Medinfo. MEDINFO
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This paper discusses the theoretical basis and cumulative experience with EDECS, the Emergency Department Expert Charting System. This rule-based expert-system introduces clinical guidelines into the flow of patient care while creating the medical record and patient aftercare instructions.
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To create a clinical data repository to interface the Veteran's Administration (VA) Decentralized Hospital Computer Program (DHCP) and a departmental clinical information system for the management of HIV patients. This system supports record-keeping, decision-making, reporting, and analysis. The database development was designed to overcome two impediments to successful implementations of clinical databases: (i) lack of a standard reference data model, and; (ii) lack of a universal standard for medical concept representation. ⋯ We obtained a suite of programs for implementing the HL7 encoding rules from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, written in ANSI C. This toolkit isolates our application programs from the details of the HL7 encoding rules, and allows them to deal with abstract messages and the programming level. While HL7 has become a standard for healthcare message exchange, SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard for database definition, data manipulation, and query. The target database (Stitt F.W. The Problem-Oriented Medical Synopsis: a patient-centered clinical information system. Proc 17 SCAMC. 1993:88-93) provides clinical workstation functionality. Medical concepts are encoded using a preferred terminology derived from over 15 sources that include the Unified Medical Language System and SNOMed International ( Stitt F.W. The Problem-Oriented Medical Synopsis: coding, indexing, and classification sub-model. Proc 18 SCAMC, 1994: in press). The databases were modeled using the Information Engineering CASE tools, and were written using relational database utilities, including embedded SQL in C (ESQL/C). We linked ESQL/C programs to the HL7 toolkit to allow data to be inserted, deleted, or updated, under transaction control. A graphical format will be used to display the entity-rel
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The aim of this paper is to present an "instruction for use" on the information systems modeling and simulation methods in the case of a Hospital Information System. Firstly, a right modeling is defined as the right modeling method for the right objective and secondly, it exposes a short state of the art on these methods, the objectives of modeling and simulation for the Information System of a hospital and the application of the right method for the right objective. Finally it insists on the concrete aspects of how to realize modeling and simulation and the advantages of such an approach.
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Health care institutions are considering a variety of emerging information technologies (ITs) in the hope of increasing efficiency, reducing costs, re-engineering work processes, and improving quality of care. The recent, rapid advances made in the use of innovative ITs in the health care field can present a plethora of problems to the administrative staff. Perhaps the most pressing of these concerns is the ability of today's hospitals to effectively create and utilize computer-based information systems. ⋯ Data analysis is still in its infancy at this point. Regarding its relevance to the role of the administrator, this study will allow general and health care management as well as IT professionals to gain insight into the dynamics of the implementation of innovative technologies. In other words, results from this study will provide clear and relevant answers to the questions of how and why the outcome of the information system project is influenced by the way in which the technology is introduced.
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EDECS, the Emergency Department Expert Charting System, integrates clinical guidelines into the everyday practice of medicine. By generating the medical record and patient aftercare instructions, it facilitates patient care. For this reason, doctors are willing to use it. ⋯ EDECS facilitates quality management activities and research since it collects standardized information and stores it in an easily retrievable database format. It can also be used to educate medical students and residents about the proper care of patients with a given chief complaint. At this session, EDECS will be demonstrated, and issues regarding the development of guidelines, the encoding of guidelines in rules, and the organizational structure of the software will be presented and discussed.