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The application of computer science to the practice of laboratory medicine, one of the medical informatics fields, brings a complete revolution in laboratory work and the clinical pathologists profile. The authors explain the methodology for the implementation of such a system, in a perspective of quality assurance, defining the goals, objectives, customer requirements and analysis of the benefits they achieve. Finally the authors explain the future perspectives.
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OBJECTIVE: The failure of a promising system is described with the aim of identifying the errors and the unfavourable conditions that led to such a result. METHODS: The system, based on the AHCPR guideline for pressure ulcers prevention and integrated into the already existing clinical information system, is aimed at supporting nurse's activities for: the risk assessment of the inpatient at the beginning of the hospitalization; the prevention plan, customized to each specific patient; the work plan for each day for all the patients; the report of the non-compliances to the GL and of the workload of the nurses. RESULTS: The system was abandoned after a short period. The reported reasons for the abandonment were: too strict constraints in the work-plan and the mandatory updating of the tasks at the end of each shift (both executed and not); the double writing activity, on paper first and afterward on the workstation. The first complaint was almost unrecoverable and not related to the system from the implementation point of view. Portable notebooks and wireless connections to the LAN could have been a solution for the second problem. Simultaneously a portable device at the bed side could have benefited many other features of the clinical information system. We proposed to quantify the added value, if any, due to making the information system available as close as possible to the points on the wards where information are both generated and used. The proposal was rejected. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience in a hospital setting, closing the gap among the medical informatics minority, the health professionals and the hospital management, through their collaborative responsibilities and participation in the decision-making process, can make the difference between the success and the failure of a good computer-based solution.
Duke University first offered World Wide Web (WWW) based courses in Nursing Informatics in January of 1997. The first class enrolled 18 nurses who were completing either a Post-Master's Certificate Program or were near completion of their Master's degree. Courses were designed around principles of advanced nursing practice, performance support, mastery learning, and virtual learning communities. Extensive learning assessment included traditional papers, real-world application projects, and a variety of pre and post-test measurements.
A system for medical informatics education for medical students has been developed in the medical school. This paper describes the concept underlying the development of this system and its progressive outcomes over 8 years. In order to stimulate students to acquire computer-related knowledge and skills, this subject has been integrated into the course works of various medical subjects such as physiology. In addition, acquired knowledge and skills are evaluated within each subject by the production of reports for example, using computers. This provides a concrete example for students of the relevance of the information sciences to the solving of medical problems. A well equipped computer facility for the study of medicine also plays a significant role in inspiring student incentive. A computer room equipped with Macintosh computers was opened adjacent to the main medical library and is used in the same manner as the library, with books replaced by computers. In addition, all new students acquire their own Macintosh PowerBook. These various initiations have facilitated concept that the computer may be applied to medical problem solving at any time or place and may become as commonplace as a pen in daily medical practice.
Clinical coding is variable in UK general practice. The reasons for this remain undefined. This review explains why there are no readily available alternatives to recording structured clinical data and reviews the barriers to recording structured clinical data. Methods used included a literature review of bibliographic databases, university health informatics departments, and national and international medical informatics associations. The results show that the current state of development of computers and data processing means there is no practical alternative to coding data. The identified barriers to clinical coding are: the limitations of the coding systems and terminologies and the skill gap in their use; recording structured data in the consultation takes time and is distracting; the level of motivation of primary care professionals; and the priority within the organization. A taxonomy is proposed to describe the barriers to clinical coding. This can be used to identify barriers to coding and facilitate the development of strategies to overcome them.
The widespread use of Web servers, with the emergence of interactive functions and the possibility of credit card payment via Internet, together with the requirement for continuing education and the subsequent need for a computer to link into the health care network have incited the development of a virtual university scheme on Internet. The Virtual University of Radiology is not only a computer-assisted teaching tool with a set of attractive features, but also a powerful engine allowing the organization, distribution and control of medical knowledge available in the www.server. The scheme provides patient access to general information, a secretary's office for enrollment and the Virtual University itself, with its library, image database, a forum for subspecialties and clinical case reports, an evaluation module and various guides and help tools for diagnosis, prescription and indexing. Currently the Virtual University of Radiology offers diagnostic imaging, but can also be used by other specialties and for general practice.
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.
Skill in creating, finding, managing, and using biomedical information is a vital component of modern medical practice. Medical schools recognize the revolutionary implications of computing technology and use a number of different strategies to integrate "informatics education" into their curricula. In many institutions, leadership for this effort rests with the health sciences library and/or the department of medical informatics. Examples are presented of how nine medical schools have implemented informatics education; no single informatics-education strategy prevails, and these schools' strategies do not exhaust the possibilities. Informatics education programs will require better planning and integration in the future because of the need to keep pace with curriculum reform, the changing context of medical practice, and the speed of technological innovation.
The objective of this paper is to identify trends and new technological developments that appear due to an ageing society and to relate them to current research in the field of medical informatics. A survey of the current literature reveals that recent technological advances have been made in the fields of "telecare and home-monitoring", "smart homes and robotics" and "health information systems and knowledge management". Innovative technologies such as wearable devices, bio- and environmental sensors and mobile, humanoid robots do already exist and ambient assistant living environments are being created for an ageing society. However, those technologies have to be adapted to older people's self-care processes and coping strategies, and to support new ways of healthcare delivery. Medical informatics can support this process by providing the necessary information infrastructure, contribute to standardisation, interoperability and security issues and provide modelling and simulation techniques for educational purposes. Research fields of increasing importance with regard to an ageing society are, moreover, the fields of knowledge management, ubiquitous computing and human-computer interaction.
