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[Automatic system design of radioimmunoassay (RIA) laboratory in Yamagata University Hospital].

An originally designed full automatic system for radioimmunoassay (RIA) examination was developed. The system was constructed with mini computer (DOMAIN 3500, Appolo), touch panel controlled personal computer (PC-9801 VM, NEC), printout device (LASER SHOT, Canon) and well-type gamma counter (COBRA, PACKARD). The mini computer was connected with hospital host computer system (FACOM M-760, Fujitsu) to get some patient's information (name, sex, date of birth, department and out-or inpatient). This on-line connection made it possible to simplify the sample registration. Then only the patient's ID-code and examination item were required for sample registration. Sample label, worksheet, report, statistics and register file were able to be printed full automatically. Our new developed system was very useful in search of some patient's previous result.

Automation↗

A computer primer: systems implementation.

It is important to recognize the process of implementing systems as a process of change. The hospital, through its steering committee, must manage this process, initiating change instead of responding to it. Only then will the implementation of information systems be an orderly process and the impact of these changes on the hospital's organization clearly controlled. The probability of success in implementing new systems would likely be increased if attention centers on gaining commitment to the project, gaining commitment to any changes necessitated by the new system, and assuring that the project is well defined and plans clearly specified. These issues, if monitored throughout the systems implementation, will lead to early identification of potential problems and probable failures. This highly increases the chance of success. A probably failure, once identified, can be given specific attention to assure that associated problems are successfully resolved. The cost of this special attention, monitoring and managing systems implementation, is almost always much less than the cost of the eventual implementation failure.

Computers↗

Early assessment of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction by biochemical monitoring and neural network analysis.

Neural network analysis was applied for early diagnosis/exclusion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), prediction of infarct size, and estimation of "time from onset of infarction." Eighty-eight patients admitted within 8 h after onset of chest pain were included. Blood samples for measurement of myoglobin, creatine kinase isoform MB, and troponin T were obtained every 30 min during the first 3 h and then after successively longer intervals. Data from 50 patients were used to train a set of neural network components of a decision support system. The performance of the system was evaluated and compared with experienced clinicians for the remaining 38 patients. The computer system detected myocardial infarction and predicted infarct size earlier than the clinicians, but did not differ significantly in terms of diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values when disregarding time for diagnosis. With a cross-validation procedure the cumulated sensitivities of the computer system for the first five measurements were estimated to be (mean +/- 2SEM, n = 100): 0.77 +/- 0.03, 0.89 +/- 0.02, 0.94 +/- 0.02, 0.97 +/- 0.01, and 0.99 +/- 0.01, respectively, with corresponding cumulated specificities between 0.93 +/- 0.01 and 0.91 +/- 0.01. We concluded that neural network analysis of serial measurements of biochemical markers might provide useful support for the early assessment of patients with suspected AMI.

Aged↗

Effect of computer-generated prompts on physician prescribing of multiple daily doses.

Cost containment of health care costs and computerization of pharmacy services are two trends that have become evident in recent years. The work described here was an attempt to reduce the prescribing of multiple daily doses of medications that could be prescribed once or twice daily by utilizing a pharmacy computer system. Ten drugs were identified as being prescribed more than 30% of the time in more frequent dosing schedules than recommended in the literature. Five of the drugs were randomly assigned to an experimental group and five to a control group. The computer system included a reminder with all experimental drug group orders for drugs effective given once or twice daily for maintenance therapy. This reminder was printed on both the physician's active medication profile and the nurse's medication administration record. The control period was designated as being the four month period prior to the initiation of the study. The experimental period was identified as the following four months where reminders were included with the drugs. No information concerning the study was circulated to the physicians or nursing staff. The results revealed no trend of fewer orders for multiple doses in the experimental group. In fact, all drugs in both the experimental and control groups showed random fluctuations in the number of orders for multiple doses. Possible reasons for the failure of this project include the impact of the reminders on the physicians, the timing of the study, and the medical condition of the patients.

British Columbia↗

[Effects of a computer-assisted system for nursing care documentation on quality and quantity of nursing care documentation].

