Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Using the intubating laryngeal tube in a manikin - user evaluation of a new airway device.
This work describes the use of a new intubation device, the intubating laryngeal tube (iLTA) as developed by Boedeker. Emergency Department residents and staff from the University of Nebraska Medical Center performed intubations using the Laerdal Difficult Airway Trainer Manikin(TM). The participants' perceived value of the intubating laryngeal tube as well as its efficacy in intubation performance were measured and found to be highly favorable.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Observational StudyWhiteboard icons to support the blood-test process in an emergency department: an observational study of temporal patterns.
The competent treatment of emergency department (ED) patients requires an effective and efficient process for handling laboratory tests such as blood tests. This study investigates how ED clinicians go about the process, from ordering blood tests to acknowledging their results and, specifically, assesses the use of whiteboard icons to support this process. ⋯ The whiteboard icons, which indicate four temporally distinct steps in the blood-test process, support the nurses in maintaining the flow of patients through the ED and the physicians in assessing test results at timeouts. The main results of this study are, however, that the blood-test process is temporally and collaboratively complex, that the whiteboard icons pass by most of this complexity, that attending to the icons is yet another temporally sensitive activity to remember, and that whereas the assessment of test results is integral to patient treatment, the acknowledgement of having seen the results is a formal add-on, the responsibility for which is sometimes unclear.
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Critically injured patients are often found in unusual positions and environments which can hinder the first responder's access to render necessary care. This work describes the use of the videolaryngoscope in airway management of the critically injured patient under unusual conditions.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Towards large-scale data analysis: challenges in the design of portable systems and use of Cloud computing.
Portable systems and global communications open a broad spectrum for new health applications. In the framework of electrophysiological applications, several challenges are faced when developing portable systems embedded in Cloud computing services. In order to facilitate new developers in this area based on our experience, five areas of interest are presented in this paper where strategies can be applied for improving the performance of portable systems: transducer and conditioning, processing, wireless communications, battery and power management. Likewise, for Cloud services, scalability, portability, privacy and security guidelines have been highlighted.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Architecture of a prehospital emergency patient care report system (PEPRS).
In recent years, prehospital emergency care adapted to the technology shift towards tablet computers and mobile computing. In particular, electronic patient care report (e-PCR) systems gained considerable attention and adoption in prehospital emergency medicine [1]. On the other hand, hospital information systems are already widely adopted. ⋯ Aim of this project is to describe a generic architecture which can be used to implement data transfer and integration of pre hospital emergency care reports to hospital information systems. In summary, the prototype was able to integrate data in a standardized manner. The devised methods can be used design generic software for prehospital to hospital data integration.