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A health information network for managing innercity tuberculosis: bridging clinical care, public health, and home care.

The purpose of this study was to use a health information network and innovative technology to coordinate tuberculosis care. An innercity medical center, a local health department, and a home care nurse service in northern Manhattan were used. The organizations were linked with computer networks. An automated decision support system with a natural language processor was used to detect tuberculosis cases and report them to the health department, and to select patients for respiratory isolation. Educational materials were placed on the World Wide Web and a Web-based kiosk. Home care nurses were outfitted with wireless pen-based computers, and data were relayed to the medical center. Automated tuberculosis case reporting resulted in time savings but not improved accuracy. Automated rules resulted in significant improvements in respiratory isolation. Kiosk educational materials were well-used. Wireless computing led to better access to information for both nurses and physicians, but not to reduction of workload. The key success element was recognition of critical priorities. It is concluded that innovative technology can facilitate the coordination of clinical care, public health, and home care.

Academic Medical Centers↗

The demand for consumer health information.

Using data from an evaluation of a community-wide informational intervention, we modeled the demand for medical reference books, telephone advice nurses, and computers for health information. Data were gathered from random household surveys in Boise, ID (experimental site), Billings, MT, and Eugene, OR (control sites). Conditional difference-in-differences show that the intervention increased the use of medical reference books, advice nurses, and computers for health information by approximately 15, 6, and 4%. respectively. The results also suggest that the intervention was associated with a decreased reliance on health professionals for information.

Adolescent↗

Health Risk Appraisal using Internet technology.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a Web-based Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) system as a tool for health education based on personal health examination data. METHODS: A Japanese health examination database was analyzed to develop models for HRA, which were designed to predict each of ten laboratory values in a year with and without lifestyle modifications. The HRA models were embedded into a server. RESULTS: The Web-based HRA system has been introduced into a Japanese health care association having 37 branch centers. Following a health examination, an individual health education program using the Web-based HRA system is provided to a given client at each branch center or at a client's office. A measured laboratory value and corresponding predicted laboratory values in a year with and without lifestyle modifications are displayed on the screen in forms of both numerical values and graphs. A trained nurse or another health care provider operates the system and explains the HRA result. CONCLUSION: The Web-based HRA system will be a practical tool for individual health education following health examination.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

Why good hospitals get bad computing.

American Hospitals spend a lot of money for computing, but physicians and nurses are dissatisfied with the computing that they receive. No one is at fault. Rather, each person, acting in his or her best interest, unwittingly conspires to produce the unfavorable result. Until hospitals make major and fundamental changes in the way they purchase and manage computing, they will continue to spend large sums without commensurate return.

Consultants↗

The role of informatics to support evidence-based practice and clinician education.

This paper reports the results of a national event held during November 1998 to educate health professionals representing multiple disciplines about evidence-based practice (EBP), its implementation and the use of informatics to support EBP. A combination of educational delivery methods and multimedia was used. Through local group work, participants identified obstacles to EBP implementation and developed strategies to overcome these in their own local environments. Major and common findings were a lack of management support and infrastructures needed for the successful adoption of evidence-based practices by all.

Australia↗

The index as a new concept towards an integrated framework for the electronic patient record.

OBJECTIVE: To overcome some classical limitations of the POMR (Problem-Oriented Medical Record), including the management of divergent opinions between health professionals, in order to construct a common patient record across multiple disciplines in hospital settings and professional networks. METHODS: Using a complex clinical case, we improved a POMR model previously used by GPs in order to translate it into a hospital setting. The enhanced model has been assessed through use in various ongoing clinical cases and through extended discussion with professional end-users (physicians, nurses, general practitioners, and social workers). RESULTS: The Index concept (flexible structural link) is proposed as a major improvement in the construction of a POMR in a shared care environment. CONCLUSIONS: The Index introduces interesting new perspectives. Following its implementation in the Belgian pilot site in the CORINES project, further studies remain to be carried out in order to develop a cost/benefit assessment.

Humans↗

Curriculum development and courseware implementation using World Wide Web technology.

