grid.

OBJECTIVES: The GEMSS project is developing a secure Grid infrastructure through which six medical simulations services can be invoked. We examine the legal and security framework within which GEMSS operates. METHODS: We provide a legal qualification to the operations performed upon patient data, in view of EU directive 95/46, when using medical applications on the GEMSS Grid. We identify appropriate measures to ensure security and describe the legal rationale behind our choice of security technology. RESULTS: Our legal analysis demonstrates there must be an identified controller (typically a hospital) of patient data. The controller must then choose a processor (in this context a Grid service provider) that provides sufficient guarantees with respect to the security of their technical and organizational data processing procedures. These guarantees must ensure a level of security appropriate to the risks, with due regard to the state of the art and the cost of their implementation. Our security solutions are based on a public key infrastructure (PKI), transport level security and end-to-end security mechanisms in line with the web service (WS Security, WS Trust and SecureConversation) security specifications. CONCLUSION: The GEMSS infrastructure ensures a degree of protection of patient data that is appropriate for the health care sector, and is in line with the European directives. We hope that GEMSS will become synonymous with high security data processing, providing a framework by which GEMSS service providers can provide the security guarantees required by hospitals with regard to the processing of patient data.

Access to Information↗
PubMed2004

The Varna-Thessaloniki telemedical collaboration in setting up a regional transborder transplantation network.

In most Balkan countries, with the exception of Greece, transplantation is very rare and equality of access does not exist. In 2003, a Balkan partnership was established called SETNET (South-Eastern European Transplantation Network) for the promotion of transplantation. The objectives are to bring about the diffusion of transplantation techniques and practices in the Balkans, to increase public support for and participation in transplantation, and to eliminate the disparities in access to good health-care. SETNET is already beginning to generate data for an analysis of transplantation-related needs in the Balkans and to accelerate cross-border data exchange in transplantation-related emergencies. In the next few years, a regional training programme will be introduced for all health-care staff involved in transplantation. A regional organ procurement and transplantation network will be set up to utilize the existing telemedicine infrastructure. If successful, it will also prove that telemedicine infrastructures, however modest, can be the backbone for other, far-reaching human networks.

Cooperative Behavior↗
PubMed1990

The role of the British Library for medical and health information. Standing Conference of National and University Libraries (SCONUL).

This paper examines the role of the British Library in the provision of medical and health information in the U.K. Medicine--in both the public and private sector--is big business. The British Library is already heavily involved in the provision of information to the medical community but there is little planning for the most cost-effective allocation of resources for medical information across the nation. There is no focus for research and development in medical information policy and medical librarians do not readily identify with the British Library. This paper suggests that the British Library could help to develop a focus for medical information policy in the way the National Library of Medicine does for the USA.

Health Education↗
PubMedDate not supplied

SatelLife: pioneering the path for electronic communication and health information in the developing world.

Information poverty is one of the most significant obstacles to better health in the developing world. To address this problem, SatelLife, a Boston-based nonprofit organization has created HealthNet, a computer-based network linking healthworkers throughout the world to facilitate the exchange of health-related information. Using low-cost, sustainable technologies, SatelLife provides both electronic mail communications services and a variety of information services including electronic publications, electronic access to remote databases, and ongoing electronic conferences on topics of special relevance to health in the developing world. The article cautions that simply bringing high-speed Internet access to the developing world will not solve problems of information poverty, because such technology will be prohibitively expensive for all but the elite private sector and because of the need to provide targeted, high-quality information, not simply access to the vast, disorganized universe of information available on the Internet.

Boston↗
PubMed2004

Database development in toxicogenomics: issues and efforts.

The marriage of toxicology and genomics has created not only opportunities but also novel informatics challenges. As with the larger field of gene expression analysis, toxicogenomics faces the problems of probe annotation and data comparison across different array platforms. Toxicogenomics studies are generally built on standard toxicology studies generating biological end point data, and as such, one goal of toxicogenomics is to detect relationships between changes in gene expression and in those biological parameters. These challenges are best addressed through data collection into a well-designed toxicogenomics database. A successful publicly accessible toxicogenomics database will serve as a repository for data sharing and as a resource for analysis, data mining, and discussion. It will offer a vehicle for harmonizing nomenclature and analytical approaches and serve as a reference for regulatory organizations to evaluate toxicogenomics data submitted as part of registrations. Such a database would capture the experimental context of in vivo studies with great fidelity such that the dynamics of the dose response could be probed statistically with confidence. This review presents the collaborative efforts between the European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute ArrayExpress, the International Life Sciences Institute Health and Environmental Science Institute, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences National Center for Toxigenomics Chemical Effects in Biological Systems knowledge base. The goal of this collaboration is to establish public infrastructure on an international scale and examine other developments aimed at establishing toxicogenomics databases. In this review we discuss several issues common to such databases: the requirement for identifying minimal descriptors to represent the experiment, the demand for standardizing data storage and exchange formats, the challenge of creating standardized nomenclature and ontologies to describe biological data, the technical problems involved in data upload, the necessity of defining parameters that assess and record data quality, and the development of standardized analytical approaches.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Repeated multiphasic screening examinations: evaluating the process.

