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A probabilistic and decision-theoretic approach to the management of infectious disease at the ICU.

The medical community is presently in a state of transition from a situation dominated by the paper medical record to a future situation where all patient data will be available on-line by an electronic clinical information system. In data-intensive clinical environments, such as intensive care units (ICUs), clinical patient data are already fully managed by such systems in a number of hospitals. However, providing facilities for storing and retrieving patient data to clinicians is not enough; clinical information systems should also offer facilities to assist clinicians in dealing with hard clinical problems. Extending an information system's capabilities by integrating it with a decision-support system may be a solution. In this paper, we describe the development of a probabilistic and decision-theoretic system that aims to assist clinicians in diagnosing and treating patients with pneumonia in the intensive-care unit. Its underlying probabilistic-network model includes temporal knowledge to diagnose pneumonia on the basis of the likelihood of laryngotracheobronchial-tree colonisation by pathogens, and symptoms and signs actually present in the patient. Optimal antimicrobial therapy is selected by balancing the expected efficacy of treatment, which is related to the likelihood of particular pathogens causing the infection, against the spectrum of antimicrobial treatment. The models were built on the basis of expert knowledge. The patient data that were available were of limited value in the initial construction of the models because of problems of incompleteness. In particular, detailed temporal information was missing. By means of a number of different techniques, among others from the theory of linear programming, these data have been used to check the probabilistic information elicited from infectious-disease experts. The results of an evaluation of a number of slightly different models using retrospective patient data are discussed as well.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

A native XML database design for clinical document research.

Health-care institutions are gaining an increasing interest in exploiting the data that are gathered through electronic medical records. Narrative data, generated by transcription or direct entry, represents a far greater challenge for analytic tasks. Moreover, a small number of institutions are beginning to explore deeper structuring of narrative data using natural language processing (NLP). The data produced by NLP systems has a complex, nested structure. Current electronic medical records do not have the ability to store and retrieve data of this complexity in a suitable way.

Database Management Systems↗

Method for coding data on protozoan strains for computers.

Traditionally, observations on the nature of protozoa have been published in periodicals or books, or remain buried in research notebooks. The retrieval and processing of information on a particular species or strain are dependent solely upon individual investigators. Although various modern methods have been applied to the study of protozoa, no attempt has been made to develop a system with which information on protozoan strains can be stored, retrieved easily, and processed for various analyses by computer technology. Based upon an existing system for encoding data on bacterial strains, a complementary system applicable to protozoan strains was developed and is described herein.

Animals↗

A WEB-based telePACS using an asymmetric satellite system.

We have developed a WWW-based TelePACS that can access every permitted PACS server via the Internet. Java programming techniques were used to implement the system, which can access and retrieve medical information and images through Web browsers only such as Netscape without specific tools. We also have developed a consolidator that performs as a manager to connect a conventional PACS server to a Web-based TelePACS server. We have developed the Asymmetric Satellite Data Communication System (ASDCS) as a fast communication system. The ASDCS uses a receive-only satellite link for data delivery and a terrestrial network for control communication. In conclusion, we were able to develop a cost-effective and fast PACS using Web technology. Web technology expanded the scope of use for a dedicated PACS from intrahospital to public use.

Humans↗

User metaphors for health care professional workstations.

The problem encountered by health care professionals and software developers has been a lack of demonstrable visions (prototypes) for Computer-based Patient Record (CPR) and Clinical Information System (CIS) applications. This deficiency has resulted in a quest for and consideration of models, metaphors, and mind maps for the Healthcare Professional Workstation (HPW)--the access mechanism for the CPR and the CIS. The familiar physician desktop and traditional paper-based metaphors are not adequate for all aspects of clinical information processes. In the clinical care environment, the flowsheet is a transporting metaphor because many different applications and tasks can be 'transported' into the flowsheet. 3D Rooms, Gopher and Genes are familiar and transporting metaphors to be exploited for HPWs. Using transporting metaphors for HPW software emphasizes commonality and de-emphasizes diversity. Each model and metaphor has an associated mind map. Only the mental model, mental metaphor or mind map for HPW software is important. Metaphors communicate real-world analogies, and communication is at the core of what defines usability. A mind map facilitates communication by building a model in the user's mind. The barriers to HPWs are not technical; they are related to economics, ownership of patient information, liability and information standards.

Computer Systems↗

Functional workstation requirements: clinical perspectives.

This white paper details specific requirements for clinical workstations identified by employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs. The requirements can be grouped into the following five categories: general environmental capabilities, input methods, display features, output abilities, and miscellaneous functionality and features. Clinical workstations meeting these functional requirements can offer a significant enhancement over existing hardware interfaces. Use of these workstations by health care providers could improve their willingness to directly enter data into clinical information systems, increasing the benefits of such systems.