The curriculum development of medical informatics related courses and their adoption into the faculty curriculum is one of the main tasks of the present day educators. To this end the Internet technology has supported this task. The Internet was born in December of 1969 and has grown phenomenally since. Its graphically interactive, user-friendly modality, the World Wide Web (WWW), is younger and growing even more explosively. By its nature, the WWW is a tool ideally and uniquely suited for the advancement education. This paper describes the design, development and the implementation of a Web Site for supporting the education of the students in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Athens. The application will be used also in the European project Nightingale.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗

Building support for health information technologies.

Despite the increasing role of information technology in health care, its use still lags behind that occurring in other sectors. Factors contributing to this include the complex health care environment and conflicting political agendas. Building political support for information technology in health care depends on understanding the importance of stakeholders and the environment in which they operate. It is important to involve stakeholders early in the process of implementing new information technology in order to identify needs, barriers, and non-starters. Understanding the historical experience of the community and its past attempts at using information technology is also important. Quality of care issues, nursing shortages, cost control concerns, health insurance costs and coverage rates, institutional solvency, and overwhelming paperwork are current problems in the healthcare environment that can hinder willingness to invest in information technology. Ironically, information technology can also help remedy these problems. Impact on workflow, privacy of personal health information, and system reliability, interoperability, and the ease of updating the system can all have political ramifications with regard to acceptance and implementation of information technology.

Medical Informatics↗

Consumer informatics in chronic illness.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the informatic requirements in the home care of chronically ill patients. DESIGN: A number of strategies were deployed to help evoke a picture of home care informatics needs: A detailed questionnaire evaluating informational needs and assessing programmable technologies was distributed to a clinic population of parents of children with cancer. Open ended questionnaires were distributed to medical staff and parents soliciting a list of questions asked of medical staff. Parent procedure training was observed to evaluate the training dialog, and parents were observed interacting with a prototype information and education computer offering. RESULTS: Parents' concerns ranged from the details of managing day to day, to conceptual information about disease and treatment, to management of psychosocial problems. They sought information to solve problems and to provide emotional support, which may create conflicts of interest when the material is threatening. Whether they preferred to be informed by a doctor, nurse, or another parent depended on the nature of the information. Live interaction was preferred to video, which was preferred to text for all topics. Respondents used existing technologies in a straightforward way but were enthusiastic about the proposed use of computer technology to support home care. Multimedia solutions appear to complement user needs and preferences. CONCLUSION: Consumers appear positively disposed toward on-line solutions. On-line systems can offer breadth, depth and timeliness currently unattainable. Patients should be involved in the formation and development process in much the same way that users are involved in user-centered computer interface design. A generic framework for patient content is presented that could be applied across multiple disorders.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

[An informatics program for the management of patients with pacemakers].

We are introducing a software package (Dbase III application) for the management of patients wearing cardiac pacemakers. It runs on any IBM compatible microcomputer with a minimum of 512 Kb RAM and a 10 Mb hard-disk. It works with 6 separate databases: 1) identification-indications; 2) implants; 3) explant-closure; 4) follow-up; 5) pacemakers, and 6) electrodes. The program runs completely by menus, tasks being started by one key stroke. The patient databases are structured following the European Pacemaker Patient Card, including its codes. Data introduction is facilitated by friendly screen formats. The pacemaker database contains 495 models and 304 electrodes of all brands. Automatic searches include: 1) hospital number (from last and/or first name); 2) complete pacing history; 3) listing of patients by stimulation mode, loss of follow-up or proximity of expected battery end of life; 4) pacemaker or electrode definition, and 5) pacemaker models contained in the database. The program has been applied by nurses for over 6 months in our service, proving its efficacy with an easier and better follow-up. The accuracy of the automatic searches has been confirmed manually.

Computers↗

Advanced tool kits for EPR security.

Responding to the challenge for efficient and high quality health care, the shared care paradigm must be established in health. In that context, information systems such as electronic patient records (EPR) have to meet this paradigm supporting communication and interoperation between the health care establishments (HCE) and health professionals (HP) involved. Due to the sensitivity of personal medical information, this co-operation must be provided in a trustworthy way. To enable different views of HCE and HP ranging from management, doctors, nurses up to systems administrators and IT professionals, a set of models for analysis, design and implementation of secure distributed EPR has been developed and introduced. The approach is based on the popular UML methodology and the component paradigm for open, interoperable systems. Easy to use tool kits deal with both application security services and communication security services but also with the security infrastructure needed. Regarding the requirements for distributed multi-user EPRs, modelling and implementation of policy agreements, authorisation and access control are especially considered. Current developments for a security infrastructure in health care based on cryptographic algorithms as health professional cards (HPC), security services employing digital signatures, and health-related TTP services are discussed. CEN and ISO initiatives for health informatics standards in the context of secure and communicable EPR are especially mentioned.

