Beyond Digital Tools

Author(s):  
Khadijeh (Roya) Rouzbehani

As the North American healthcare system moves to online value-based care, the importance of engaging patients and families continues to intensify. However, simply engaging patients and families to improve their subjective satisfaction will not be enough for providers who want to maximize value. True optimization entails developing deep and long-term relationships with patients through understanding their needs. This chapter discusses the result of a research conducted in Canada. Questionnaires were given, and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical. The findings indicate that IT healthcare is rapidly growing. However, despite a significant number of initiatives in Canada related to online health information, lack of interoperability remains one of the major challenges in implementing successful health IT systems at this time.

Author(s):  
Khadijeh Roya Rouzbehani

As the North American healthcare system moves to online value-based care, the importance of engaging patients and families continues to intensify. However, simply engaging patients and families to improve their subjective satisfaction will not be enough for providers who want to maximize value. True optimization entails developing deep and long-term relationships with patients through understanding their needs. This article discusses the result of a research conducted in Canada. Out of 1100 questionnaires which were distributed, 850 valid returns were obtained. The collected data were analyzed using a SPSS 20.0 statistical. The findings indicate that IT healthcare is rapidly growing. However, despite a significant number of initiatives in Canada related to online health information, lack of interoperability remains one of the major challenges in implementing successful health IT systems at this time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (7) ◽  
pp. 1072-1083
Author(s):  
Stacey Marovich ◽  
Genevieve Barkocy Luensman ◽  
Barbara Wallace ◽  
Eileen Storey

Abstract Objective The study sought to develop an information model of data describing a person’s work for use by health information technology (IT) systems to support clinical care, population health, and public health. Materials and Methods Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health worked with stakeholders to define relationships and structure, vocabulary, and interoperability standards that would be useful and collectable in health IT systems. Results The Occupational Data for Health (ODH) information model illustrates relationships and attributes for a person’s employment status, retirement dates, past and present jobs, usual work, and combat zone periods. Key data about the work of a household member that could be relevant to the health of a minor were also modeled. Existing occupation and industry classification systems were extended to create more detailed value sets that enable self-reporting and support patient care. An ODH code system, available in the Public Health Information Network Vocabulary Access and Distribution System, was established to identify the remaining value sets. ODH templates were prepared in all 3 Health Level 7 Internationalinteroperability standard formats. Discussion The ODH information model suggests data elements ready for use by health IT systems in the United States. As new data elements and values are better defined and refined by stakeholders and feedback is obtained through experience using ODH in clinical settings, the model will be updated. Conclusion The ODH information model suggests standardized work information for trial use in health IT systems to support patient care, population health, and public health.


2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Ma ◽  
S. Dennis ◽  
S. Lanka ◽  
N. Miller ◽  
J. Potvin

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 678-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Georgiou ◽  
Julie Li ◽  
Judith Thomas ◽  
Maria R Dahm ◽  
Johanna I Westbrook

Abstract Objective To investigate the impact of health information technology (IT) systems on clinicians’ work practices and patient engagement in the management and follow-up of test results. Materials and Methods A search for studies reporting health IT systems and clinician test results management was conducted in the following databases: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, and Scopus from January 1999 to June 2018. Test results follow-up was defined as provider follow-up of results for tests that were sent to the laboratory and radiology services for processing or analysis. Results There are some findings from controlled studies showing that health IT can improve the proportion of tests followed-up (15 percentage point change) and increase physician awareness of test results that require action (24–28 percentage point change). Taken as whole, however, the evidence of the impact of health IT on test result management and follow-up is not strong. Discussion The development of safe and effective test results management IT systems should pivot on several axes. These axes include 1) patient-centerd engagement (involving shared, timely, and meaningful information); 2) diagnostic processes (that involve the integration of multiple people and different clinical settings across the health care spectrum); and 3) organizational communications (the myriad of multi- transactional processes requiring feedback, iteration, and confirmation) that contribute to the patient care process. Conclusion Existing evidence indicates that health IT in and of itself does not (and most likely cannot) provide a complete solution to issues related to test results management and follow-up.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 120-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Nohr ◽  
E. Borycki ◽  
A. Kushniruk

SummaryA wide range of human factors approaches have been developed and adapted to healthcare for detecting and mitigating negative unexpected consequences associated with technology in healthcare (i.e. technology-induced errors). However, greater knowledge and wider dissemination of human factors methods is needed to ensure more usable and safer health information technology (IT) systems. Objective: This paper reports on work done by the IMIA Human Factors Working Group and discusses some successful approaches that have been applied in using human factors to mitigate negative unintended consequences of health IT. The paper addresses challenges in bringing human factors approaches into mainstream health IT development. Results: A framework for bringing human factors into the improvement of health IT is described that involves a multi-layered systematic approach to detecting technology-induced errors at all stages of a IT system development life cycle (SDLC). Such an approach has been shown to be needed and can lead to reduced risks associated with the release of health IT systems into live use with mitigation of risks of negative unintended consequences. Conclusion: Negative unintended consequences of the introduction of IT into healthcare (i.e. potential for technology-induced errors) continue to be reported. It is concluded that methods and approaches from the human factors and usability engineering literatures need to be more widely applied, both in the vendor community and in local and regional hospital and healthcare settings. This will require greater efforts at dissemination and knowledge translation, as well as greater interaction between the academic and vendor communities.


Author(s):  
Freda McManus ◽  
Christie Leung ◽  
Kate Muse ◽  
J. Mark G. Williams

Abstract‘Cyberchondria’ describes the phenomenon of searching for health information online exacerbating health anxiety. This study explores health anxious individuals’ experiences of searching for health information online to further understand ‘cyberchondria’. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore participants’ (N = 8) experiences of searching for health information online. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four themes emerged: ‘information is power’, ‘novelty of Internet searching’, ‘need for strategies to navigate the search: Google, authority and cross-checking’, and ‘cyberchondria: short-term gain but long-term pain’. Participants’ accounts suggested they sought health information online as a form of problem solving: to understand their problem and decide on a strategy for solving it, to feel better about having the problem by having ‘done something’ about it, or to share others’ similar experiences. Seeking online health information was prompted by negative expectations of healthcare professionals, yet was not seen as a replacement for medical consultations. Participants noted the accessibility of the Internet and were aware that information is sometimes inaccurate or irrelevant. Thus participants used strategies to filter and validate information. The findings are considered in relation to what they tell us about the purpose, methods and impact of seeking health information online among individuals with health anxiety.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 201-204
Author(s):  
Vojtech Rušin ◽  
Milan Minarovjech ◽  
Milan Rybanský

AbstractLong-term cyclic variations in the distribution of prominences and intensities of green (530.3 nm) and red (637.4 nm) coronal emission lines over solar cycles 18–23 are presented. Polar prominence branches will reach the poles at different epochs in cycle 23: the north branch at the beginning in 2002 and the south branch a year later (2003), respectively. The local maxima of intensities in the green line show both poleward- and equatorward-migrating branches. The poleward branches will reach the poles around cycle maxima like prominences, while the equatorward branches show a duration of 18 years and will end in cycle minima (2007). The red corona shows mostly equatorward branches. The possibility that these branches begin to develop at high latitudes in the preceding cycles cannot be excluded.


Author(s):  
Federico Varese

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.


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