Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
Mindfulness training online for stress reduction, a global measure.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), stress-related chronic diseases are the main source of death in developed countries. During the last decade, e-mental health, telepsychology or telepsychiatry interventions are showing its growing potential due to the gradual global adoption of the internet and mobile phone technologies. ⋯ Sustained attention and the state of mindfulness experienced in single meditation sessions are also tracked and stored. Correlational analysis yielded to a statistically significant relationship between high scores in stress and low scores in mindfulness facets (p < .001) and between state and trait aspects of mindfulness (p < .01).
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
Analysis of metrics for the usability evaluation of electronic health record systems.
Electronic health records are gradually replacing conventional paper-based health records. For a doctor, it is a working instrument, which can significantly reduce the time spent on paper work. At the same time, patients can benefit from accessing the electronic health records even though they usually do not have a medical background. ⋯ The analysis focused on metrics that are applicable for evaluating GUIs of health information systems. Several approaches and standards have been studied. Finally, a set of metrics and evaluation methods that provide holistic evaluation facilities for graphical user interfaces has been identified.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
Viability of healthcare service delivery alternatives for the Australian mining sector.
The changing and demanding nature of the mining workforce in rural and remote Australia brings unique challenges to the delivery of healthcare services. In an attempt to control costs whilst delivering cost effective and quality healthcare, new models of delivery must be considered. ⋯ A cost-benefit framework is analysed comparing three models of service provision using travel to a major location, locum services and remote health monitoring. Ultimately, new models of care must be considered to address the issues of increasing workforce turnover, to cater for rising healthcare costs, and to improve the health of such communities.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
The distributed use of electronic emergency-department whiteboards.
At emergency departments (EDs), electronic whiteboards are introduced to provide a better overview and to support clinicians in spending more time with patients. Often, the main difference between electronic and dry-erase whiteboards is that electronic whiteboards provide distributed access to whiteboard information. We investigate the distributed use of whiteboards at one ED by analyzing seven months of log data. ⋯ The physicians and nurses make little distributed use of the whiteboard and when they do it is to prepare for seeing and to document having seen a patient, rather than in patient rooms with the patients. Important reasons for the limited distributed use among physicians and nurses appear to be a frequent need and practice of visiting the physical information hub of the ED. The information hub features a permanent wall-mounted display of the electronic whiteboard and this display, rather than distributed access, is preferred by physicians and nurses.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
Comparative Study Controlled Clinical TrialA comparison of the effects of deep tissue massage and therapeutic massage on chronic low back pain.
This study compared the effectiveness of two different kind of massage: therapeutic and deep tissue on chronic low back pain. ⋯ There was not statistically significant differences between groups according to age and BMI. Statistically significant differences were noted after TM in every test [ODI p=0.010; QBPD p<0.001; VAS p<0.001] and after DTM in every test [ODI p<0.001; QBPD p<0.001; VAS p<0.001]. DTM was statistically significant better therapy than TM in ODI [p=0.038] and VAS [p=0.015]. Further research is needed to verify the results.