Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
A standard operating protocol (SOP) and minimum data set (MDS) for nursing and medical handover: considerations for flexible standardization in developing electronic tools.
As part of Australia's participation in the World Health Organization, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) is the leading federal government technical agency involved in the area of clinical handover improvement. The ACSQHC has funded a range of handover improvement projects in Australia including one at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH), Tasmania. The RHH project aims to investigate the potential for generalizable and transferable clinical handover solutions throughout the medical and nursing disciplines. ⋯ It considers the implications of these standardized operating protocols and minimum data sets for developing electronic clinical handover support tools. Significantly, the paper highlights a human-centred design approach that actively involves medical and nursing staff in data collection, analysis, interpretation, and systems design. This approach reveals the dangers of info-centrism when considering electronic tools, as information emerges as the only factor amongst many others that influence the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical handover.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Remote videolaryngoscopy skills training for pre-hospital personnel.
Videolaryngoscopy (VL) is a novel technology that can facilitate rapid acquisition of intubation skills with simultaneous teacher and learner visualization of laryngeal structures. Videolaryngoscopy improves laryngeal visualization, and improves intubation success in difficult airway management compared to standard direct laryngoscopy. First responders need enhanced airway management tools to improve intubation success rates in civilian pre-hospital and military battlefield settings. ⋯ User acceptance was good. Remote training paradigms for advanced technology solutions such as videolaryngoscopy can accelerate the diffusion of life-saving new technologies, especially when there is limited access to specialized training. Videolaryngoscopy visualization and difficult airway intubation success rates were better than direct laryngoscopy.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Developing an immersive ultrasound guided needle puncture simulator.
We present an integrated system for training ultrasound guided needle puncture. Our aim is to provide a cost effective and validated training tool that uses actual patient data to enable interventional radiology trainees to learn how to carry out image-guided needle puncture. ⋯ Force measurements have been made on real tissue and the resulting data is incorporated into the simulator. Respiration and soft tissue deformations are also carried out to further improve the fidelity of the simulator.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Videolaryngoscopy for intubation skills training of novice military airway managers.
An estimated 10% of preventable battlefield deaths are due to Airway obstruction. Improved airway rescue strategies are needed with new tools for airway management by less experienced providers. Airway management and training are improved using video laryngoscopy (VL) compared to direct laryngoscopy (DL). ⋯ Mean Cormack-Lehane airway visualization grades (range 1-4) were higher with VL (1.95 +/- 0.97) vs. DL (1.02 +/- 0.15) {Students t-test p < 0.0001}. VL (69.7%) was preferred to DL (18.6%); no preference was indicated by 11.6%.
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