The University Hospital in Heidelberg has been gathering experience with the computer based nursing documentationsystem PIK since 1998. Its introduction on four pilotwards was systematically evaluated in an intervention study, gaining data to acceptance issues as well as to the quality of nursing documentation, as the nursing process is often not documented in an appropriate manner. Data to quantity and quality of nursing documentation before and after the intervention was gathered by means of a quality checklist, which was developed on the basis of an intensive literature review. To measure a difference in the quality of nursing documentation 20 documents from each of the four wards were assessed at the three assigned points of time by two nursing experts. The assessors stated a significant improvement in documentation quality due to the increase in formal completeness when documenting the nursing process. The content of the documentation as well as the individualization of the nursing care plan still need to be improved.

Attitude to Computers↗

Role of computing in patient care in two hospitals.

This report describes two hospital-wide clinical computing systems that assist physicians, nurses, medical students, and other clinicians in the care of their patients. From any of the video-display terminals located throughout the hospitals (666 at Beth Israel Hospital and 1250 at Brigham and Women's Hospital, both in Boston), clinicians can obtain results from the clinical laboratories; read diagnostic reports from the clinical departments; view lists of medications used during hospitalization and prescriptions filled in the outpatient pharmacy; request delivery of a patient's chart; request consultation on approaches to therapy; perform bibliographic retrieval of the MEDLINE database; and read, write, retract, edit, and forward electronic mail. During a one-week study period, 1737 clinicians at Beth Israel Hospital used one or more of the options in the clinical information system 58,757 times. During the same week, 2262 clinicians at Brigham and Women's Hospital used one or more of their options 89,101 times. The large amount of use by clinicians, who could, if they so desired, rely on printed reports or telephone calls to obtain their clinical information, suggests that a reliable, comprehensive, and easy-to-use computer system can contribute substantially to the quality of patient care.

Attitude to Computers↗

Tomographic bioluminescence imaging by use of a combined optical-PET (OPET) system: a computer simulation feasibility study.

The feasibility and limits in performing tomographic bioluminescence imaging with a combined optical-PET (OPET) system were explored by simulating its image formation process. A micro-MRI based virtual mouse phantom was assigned appropriate tissue optical properties to each of its segmented internal organs at wavelengths spanning the emission spectrum of the firefly luciferase at 37 degrees C. The TOAST finite-element code was employed to simulate the diffuse transport of photons emitted from bioluminescence sources in the mouse. OPET measurements were simulated for single-point, two-point and distributed bioluminescence sources located in different organs such as the liver, the kidneys and the gut. An expectation maximization code was employed to recover the intensity and location of these simulated sources. It was found that spectrally resolved measurements were necessary in order to perform tomographic bioluminescence imaging. The true location of emission sources could be recovered if the mouse background optical properties were known a priori. The assumption of a homogeneous optical property background proved inadequate for describing photon transport in optically heterogeneous tissues and led to inaccurate source localization in the reconstructed images. The simulation results pointed out specific methodological challenges that need to be addressed before a practical implementation of OPET-based bioluminescence tomography is achieved.

Computer Simulation↗

A fully automated comparative microaneurysm digital detection system.

A fully automated digital image processing system, which provides an objective and repeatable way to quantify microaneurysms in digitised fluorescein angiograms, has been developed. The automated computer processing includes registration of same-eye retinal images for serial studies, cutting of regions-of-interest centred on the fovea, the detection of microaneurysms and the comparison of serial images for microaneurysm turnover. The microaneurysm detector was trained against a database of 68 images of patients with diabetes containing 394 true microaneurysms, as identified by an ophthalmologist. The microaneurysm detector achieved 82% sensitivity with 2.0 false-positives per image. An independent test set, comprising 20 images containing 297 true microaneurysms, was used to compare the microaneurysm detector with clinicians. The microaneurysm detector achieved a sensitivity of 82% for 5.7 false-positives per image, whereas the clinician receiver-operator-characteristic (ROC) curve gives 3.2 false-positives per image at a sensitivity of 82%. It is concluded that the computer system can reliably detect microaneurysms. The advantages of the computer system include objectivity, repeatability, speed and full automation.

Aneurysm↗

Microchips versus stethoscopes, part 2: Revisiting OSCAR at the Foothills Hospital.