Computer Systems↗

A model for the assessment of medical workstations for health care support.

The development of medical workstations for the support of patient care, the assessment of care, management support, and education is just at its beginning. During the Working Conference on the Health care Professional Workstation held in Washington DC, June 1993, several aspects of such workstations were discussed, but it was also recognized that prototyping or learning by experience could be a rich source to further promote the progress in this field. Eight such prototypes or already operational medical workstations were demonstrated and a preliminary user assessment was done to obtain a first insight in the advantages and the type of criteria of such evaluations. It was concluded that such assessments were of great value to (i) give feedback to the designers of medical workstations, (ii) indicate areas of strength and for further research, and (iii) to offer criteria to potential users of such workstations for making decisions on using such systems. The assessment criteria deal with functionality, architecture, user interfaces, communications and integration, and data and knowledge management.

Artificial Intelligence↗

The ISCE ECG genome pilot challenge: a 2004 progress report.

The International Society for Computerized Electrocardiography (ISCE) "genome project" began in 2000 as an open-ended discussion of ECG database needs and opportunities. Cooperation within ISCE led to a "pilot challenge" of the database concept, which called for establishment of methodology for transmission, storage, and integrated re-analysis of digitized waveforms of three different ECG manufacturers. The present report documents the early implementation of that goal.

Database Management Systems↗

Neuroradiology workstation reading in an inter-hospital environment: a nineteen month study.

Two workstations (WS) each with two, 2500 line display monitors were installed in the in-patient and the out-patient neuroradiology reading areas for inter-hospital workstation readings. These WSs are part of the display component of a hospital-integrated picture archiving and communication system (PACS). Direct digital neuro images from 10 CT and MR scanners located at various buildings from two medical centers are first transmitted to the PACS database and then distributed to these two WSs automatically. This paper attempts to answer two questions. First, do the WSs facilitate neuroradiology operation? Second, does it cost less for preparing WS reading than that for the traditional film reading? Two parameters, the "time required before images become available for reading after the examination" and a "workstation utilization index" were derived as a means for answering these two questions. Nineteen months of clinical data were collected and analyzed. The results demonstrate that the workstation utilization index goes up from 40% in September 1994 when the WS was first introduced to over 80% in March 1996. This upward trend substantiates the hypothesis that these WSs do facilitate the neuroradiology operation. The derived results also exhibit that it costs much less to prepare images for WS reading than for film reading. Other indirect results derived from this study including the WS utilization hours, WS functions used, and the time duration of each WS session are also presented.

Ambulatory Care↗

A practical method of linking data from Medicare claims and a comprehensive electronic medical records system.

BACKGROUND: Linking administrative and clinical databases provides opportunities for richer studies to improve healthcare, but linkage may require sophisticated algorithms. Linking US Medicare data with large databases used for everyday clinical practice is seldom described in detail in medical literature. OBJECTIVES: Test a deterministic method of linking data from a local electronic medical records system to Medicare data, and report specific details of the algorithm used as well as lessons learned from the linkage process. SUBJECTS: Medicare beneficiaries with medical encounters in selected Indiana counties in the 5-year period ending in 1999. RESULTS: For 6,388 beneficiaries with Medicare data indicating inpatient encounters in the system, 98% had links to the clinical database. Of 7,231 patients hospitalized and registered in the local clinical system, 86% contained a link to Medicare data, and 69% contained a link even without using Social security number (SSN) as an identifier. Medicare data that conflicted with local hospital records by indicating no local hospitalization occurred in 1.8%. More than 2,000 claims contained hospital identifiers that did not exist in the hospital codebook. CONCLUSIONS: Details of a practical, deterministic method of linking Medicare claims to a large electronic records system have been applied and described. Most records were linked without SSN. A variety of inconsistencies were found and these, along with missing or incomplete data, can influence linking. Integrity of specific variables must be assessed carefully.

Aged↗

A computer assisted follow up system for spinal cord injury patients.

The comprehensive care of patients with traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCI) necessitates, among other things, a structured, life-long follow up. The high consumption of medical care in chronic SCI patients, often a result of diseases affecting many different organ systems, soon causes the cumulated medical documentation to be extensive and therefore hard to survey. The possibilities for rational patient management, adequate quality assurance, and clinical research may improve considerably by computerisation of medical records. A computerised medical records system for SCI has recently been developed, using a semistructured medical record format for data input and a medical entity dictionary for facilitated data storage and retrieval. The principles for developing this computer-assisted follow up system are described.

