Studies in health technology and informatics
-
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.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain & Opioid Stewardship: Providing Access and Building Capacity for Primary Care Providers in Underserviced, Rural, and Remote Communities.
Chronic pain is a prevalent and serious problem in the province of Ontario. Frontline primary care providers (PCPs) manage the majority of chronic pain patients, yet receive minimal training in chronic pain. ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Ontario Chronic Pain & Opioid Stewardship aims to address the problem of chronic pain management in Ontario. ⋯ We discuss how ECHO increases PCP access and capacity to manage chronic pain, the development of a community of practice, as well as the limitations of our approach. The ECHO model is a promising approach for healthcare system improvement. ECHO's strength lies in its simplicity, adaptability, and use of existing telemedicine infrastructure to increase both access and capacity of PCPs in underserviced, rural, and remote communities.
-
Assessment of vital signs is an essential part of surveillance of critically ill patients to detect condition changes and clinical deterioration. While most modern electronic medical records allow for vitals to be recorded in a structured format, the frequency and quality of what is electronically stored may differ from how often these measures are actually recorded. We created a tool that extracts blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and pain level from nursing and other clinical notes recorded in the course of inpatient care to supplement structured vital sign data.
-
The current volume presents the accepted papers of the ICIMTH (International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare). The Organising Committee and the Scientific Programme Committee would like to present to the academic community the scientific outcomes of the ICIMTH 2015 Conference, which is being held from 9 to 11 July, 2015 in Athens, Greece. The ICIMTH 2015 Conference is the 13th Annual Conference in this series of scientific events, gathering scientists from all continents as well as from the hosting country in the field of Biomedical and Health Informatics. ⋯ The Editors would like to thank the Members of the Scientific Programme Committee, the Organising Committee, and all Reviewers, who have done a thorough and objective refereeing of the scientific work to produce a high quality publishing achievement and a successful scientific event. Athens, 26.05.2015 The Editors, John Mantas, Arie Hasman and Mowafa S. Househ.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
H2020 EU Research & Innovation Program Boost the Transfer of Technological Breakthroughs, Enable New Solutions for Personalised Health and Impact the Industry and Healthcare Systems.
Our Healthcare systems worldwide are facing grand challenges that can be addressed by intelligent, miniaturized and interconnected devices. Many of today's pharmaceutical drugs create bigger problems than solutions, as drugs help only 40% of the patients and kill, in the USA alone, over 100,000 people per year. The widespread use of antibiotics has led to new strands of bacteria that defy all known antibiotics and kill well over 100,000 people yearly in the world. ⋯ Therefore the EU has developed the Horizon 2020 program as a framework for technology development and new business creation. Horizon 2020 is focusing on support for technology transfer, and on building ecosystems and value chains to ensure shorter times-to-market, thus enabling a higher impact of knowledge-based technologies. This paper will argue the necessity of developing these new class of devices, discuss its state-of-the-art, and the challenges for the implementation of Horizon 2020 and the new opportunities in intelligent miniaturized systems for pHealth.