Several years have passed since the Foothills Hospital in Calgary installed a multi-million-dollar computerized patient-information system. When it arrived, the computer system known as OSCAR created controversy, anxiety and arguments among clinical caregivers who found it tedious, time consuming and cumbersome. Gregory Powell looks at how OSCAR has since changed the clinical landscape at Foothills.

Alberta↗

Development of a computer linkage system for a blood recipient notification program in Nova Scotia.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the potential uses of computer-assisted record linkage in the surveillance of infectious diseases, using the Nova Scotia blood recipient notification program as the example. METHODS: We developed a computer-assisted, multiple-pass, probabilistic record linkage to link records for blood recipients identified by the Nova Scotia notification program (Nova Scotia Phase I Blood Bank File information) with corresponding Nova Scotia Health Card Registration File records to obtain current mailing addresses to contact potentially living recipients. We used variables available from both files (e.g., name, date of birth, gender, and health care registration number) to link records, after eliminating duplicates/deceased cases. RESULTS: Among 23,925 eligible records in the Nova Scotia Phase I Blood Bank File (1984-1990), there were 1,818 (7.8%) duplications and 8,675 deceased cases, leaving 13,432 cases for linkage. 8,713 (65%) cases were successfully linked to the 1998 Health Card Registration Data File for current mailing addresses. INTERPRETATION: Multiple-pass linkage seems acceptable for maximizing detection of correctly matched records for look-back projects. To overcome quality/lack of information obstacles, future look-back linkages should explore the use of supplementary data files (tax files, voter lists, license files, other provincial databases) to obtain most current addresses.

Disease Notification↗

Characteristics of periventricular matrix vascularization in image computer transformation system.

Observations of periventricular matrix vascularization were performed. Following technics were used: injection Pickword's method, infrared, image computer analysis. Various transformations were applied; linear and mathematical morphology. The examined material consisted of 200 fetuses aged 4-8 months of gestation. Subependymally localized and sinusoidally extended vessels were observed. Arteries reaching the ventricular lumen were seen as anatomically and functionally terminal, dendroidally ramificating only at the periphery. The connections between vessels of periventricular matrix and those of surrounding white matter were evidentiated.

Brain↗

Reinventing patient-centered computing for the twenty-first century.

Despite evidence over the past decade that patients like and will use patient-centered computing systems in managing their health, patients have remained forgotten stakeholders in advances in clinical computing systems. We present a framework for patient empowerment and the technical realization of that framework in an architecture called CareLink. In an evaluation of the initial deployment of CareLink in the support of neonatal intensive care, we have demonstrated a reduction in the length of stay for very-low birthweight infants, and an improvement in family satisfaction with care delivery. With the ubiquitous adoption of the Internet into the general culture, patient-centered computing provides the opportunity to mend broken health care relationships and reconnect patients to the care delivery process. CareLink itself provides functionality to support both clinical care and research, and provides a living laboratory for the further study of patient-centered computing.

Humans↗

Human versus machine: a comparison of a computer 'expert system' with human experts in the diagnosis of vaginal discharge.

A model system has been designed which generates 'cases' of vaginal discharge. Each such case is presented to a human for diagnosis, and this is then compared with a computer diagnosis using two forms of Bayes' theorem. Six subjects (2 medical; 4 non-medical) participated in the trial and each examined 100 successive 'cases'. When the humans had forewarning of the trial and full access to the knowledge-base their performance was superior to that of Bayes' theorem using positive features only and equivalent to that using both positive and negative features. When the trial was repeated without forewarning the human performance was markedly inferior to that of the machine. It is concluded: that human and computer-aided diagnosis can be of approximately equal efficiency for complex and non-definitive data; that the imperfections of human memory give an obvious potential advantage to the machine in this type of situation.

Computer Simulation↗

Validation of automated sleep analysis in normal children.