Algorithms↗

Columbia University's Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine (IDEATel) Project: rationale and design.

The Columbia University Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine (IDEATel) Project is a four-year demonstration project funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services with the overall goals of evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of telemedicine in the management of older patients with diabetes. The study is designed as a randomized controlled trial and is being conducted by a state-wide consortium in New York. Eligibility requires that participants have diabetes, are Medicare beneficiaries, and reside in federally designated medically underserved areas. A total of 1,500 participants will be randomized, half in New York City and half in other areas of the state. Intervention participants receive a home telemedicine unit that provides synchronous videoconferencing with a project-based nurse, electronic transmission of home fingerstick glucose and blood pressure data, and Web access to a project Web site. End points include glycosylated hemoglobin, blood pressure, and lipid levels; patient satisfaction; health care service utilization; and costs. The project is intended to provide data to help inform regulatory and reimbursement policies for electronically delivered health care services.

Case Management↗

Sam Ho on health system quality and population medicine. Interview by Nancy Houyoux.

As PacifiCare Health Systems' senior vice president and chief medical officer, Dr. Sam Ho is responsible for developing and implementing strategies and programs to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare services throughout the company. Dr. Ho is responsible for all initiatives related to quality assessment and improvement, medical management, disease management, informatics, report cards, clinical product development, e-health, and healthcare liaison with public policy, government affairs, industry relations, media relations, provider network management, and sales and marketing. Since joining PacifiCare in its California MCO in October 1994, he has spearheaded companywide quality initiatives and improvement in population health outcomes, and developed the QUALITY INDEX profile of medical groups, a consumer-focused report card of provider performance. He also led efforts to achieve systemwide accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in all markets and Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) score improvements. Previously he served as deputy director of health, medical director, and county health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He has held faculty appointments at the Schools of both Medicine and Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. The Honolulu native received his BA in sociology from Northwestern University in 1972 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and his MD from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1976. Dr. Ho completed his residency in family practice at the University of California, San Francisco, and has since maintained board certification with the American Board of Family Practice.

Benchmarking↗

Computerized decision support systems: implications for practice.

The informatics literature variously defines Computerized Decision Support (CDS) systems. These definitions are sometimes narrow and sometime broad, leading to occasional confusion in terminology. For purposes of this paper, a broad definition that enjoys some professional consensus has been adapted from Langston and colleagues: CDS systems encompass any computer software employing a knowledge base (facts and/or rules) designed for use by a clinician involved in patient care, as a direct aid to clinical decision-making.

Decision Making, Computer-Assisted↗

Use of a matrix to select home-based technology for HeartCare II.

Access to consumer health informatics innovations requires availability of certain technical resources. We discuss the use of a decision analysis matrix in selecting technology for home use by participants in the HeartCare II project, a web-based resource for patients managing congestive heart failure. The matrix provided the structure for collecting, displaying, and comparing data about the requisite criteria for the technology. Its utility for a variety of decision problems with dissimilar data elements is posited.

Decision Support Techniques↗

[Identification and evaluation of liver damage in subjects exposed to occupational risk from general anesthetics].

