Expanding the concept of medical information: An observational study of physicians' information needs

A joint center has been established by the University of Pittsburgh and the Excerpta Medica Foundation. The basic objective of the Center is to seek ways in which the health sciences community may achieve increasingly convenient and economical access to scientific findings. The research center will make use of facilities and resources of both participating institutions. Cooperating from the University of Pittsburgh will be the School of Medicine, the Computation and Data Processing Center, and the Knowledge Availability Systems (KAS) Center. The KAS Center is an interdisciplinary organization engaging in research, operations, and teaching in the information sciences.Excerpta Medica Foundation, which is the largest international medical abstracting service in the world, with offices in Amsterdam, New York, London, Milan, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, will draw on its permanent medical staff of 54 specialists in charge of the 35 abstracting journals and other reference works prepared and published by the Foundation, the 700 eminent clinicians and researchers represented on its International Editorial Boards, and the 6,000 physicians who participate in its abstracting programs throughout the world. Excerpta Medica will also make available to the Center its long experience in the field, as well as its extensive resources of medical information accumulated during the Foundation’s twenty years of existence. These consist of over 1,300,000 English-language _abstract of the world’s biomedical literature, indexes to its abstracting journals, and the microfilm library in which complete original texts of all the 3,000 primary biomedical journals, monitored by Excerpta Medica in Amsterdam are stored since 1960.The objectives of the program of the combined Center include: (1) establishing a firm base of user relevance data; (2) developing improved vocabulary control mechanisms; (3) developing means of determining confidence limits of vocabulary control mechanisms in terms of user relevance data; 4. developing and field testing of new or improved media for providing medical literature to users; 5. developing methods for determining the relationship between learning and relevance in medical information storage and retrieval systems’; and (6) exploring automatic methods for retrospective searching of the specialized indexes of Excerpta Medica.The priority projects to be undertaken by the Center are (1) the investigation of the information needs of medical scientists, and (2) the development of a highly detailed Master List of Biomedical Indexing Terms. Excerpta Medica has already been at work on the latter project for several years.

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How Work-Related and Personal Motivated Information Needs Shape Trust Towards Government-Sponsored Medical Information Sources?

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2242976 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Petros A. Kostagiolas ◽

Nikolaos Korfiatis ◽

Georgios Alexias

Keyword(s):

Information Needs ◽

Information Sources ◽

Medical Information ◽

Work Related

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THE ANALYSIS OF THE MEDICAL INFORMATION NEEDS FOR PATIENTS IN DENTISTRY

Juvenis scientia ◽

10.32415/jscientia_2021_7_2_27-33 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 27-33

Author(s):

E. A. Polova ◽

E. A. Antonova ◽

E. I. Semeleva

Keyword(s):

Information Needs ◽

Medical Information

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Informing Clients through Information Communication Technology in Health Care Systems

10.28945/3367 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Vangari Vishwa Mohan ◽

Vahideh Zarea Gavgani

Keyword(s):

Communication Technology ◽

Science Communication ◽

Information Needs ◽

Medical Information ◽

Information Communication Technology ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Information Communication ◽

Critical Information ◽

Care Givers

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has revolutionized the world communication order. People can be informed in more effective, efficient and convenient ways. Access to media has percolated to the grassroots. In spite of all such remarkable developments, whether ICT facilitates Science communication is a billion dollar question. Though information is freely and widely available by virtue of ICT, yet, there are areas where Science communication through ICT still needs to be developed to deliver critical information to the needy. Objectives: The objectives of the study are to find out: whether patients and care givers have perception of their information needs? What sources of information they usually consult? What type of channels/media they possess to access the information? What sources the patients and care givers prefer to consult? Whether in the opinion of the patients and their care givers, the ICTs are effective in delivering the critical information. Methodology: An exploratory survey was conducted. A semi-structured interview was employed to collect data from a group of 188 patients and care givers in the hospitals and clinics in Hyderabad (India). Results and conclusion: The study determined the patients’ and care givers’ preferences for technologies in keeping informed. It also brought to light the limitations and usefulness of ICTs in Science communication in general and medical information in particular.

