Proceedings / AMIA ... Annual Symposium. AMIA Symposium
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As part of developing a record linkage algorithm using de-identified patient data, we analyzed the performance of several demographic variables for making linkages between patient registry records from two hospital registries and the Social Security Death Master File. We analyzed samples from each registry totaling 6,000 record-pairs to establish a linkage gold-standard. Using Social Security Number as the exclusive linkage variable resulted in substantial linkage error rates of 4.7% and 9.2%. ⋯ This found 87% and 88% of the links without any false links. We achieved sensitivities of 90% to 92% while maintaining 100% specificity using combinations of social security number, gender, name, and birth date fields. This represents an accurate method for linking patient records to death data and is the basis for a more generalized de-identified linkage algorithm.
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Comparative Study
A comparison of communication needs of charge nurses in two operating room suites.
To achieve the potential inherent in the use of computer applications in distributed environments, we need to understand the information needs of users. Communication is the method by which information is transferred and is essential for all organizational interaction. The primary goal of operating room coordination is to insure the prompt, safe, and effective care of surgical patients. ⋯ A data collection tool was developed to record: 1) the purpose of the communication, 2) mode of communication, 3) the target individual, and 4) the length of time taken for each occurrence. The chosen data collection categories provided a functional structure for data collection and analysis involving communication. Study findings are discussed within the context of opportunities for application design
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In intensive care physiological variables of the critically ill are measured and recorded in short time intervals. The proper extraction and interpretation of the information contained in this flood of information can hardly be done by experience alone. Intelligent alarm systems are needed to provide suitable bedside decision support. ⋯ Graphical models provide information on the relationships among physiological variables that is helpful e.g. for variable selection. Separate analyses for different pathophysiological states show that distinct clinical states are characterized by distinct partial correlation structures. Hence, this technique can provide new insights into physiological mechanisms.
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Many information retrieval systems are based on vector space model (VSM) that represents a document as a vector of index terms. Concepts have been proposed to replace word stems as the index terms to improve retrieval accuracy. However, past research revealed that such systems did not outperform the traditional stem-based systems. ⋯ The similarity between two phrases is jointly determined by their conceptual similarity and their common word stems. The document similarity can in turn be derived from phrase similarities. Using OHSUMED as a test collection and UMLS as the knowledge source, our experiment results reveal that phrase-based VSM yields a 16% increase of retrieval accuracy compared to the stem-based model.
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Even in the information-rich environment of hospitals, health-care providers face challenges in addressing their various information needs. Through a study of a patient-care team in a tertiary care Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), we expanded our understanding of health-care providers' information needs in two important ways. ⋯ We found that organizational information was extremely important to SICU team members. Furthermore, the first resource that team members utilized was not electronic or paper but rather human: another team member.