BACKGROUND: The program Hepascore was produced by an interdisciplinary group working in the Laboratory of Clinical Informatics of the San Giovanni Battista Hospital in Turin with the aim of supporting physicians in the early diagnosis of hepatic damage and in its qualitative and quantitative characterization. The methodology used by this program can be useful especially for investigations concerning Industrial Medicine, which intend to control the occupational risk due to environmental exposure, not only to perform an early diagnosis (secondary prevention), but also to control the temporal evolution of the disease, by comparing significant data in a reproducible way. OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted with the aim of monitoring, by using the screening protocol of Hepascore, a group of workers exposed to an occupational risk by general anaesthetics, assessing the reliability of the proposed model and comparing it to the conventional approach in a cost/effectiveness analysis. METHODS: We evaluated 280 subjects (nurses and physicians) professionally exposed to anaesthetic gas; the environmental presence of anaesthetic agents was tested in all operating room of the hospital by the measurement of halogenated anaesthetics and nitrogen protoxide in the air. All the 280 subjects were submitted to a complete clinical evaluation and laboratory analyses, as recommended by monitoring protocols; in parallel, but independently from the clinical evaluation, also the sequential way used in the program Hepascore (a first screening phase evaluating only a few laboratory parameters, followed by a confirmation phase based on a larger number of blood tests with more restricted limits) was performed. The protocol applied in this study foresaw that subjects in which clinical evaluation and/or Hepascore brought to suspect a 'likely' liver alteration, had to be investigated thoroughly and to be reevaluated after 6 months by clinical examination and by Hepascore. RESULTS: The environmental determinations did never demonstrate the presence of anaesthetics over the threshold value (50 ppm for the N2O and 2 ppm for halogenated anaesthetics). The conventional clinical evaluation recognized as pathological 22 subjects with one or more liver parameters altered, which were explained as mild cytolytic or cholestatic alterations. The screening protocol carried out by Hepascore in the preliminary phase evidenced as pathological 38 subjects on 280 and 22 of them (corresponding to the 22 subjects identified by the clinical evaluation) were confirmed in the following phase (disease likely). CONCLUSIONS: This fact confirms that the sequential approach used by Hepascore provides the same outcomes obtained by performing all tests in the entire population under study, allowing a saving of 57% of the total cost spent for the traditional evaluation. The sequential approach proposed by Hepascore could be employed in all the clinical settings in which an evaluation of liver functional state is required, both in presence of environmental risk factors and in the case of a programme for the optimization of the population's food habits.

Adult↗

Lessons from the implementation of a near patient anticoagulant monitoring service in primary care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the implementation of a primary care, nurse-led, near patient anticoagulant monitoring service. DESIGN: Action research workshops, supported by questionnaires and clinical audit, to define the strengths and weaknesses of the service and the effectiveness of the computerised decision support system used to set the dosage of anticoagulant and time interval to the next appointment. SETTING: 13 general practices that implemented anticoagulant monitoring in a primary care organisation in south east England. PARTICIPANTS: 18 practice nurses, 72% of whom had over 20 years' clinical experience; the university-based investigators and managers from the primary care organisation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The nurses felt that the patients preferred the practice-based service, finding it more personal and accessible. However, circumstances arose where the nurse's intuition had to override the software's advice. The nurses found it stressful when they were unclear whether their decision making represented acceptable variation or dangerous practice. An audit tool was developed to measure the extent to which there was variation from the software's recommendation, and patterns of variation emerged. Most evident was that nurses responded to uncertainty by practising cautiously, shortening the interval until the next visit and slightly reducing the recommended dose of warfarin. CONCLUSIONS: The group, by sharing their experiences through a structured series of workshops, developed an understanding of when it might be appropriate to vary from the decision support software's recommendations and how this could be audited. The technological solution modelled on hospital practice proved hard to implement in primary care.

Anticoagulants↗

Comparison of CD-Rom and Internet access to clinical information.

INTRODUCTION: The New Zealand National Poisons Centre has developed an extensive clinical poisons information database, TOXINZ. This resource was originally provided on a CD-Rom, and in 2002 made accessible solely via the Internet (www.toxinz.com). It was unknown whether users would prefer the CD-Rom or Internet version to access the same information. METHODS: In September 2003 a total of 100 questionnaires were mailed to the emergency departments of 15 hospitals to be answered by medical and nursing staff utilizing the Internet version of TOXINZ. The results were then compared with a nearly identical questionnaire conducted in the same way in the same hospitals when only the CD-Rom database version was available. RESULTS: There was a 79% response rate with both medical and nursing staff rating the poisons management recommendations highly when accessed both on CD-Rom and Internet. Statistically significant differences (p<0.05, Mann-Whitney U-test) identified the Internet accessed database as: supplying better visual aids, being more repetitive, harder to search, and more difficult to print. CONCLUSION: Those developing Internet accessible databases for a healthcare environment are encouraged to incorporate robust search functionality, mobility solutions, and an ability to integrate with other healthcare applications.

CD-ROM↗