Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Knowledge representation and management enabling intelligent interoperability - principles and standards.
Based on the paradigm changes for health, health services and underlying technologies as well as the need for at best comprehensive and increasingly automated interoperability, the paper addresses the challenge of knowledge representation and management for medical decision support. After introducing related definitions, a system-theoretical, architecture-centric approach to decision support systems (DSSs) and appropriate ways for representing them using systems of ontologies is given. Finally, existing and emerging knowledge representation and management standards are presented. The paper focuses on the knowledge representation and management part of DSSs, excluding the reasoning part from consideration.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Review Meta AnalysisA review of healthcare information system usability & safety.
Healthcare information systems have been designed to increase the efficiency and safety of healthcare processes. Systems such as electronic health records and pervasive computing devices have been shown to improve the safety of healthcare. However, increasing research has indicated that the design of such systems, in particular the user interface, may be related to increased incidence of other types of error. ⋯ New technology, such as CPOE, offers improvements over traditional paper tools and it is shown to have a positive effect on patient safety. New technology also creates the opportunity for new errors to occur and lead to the coining of the term "technology-induced error". The magnitude of the usability-testing needs is larger than it may seem.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyComparison of automated and manual vital sign collection at hospital wards.
Using a cross-over study design, vital signs were collected from 60 patients by 6 nurses. Each nurse was randomly assigned for manual vital sign collection in 5 patients and for automated data collection in other 5 patients. ⋯ We found that 30% of vital sign records were transmitted to EMR with at least one error after manual data collection whereas there wasno transmission error with automated data collection. Allparticipating nurses stated that the automated vital sign collection can improve their efficiency and save their time for direct patient care.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Ensuring the security and availability of a hospital wireless LAN system.
Wireless technologies as part of the data communication infrastructure of modern hospitals are being rapidly introduced. Even though there are concerns about problems associated with wireless communication security, the demand is remarkably large. ⋯ The main focus of the availability discussion is on signal reach, electromagnetic noise elimination, and maintaining power supply to the network apparatus. It is our hope that this information will assist others in their efforts to ensure safe implementation of wireless LAN systems, especially in hospitals where they have the potential to greatly improve information sharing and patient safety.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Comparative StudyAre smartphones comparable to laptops for image diagnosis in teleophthalmology?
To assess the reliability and accuracy of smartphones in diagnosing transmitted fundus images in comparison with a laptop. ⋯ Smartphones are as effective as the laptop in diagnosing fundus pathologies and hold promise for teleophthalmology in future.