Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Utilizing electronic health record data to determine the health of the medication process after the relocation of a children's hospital.
Hospital relocation is a highly complex undertaking, which has the potential to interrupt operations and poses risks for patients, staff, and providers. Little is known how hospital relocation impacts on workflow and communication. ⋯ Overall performance of the medication process has declined slightly. We identified regional (unit) differences with the pediatric intensive care unit, which had the most significant changes to its workflow, experiencing a more than doubling of the time from ordering to medication administration. Overall, there was no significant difference in time-sensitive medication administration times. Evaluating the medication ordering-dispensing-administration process through readily available EHR data demonstrated that the impact of a hospital' s relocation on workflow and communication can be successfully monitored.
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Handheld technology finds slowly its place in the healthcare world. Some clinicians already use intensively dedicated mobile applications to consult clinical references. However, handheld technology hasn't still broadly embraced to the core of the healthcare business, the hospitals. ⋯ To answer these questions, we have set up a field study to compare users' performances on three different user interfaces while recording vital signs. Some user interfaces were familiar to users, and others were totally innovative. Results showed that users' familiarity with smartphone influences their performances and that users improve their performances by repeating a task.
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Population ageing is the demographic process that characterises the first half of the twenty-first century. Australia's population is already ageing and the states and territories are ageing at different rates. ⋯ In this paper we discuss how a spatially informed health information management system could support population ageing and the disconnected systems that address ageing. We illustrate this with examples from our work to show how spatial informatics can advance our understanding of and response to the implications of population ageing.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Tailored care management with patient-centered web-based portal in primary health care: sustaining a relational context.
While many innovative information and communication technologies have been offered as solutions to primary care management challenges, few have been shown to be effective and or sustainable over time. Information technology approaches have been narrow in focus, relying on designs that enhance usability, interoperability and adaptability by delimiting the traits, attributes, and characteristics of individual communication processes. It is increasingly understood in primary health care settings that relational communication continuity between the patient and the health care team is essential for optimizing co-determined treatments, interventions, and self-management strategies. Successful utilization of a patient-centered web-based portal must account for essential proximity of the relational aspect of care between the patient and the immediate health care team.
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Apps running on mobile devices are continually gaining importance, for medical professionals as well as for patients. When used appropriately, they can support their users, have the potential to increase efficiency and to lower costs. However, the information available for "medical apps" that are currently being distributed in the official mobile app stores of different mobile platforms often rather raises than answers questions regarding important aspects such as functionality, limits, data integrity, security and privacy. In this paper, we analyze the current situation, including a basic overview over current reporting and regulatory mechanisms and propose the use of an app-synopsis as step in direction of transparency.