In 2001 the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) approved the establishment of a Medical Informatics Award of Excellence to be given every three years to an individual, whose personal commitment and dedication to medical informatics has made a lasting contribution to medicine and healthcare through her or his achievements in research, education, development or applications in the field of medical informatics. The first award was given in 2004 to Prof. François Grémy, Uzes, France. As the first chairman and moderator of TC4, François Grémy is considered to be the first President of its renamed and refocused successor, the International Medical Informatics Association. The role of IFIP-TC4 in bringing together early health informaticians cannot be underestimated. Although TC4 was composed in large part of computer professionals interested in medical applications, Grémy recruited the first generation of IMIA officers and members from the medical and healthcare communities. Intellectually as well as organizationally, IFIP-TC4 was the true predecessor of IMIA.
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.
INTRODUCTION: The medical informatics as the separate medical discipline very quickly gets developed, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In our country, the medical informatics is a separate subject the last ten years, regarding to that the Medical curriculum at the biomedical faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina is accorded with the project of the education in accordance with Bolonjski declaration and the project EURO MEDICINA. This year the Chair for the medical informatics of the Medical faculty in Sarajevo celebrates ten years of its existence. WORK METHOD: By the descriptive method of the research which comprehended the questionnaire about 400 students of the biomedical faculties we established the attitudes and opinions of the students of these faculties about the adequacy of the contents of the subject the medical informatics, the availability of the adoption of the material by the theoretical and practical performance of the process of the tuition and the suggestions and the recommendations of the students which contents would throw out from the curriculum and which new contents include. WORK RESULTS: The research was performed by means the separate questionnaire patterns data carriers with the defined characteristics for the quality estimation of the performed tuition. The total attitude of the questionnaire speaks about dominantly expressed satisfaction of the students with the majority of the parameters about the quality and the tuition contents which were evaluated during the questionnaire. The results are shown tabelararly and graphically, and descriptively is described the program of the tuition and the contents of the methodic units, and the system of the examination of the students by the method of the "multiple choice". CONCLUSION: The education from the medical informatics is based at the concept which use the developed countries of the world, and according to the recommendations of the working groups of the European and world association of the medical informatics. The theoretical and practical tuition performance in the wholeness is performed by the help and at the computer, and the final knowledge check of the students also is performed at the computer specially by the concepted questions set in the basis which encircled nearly 1500 questions combinations.
Duke University has a five-year history with high-quality and clinically oriented informatics web-based nursing informatics education. This paper highlights an overview of instructional methods used and pedagogical considerations for both students and faculty. To do the job well, faculty workload for web-based instruction has been more than double the time and effort required for teaching an on-campus course. Results suggest that virtual teamwork is difficult but possible for highly motivated students. Committed to excellence, Duke's program finds that most students do well in achieving their goals and achieving Duke's high standards of academic rigor, however some students are not successful with on-line courses.
The medical informatics as the separate medical discipline very quickly gets developed, both in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In our country, the medical informatics is a separate subject for the last ten years, regarding to the Medical curriculum at the biomedical faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in accordance with the project of the education related to Bologna declaration and the project EURO MEDICINA. Last year the Chair of the Medical Informatics of the Medical Faculty in Sarajevo celebrates ten years of its existence. The research was performed using the separate questionnaire patterns data carriers with the defined characteristics for the quality assessment of the performed course. The total attitude of the assessed students speaks about dominantly expressed satisfaction with the majority of the parameters that are important for assessment of the quality and the tuition contents which were evaluated during the questionnaire. The education in the field of the medical informatics is based at the concept which is used in the developed countries of the world, and according the recommendations of the working groups of the European and world association of the medical informatics. The theoretical and practical teaching and training performance in the wholeness is performed by use of the computer equipment, and the final knowledge check of the students also is performed using the Data Base Management System MSAccess specifically designed to cover full teaching and training material by using questions set in the data base which encircled nearly 1500 questions combinations. In this paper author presents ten years of experience of medical informatics education at biomedical faculties in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This paper describes the research and development of Checkpoint, a self-assessment instrument. It outlines how the instrument has helped managers in the NHS identify their strengths and weaknesses with respect to their management and use of informatics. The paper presents trends and feedback from the use of Checkpoint and the implications for future education and training of managers in the NHS.
The vision of integrating information-from a variety of sources, into the way people work, to improve decisions and process-is one of the cornerstones of biomedical informatics. Thoughts on how this vision might be realized have evolved as improvements in information and communication technologies, together with discoveries in biomedical informatics, and have changed the art of the possible. This review identified three distinct generations of "integration" projects. First-generation projects create a database and use it for multiple purposes. Second-generation projects integrate by bringing information from various sources together through enterprise information architecture. Third-generation projects inter-relate disparate but accessible information sources to provide the appearance of integration. The review suggests that the ideas developed in the earlier generations have not been supplanted by ideas from subsequent generations. Instead, the ideas represent a continuum of progress along the three dimensions of workflow, structure, and extraction.