Bmc Med Inform Decis
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Apr 2019
Are Austrian practitioners ready to use medical apps? Results of a validation study.
As part of the mobile revolution, smartphone-based applications (apps) have become almost indispensable in today's information society. Consequently, the use of medical apps among healthcare professionals has increased heavily over the past years. As little is known on medical app use in day-to-day clinical practice in Austria, the present study aims at closing this knowledge gap by assessing respective prevalence, readiness, and concerns among Austrian practitioners. ⋯ Nowadays, medical apps serve as an important source of information for many doctors and are especially popular among younger physicians. The omnipresence of smartphones in the smocks of healthcare workers raised awareness for potential shortcomings regarding disruption of traditional face-to-face doctor-patient interaction among all healthcare stakeholders. This study's finding thus highlight the need for initiating a public discussion on legal and social frameworks to successfully integrate mobile apps into everyday clinical.
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Apr 2019
Identifying clinically important COPD sub-types using data-driven approaches in primary care population based electronic health records.
COPD is a highly heterogeneous disease composed of different phenotypes with different aetiological and prognostic profiles and current classification systems do not fully capture this heterogeneity. In this study we sought to discover, describe and validate COPD subtypes using cluster analysis on data derived from electronic health records. ⋯ COPD patients can be sub-classified into groups with differing risk factors, comorbidities, and prognosis, based on data included in their primary care records. The identified clusters confirm findings of previous clustering studies and draw attention to anxiety and depression as important drivers of the disease in young, female patients.