Humans↗

hp-DPI: Helicobacter pylori database of protein interactomes--embracing experimental and inferred interactions.

We implemented a statistical model into our protein interaction database for validation of two-hybrid assays of Helicobacter pylori, and prediction of putative protein interactions not yet discovered experimentally. To present the enormous amount of experimental and inferred protein interaction networking maps, the H.pylori Database of Protein Interactomes (hp-DPI) is developed with a succinct yet comprehensive visualization tool integrated with annotation from Genbank, GO, and KEGG. hp-DPI is first built with, but not limited to, H.pylori protein interactions and is expected to naturally include other organisms' protein interacting relationships in the future.

Algorithms↗

Using data warehousing and OLAP in public health care.

The paper describes the possibilities of using data warehousing and OLAP technologies in public health care in general and then our own experience with these technologies gained during the implementation of a data warehouse of outpatient data at the national level. Such a data warehouse serves as a basis for advanced decision support systems based on statistical, OLAP or data mining methods. We used OLAP to enable interactive exploration and analysis of the data. We found out that data warehousing and OLAP are suitable for the domain of public health and that they enable new analytical possibilities in addition to the traditional statistical approaches.

Ambulatory Care↗

Common medical terminology comes of age, Part One: Standard language improves healthcare quality.

It has become abundantly clear that standards of recording clinical terms in human-readable, computer-processable format are indispensable. Controlled medical terminology is the missing link in health information standards (in fact, medical terminology can be viewed as the mother of all standards); its absence interferes with the business of healthcare and impedes the core processes of healing and maintaining health. Medicine has lacked the controlled common medical vocabulary that would enable universal sharing of data at the point of care and ensure reliable information for determining health intervention effectiveness. Simple clinical and code content alone has proven insufficient for healthcare enterprises to successfully manage the terminology problem; the "lexical runtime engine," formerly called a vocabulary server (VOSER), which manages the vocabulary ontology and serves up the relevant vocabulary to users of applications in the clinical environment, has recently become a reality.

Database Management Systems↗

A distributed, scalable, community care network architecture for wide-area electronic patient records: modeling and simulation.

Principal systems issues relative to computerizing patient medical records that are yet to be addressed in the scientific literature include (1) the characteristics of networks, i.e. bandwidth and capacity, and their impact on the performance of the system, (2) the architecture and the underlying algorithm of the system, (3) the location and migration of medical records, (4) scalability of the system, and (5) the nature of the performance variation under heavy and light use of the network. Key parameters that affect performance include the number of patients, doctors, frequency of patient visits, and the number of electronic queries and record entries initiated during a patient-doctor interaction episode. This paper presents AMPReD, a Distributed, Scalable, Community Care Network Architecture that aims to provide Real-Time Access to Geographically-Dispersed Patient Medical Records. The AMPReD model includes stationary hospitals and medical clinics, mobile clinics, migrating doctors as well as patients, the communications network, and the patient medical record database. AMPReD's goals include (1) the accurate modeling of the propagation of medical records and (2) providing real-time access to patient medical records from anywhere in the system. To achieve these goals, an asynchronous, distributed algorithm must be developed that achieves concurrent access of multiple, autonomous databases. AMPReD is modeled and simulated for a representative community care network on a network of workstations configured as a loosely-coupled parallel processor, for different parametric combinations of number of doctors, patients, and number of queries or record entries generated corresponding to every patient-doctor interaction episode. AMPReD defines and obtains key performance measures including the idle times of the doctors, patient waiting times, the access times of queries as functions of their sizes, and the growth of the databases. In addition, AMPReD also measures the deviation of the actual time required for a patient-doctor interaction episode from the scheduled interaction interval, as a function of the network load. For the representative system selected, performance measures indicate that the network, utilizing 1/2T1 links, and the database system poses no bottleneck to the system even where the number of doctors and patients within a 30 minute interval are chosen at 192 and 200 respectively. A T1 is a standard, digital, transmission link that is rated at 1.44Mbits/sec.

Algorithms↗

Implementation of an on-line Emergency Unit nursing system.

We designed and implemented an Emergency Unit nursing system which has been in practice since March of 1995. The system has been very successful and is used on 97% of all Emergency Unit visits. The system is designed for rapid entry and retrieval of information. We have found that the time spent by nurses documenting patient care in this system is minimal. On average, over a six day study period only five minutes per patient visit, and about 30 minutes per nurse per shift was spent actually entering information into the system. We plan to continue to evaluate the use of the system and expand it to include use by other disciplines in the near future.

Emergency Service, Hospital↗