Studies in health technology and informatics
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The hearing healthcare scenario is rapidly evolving due to the pervasive use of m-Health solutions, in particular mobile apps. This brings along significant advantages and opportunities (e.g., accessibility, affordability, personalized healthcare, patient empowerment) as well as significant potential risks and threats (e.g., safety, misuse, quality issues, privacy). Our research aims at the identification and assessment of apps in the hearing healthcare domain. In this article we present an overview of the current availability, variety, and penetration of hearing-related apps.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
New technologies applied to surgical processes: Virtual Reality and rapid prototyping.
AYRA is software of virtual reality for training, planning and optimizing surgical procedures. AYRA was developed under a research, development and innovation project financed by the Andalusian Ministry of Health, called VirSSPA. ⋯ They are used for surgical planning support, intraoperative reference or defect reconstruction. In this paper, some of these tools and some real cases are presented.
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Determining the priority of attention in an Emergency Room (ER) has always been a difficult issue. Priority is determined with a simple triage system as people arrive at the hospital. It is important to establish how long they can wait for treatment. ⋯ With this software, we decreased significantly:1) the length of the triage system process, 2) the waiting time of patients in the waiting room, 3) the number of complaints and 4) the number of patients who walk away. In conclusion, the NSET improves and helps to define more accurately a patient's risk. NSET helps in the emergency department triage.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
Using heart rate variability for automated identification of exercise exertion levels.
Heart rate monitoring is being used to estimate activity of autonomous nervous system by analysing heart rate variability (HRV). HRV has been recently shown to be effective means to monitor efficacy of exercise in patients with cardiovascular conditions and older adults. Whether HRV can be used to identify exercise exertion levels is unknown. ⋯ Comparative analysis of HRV during cycling exercise demonstrated responsiveness of time-domain indices to different phases of an exercise program. Using discriminant analysis, canonical discriminant functions were built which correctly identified 100% of 'highest level of exertion' and 80.0% of 'rest' episodes. HRV demonstrated high potential in monitoring autonomic balance and exercise exertion during cycling exercise program.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
Proactive Support of Internet Browsing when Searching for Relevant Health Information.
Many people use the Internet as one of the primary sources of health information. This is due to the high volume and easy access of freely available information regarding diseases, diagnoses and treatments. ⋯ In this paper, we present a new kind of Web browser add-on, in order to proactively support users when searching for relevant health information. Our add-on not only visualizes the understandability of displayed medical text but also provides further recommendations of Web pages which hold similar content but are potentially easier to comprehend.