There are sound clinical and epidemiological reasons to promote and emphasize early detection efforts and disease prevention services. A large body of scientific literature supports the notion that detection and intervention early in the course of many diseases is beneficial both to the afflicted individual and to society at large. Several publications deal with the evaluation of multiphasic screening examinations (MSE) as a tool for simultaneous early detection and prevention of multiple risk factors and various diseases. Usually, this technology is evaluated based on data from a single (cross-sectional) comprehensive screening study. However, frequently MSE are performed periodically, resulting in repeated test results of the same individuals. The health impact of such repeated (longitudinal) MSE has not been studied extensively. Similarly, many of the unique theoretical, technical, and epidemiological features characteristic of consecutive (periodical) comprehensive screening examinations are not well-documented. The purpose of this study was to compare the test results of two MSE, performed 3.5 years apart, in order to demonstrate certain characteristics of multiphasic health testing (MHT) technology related to repeated (longitudinal) multiphasic examination of the same individuals.

Humans↗
PubMed2004

ECLAMC: the Latin-American collaborative study of congenital malformations.

DEFINITION: ECLAMC ('Estudio Colaborativo Latino Americano de Malformaciones Congenitas') is a program for the clinical and epidemiological investigation of risk factors in the etiology of congenital anomalies in Latin-American hospitals, using a case-control methodological approach. It is a voluntary agreement among professionals lacking institutional base as well as designated budgets. ECLAMC has been usually funded by research-funding agencies rather than public health ministries. The National Research Councils of Argentina and Brazil have been the main sources of support during its 36 years of existence. Since vital and health statistics are unreliable in South America, ECLAMC collects all the information required for the denominators in a hospital-based sample of births. ECLAMC can be defined as a continental network of persons interested in research and prevention of birth defects. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION: From the institutional point of view, ECLAMC has had headquarters in diverse centers of Argentina and Brazil, but always as an independent research project, without a defined administrative link. ECLAMC began operating in 1967, as an investigation limited to the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and it gradually expanded until covering all the 10 countries of South America as well as Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Even though ECLAMC has maintained essentially the same original experimental design since 1967, due to the data accumulated by the program, the increasing experience as well as the development in science, technical modifications occurred including a DNA bank and a fully informatized data handling system. Since 1974 ECLAMC has been a founder member of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Monitoring Systems; since 1994 a WHO Collaborating Center for the Prevention of Congenital Malformations, and since 2000 a collaborating member of the NIH Global Netwok for Women's and Children's Health Research. METHODOLOGY: The maternity hospital network of ECLAMC examines around 200,000 births per year. All major and minor anomalies diagnosed at birth in infants weighing 500 g or more are registered according to a manual of procedures. The next non-malformed baby of the same sex born in the same hospital is selected as a control subject for each case. Thus, a one-to-one healthy control group matched by sex, time and place of birth is obtained. As a system of epidemic surveillance, ECLAMC systematically observes the fluctuations in the frequencies of different malformations and, in the case of an alarm for a probable epidemic of a given malformation, at a given moment, and given area, it acts to identify its cause. As termination of pregnancy has severe legal restrictions in South America, prevention of birth defects should concentrate on primary, preconceptional and tertiary measures. Tertiary measures aim to avoid complications of the affected patients from the medical, psychological, and social standpoints.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMed2005

Extent, accuracy, and credibility of breastfeeding information on the Internet.

Our objective was to test and describe a model for evaluating Websites related to breastfeeding. Forty Websites most likely to be accessed by the public were evaluated for extent, accuracy, credibility, presentation, ease of use, and adherence to ethical and medical Internet publishing standards. Extent and accuracy of Website content were determined by a checklist of critical information. The majority of Websites reviewed provided accurate information and complied with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. Approximately half the Websites complied with standards of medical Internet publishing. While much information on breastfeeding on the Internet is accurate, there is wide variability in the extent of information, usability of Websites, and compliance with standards of medical Internet publishing. Results of this study may be helpful to health care professionals as a model for evaluating breastfeeding-related Websites and to highlight considerations when recommending or designing Websites.

Breast Feeding↗