Proceedings / the ... Annual Symposium on Computer Application [sic] in Medical Care. Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care
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Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care · Jan 1991
Exploring a hospital-wide database: integrating statistical functions with ClinQuery.
Routinely collected clinical data are a valuable source of information for clinical epidemiology, health services research, and outcomes research. To explore, graph, and analyze such a large amount of material easily, one needs three kind of tools: a database management system, graphic displays, and statistical software. ⋯ To address this issue we have integrated new exploratory modules with ClinQuery, a user-friendly computer program for online searching of clinical data. In this paper we describe some of the newly implemented graphics and statistical functions, along with practical examples of the way they may be used.
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Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care · Jan 1991
PREOP: development of an evidence-based expert system to assist with preoperative assessments.
PREOP is a prototype expert system that is designed to provide physicians with evidence-based recommendations concerning the assessment and care of patients with comorbid medical problems who are about to undergo surgery. The knowledgebase for this system is currently undergoing transition from the conventional advice of medical experts, which is variably related to evidence published in the medical literature, to a more formal approach in which the best available evidence is used for each recommendation and the quality of the evidence made apparent to the user. This work seeks to address important questions concerning improvement of the information contained in expert knowledgebases, namely, how to find and recognize new evidence when it is published, how to assess the quality of evidence in a uniform and efficient fashion, how to replace evidence in the knowledgebase efficiently when it has been superseded by higher quality evidence, and how to represent evidence in a manner that is most valuable for the user.
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Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care · Jan 1991
A flexible system for vital signs monitoring in hospital general care wards based on the integration of UNIX-based workstations, standard networks and portable vital signs monitors.
The article describes a study conducted on general surgical and thoracic surgical floors of a 1000-bed hospital to assess the impact of a new network for portable patient care devices. This network was developed to address the needs of hospital patients who need constant, multi-parameter, vital signs surveillance, but do not require intensive nursing care. ⋯ A disk-based log within the workstation automatically collected performance data, including patient demographics, monitor alarms, and network status for analysis. The log has allowed the developers to evaluate the use and performance of the system.
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Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care · Jan 1991
Use of augmented decision tables to convert probabilistic data into clinical algorithms for the diagnosis of appendicitis.
Decision table techniques have been shown to be useful for ensuring logical completeness, eliminating ambiguity, and optimizing the translation of logic into flowcharts or computer programs. Nevertheless, they have not been widely applied in medicine. ⋯ One rule set is based on a diagnostic threshold whereby morbidity is minimized; the other rule set minimizes mortality. For this purpose, we have developed an augmented decision table format that allows the incorporation of probability and utility data.
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Code Red! software simulates typical cardiac emergencies with a full color interactive educational simulation. The trainee can master the basic skills of recognizing cardiac rhythms and appropriately treating abnormalities through interaction with a variety of scenarios (e.g. ventricular fibrillation, bradycardia, asystole). ⋯ Medical Directors, residents, medical students, critical care nurses, ER staff, paramedics and many other health care professionals can benefit from the software. The software, running within the Windows 3.0 graphical environment on a 386/486 PC, demonstrates the capability of today's computers to simulate a complex task and provide a powerful training tool.