With the aim of determining normal reference values for our sleep laboratory and evaluating the reliability of automated analysis for scoring polysomnographic studies in children, we recorded polysomnograms in 16 healthy boarding-school children. Sleep recordings were obtained with a computer system (Medilog SAC, Oxford Instruments). Polysomnographic variables were monitored continuously on a 16-channel recorder equipped with a video. Data were acquired on optical disk for computer-assisted data interpretation. Sleep stages and respiratory events were also scored visually by operator. Comparison with visual scores showed that the computer system significantly overscored wakefulness (W) (p<0.02) and stage IV (p<0.001) and underscored stage II (p<0.001) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (p<0.001). It also assigned respiratory events a higher score than did visual scoring, as shown by the higher apnoea index (AI) and hypopnoea index (HI) (AI p<0.03; HI p<0.001). Regression analysis showed a significant correlation between visual and automated scores for central (r=0.679; p<0.004) and obstructive apnoea (r=0.631; p<0.008). Computer apnoea scores did not correlate with visual scores. Much remains to be done before computer-based scoring systems can be relied upon, without visual scoring, for polysomnographic sleep studies in children. Their main advantage at present is that they offer a convenient means of saving paper, space and time.

Apnea↗

Evaluation of the performance of drug-drug interaction screening software in community and hospital pharmacies.

BACKGROUND: Computerized drug-drug interaction (DDI) screening is widely used to identify potentially harmful drug combinations in the inpatient and outpatient setting. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of drug-drug interaction (DDI) screening software in identifying select clinically significant DDIs in pharmacy computer systems in community and hospital pharmacies. METHODS: Ten community pharmacies and 10 hospital pharmacies in the Tucson metropolitan area were invited to participate in the study in 2004. To test the performance of each of the systems used by the pharmacies, 25 medications were used to create 6 mock patient profiles containing 37 drug-drug pairs, 16 of which are clinically meaningful DDIs that pose a potential risk to patient safety. Each profile was entered into the computer pharmacy system, and the system response in terms of the presence or absence of a DDI alert was recorded for each drug pair. The percentage of correct responses and the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of each system to correctly classify each drug pair as a DDI or not was calculated. Summary statistics of these measures were calculated separately for community and hospital pharmacies. RESULTS: Eight community pharmacies and 5 hospital pharmacies in the Tucson metropolitan area agreed to participate in the study. The median sensitivity and median specificity for community pharmacies was 0.88 (range, 0.81-0.94) and 0.91 (range, 0.67-1.00), respectively. For hospital pharmacies, the median sensitivity and median specificity was 0.38 (range, 0.15-0.94) and 0.95 (range, 0.81-0.95), respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on this convenience sample of 8 community pharmacies and 5 hospital pharmacies in 1 metropolitan area, the performance of community pharmacy computer systems in screening DDIs appears to have improved over the last several years compared with research published previously in 2001. However, significant variation remains in the performance of hospital pharmacy computer systems, even among systems manufactured by the same vendor. Future research should focus on improving the performance of these systems in accurately and precisely identifying DDIs with a high probability of resulting in true potential adverse effects on clinical outcomes and creating a low .noise. ratio associated with false-positive alerts.

Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems↗

A pen-based system to support pre-operative data collection within an anaesthesia department.

This paper describes the design and implementation of a pen-based computer system for remote preoperative data collection. The system is envisaged to be used by anaesthesia staff at different hospital scenarios where pre-operative data are generated. Pen-based technology offers important advantages in terms of portability and human-computer interaction, as direct manipulation interfaces by direct pointing, and "notebook user interfaces metaphors". Being the human factors analysis and user interface design a vital stage to achieve the appropriate user acceptability, a methodology that integrates the "usability" evaluation from the earlier development stages was used. Additionally, the selection of a pen-based computer system as a portable device to be used by health care personnel allows to evaluate the appropriateness of this new technology for remote data collection within the hospital environment. The work presented is currently being realised under the Research Project "TANIT: Telematics in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care", within the "A.I.M.--Telematics in Health CARE" European Research Program.

Anesthesia Department, Hospital↗

Use of international data communications standards in hospital laboratories.

The National Health Service is committed to the use of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) data communications standards. In this paper we describe a project aimed at demonstrating the use of OSI standards in practice. The Pathology Laboratory at Northampton General Hospital is involved in this major project to link its laboratory computer systems with hospital and GP computer systems. The data will be transferred using X.400 messaging standards over an X.25 Wide Area Network. Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) will be used to encode data being exchanged between laboratory, hospital and GP computer applications.

Computer Communication Networks↗