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Intelligent Portals for Supporting Medical Information Needs

Web Portals ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-438-5.ch013 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 270-296 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jane Moon ◽

Frada Burstein

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Web Sites ◽

Information Seeking ◽

Information Needs ◽

Medical Information ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Internet Usage ◽

Medical Decisions ◽

Community Information ◽

Decision Making Processes

The aim of this chapter is to review the way portal technology can assist users seeking medical information. There has been an increase in health Internet usage, and better health-care delivery outcomes are predicted as users are better informed when making medical decisions. At the same time, there is much concern about the need for medical portals to meet community information needs. This chapter discusses what constitutes an intelligent portal, discusses desirable portal components and attributes of intelligent portal features, and how these can be implemented to meet the needs of diverse users. Seven Australian medical Web sites have been analysed according to intelligence features. The results and analysis are presented and discussed, in particular, with respect to their functionality as defined for intelligent portals. The discussion is focused on the extent to which these attributes help users with their information seeking and therefore support their decision-making processes.

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Literature Review in Computational Linguistics Issues in the Developing Field of Consumer Informatics

Health Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-988-5.ch016 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 226-232

Author(s):

Ki Jung Lee

Keyword(s):

Information Retrieval ◽

Computational Linguistics ◽

Information Structure ◽

Information Needs ◽

Retrieval System ◽

Medical Information ◽

Information Retrieval System ◽

Search Results ◽

Medical Information Retrieval ◽

On Line

With the increased use of Internet, a large number of consumers first consult on line resources for their healthcare decisions. The problem of the existing information structure primarily lies in the fact that the vocabulary used in consumer queries is intrinsically different from the vocabulary represented in medical literature. Consequently, the medical information retrieval often provides poor search results. Since consumers make medical decisions based on the search results, building an effective information retrieval system becomes an essential issue. By reviewing the foundational concepts and application components of medical information retrieval, this paper will contribute to a body of research that seeks appropriate answers to a question like “How can we design a medical information retrieval system that can satisfy consumer’s information needs?”

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Prevalence of Extrapyramidal Symptoms in Cancer Patients Referred to Palliative Care: A Multicenter Observational Study (JORTC PAL12)

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine® ◽

10.1177/1049909120960441 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 104990912096044

Author(s):

Hiroto Ishiki ◽

Jun Hamano ◽

Hiroka Nagaoka ◽

Yoshinobu Matsuda ◽

Akihiro Tokoro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Palliative Care ◽

Observational Study ◽

Medical Information ◽

Karnofsky Performance Status ◽

Performance Status ◽

Extrapyramidal Symptoms ◽

University Hospital ◽

Cutoff Score ◽

Symptom Scale ◽

Palliative Care Setting

Background: Neuroleptics are commonly used in palliative care settings. However, adverse events of neuroleptics, known as extrapyramidal symptoms (EPSs), might be overlooked in clinical practice. We conducted this study to explore the prevalence of EPSs in palliative care setting. Methods: This multicenter, prospective, observational study included patients who 1) were referred to either a specialist palliative care team or a palliative care unit, 2) had a diagnosis of cancer, and 3) were ≥20 years of age. We investigated the prevalence of EPSs and medications used. The primary outcome was the overall Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal Symptom Scale (DIEPSS) score. Results: Between November 2015 and October 2016, 149 patients from 5 centers in Japan were enrolled. The median age was 67 years (range: 21–88 years) and the study population included 81 men (54.4%). The cancer types included lung (55 patients, 36.9%), upper gastrointestinal tract (5, 3.3%), hepatobiliary (19, 12.8%); breast (12, 8.1%); head and neck (10, 6.7%), gynecologic (10, 6.7%), genitourinary (10, 6.7%), and others (28, 18.8%). The median Karnofsky performance status was 60 (20–100). Most patients (86.6%) did not experience delirium. Thirty-nine (26.2%) patients received one or more EPS-inducing medications. EPSs occurred in 4 (2.7%) patients with a cutoff score of 5 points for 5 parkinsonism items in DIEPSS. Conclusion: A lower frequency (<3%) of patients than expected in this population had EPSs. Therefore, we concluded that an interventional study is not feasible. However, medications that cause EPSs are often used in palliative care; therefore, a longitudinal study is warranted. Trial registration: This study was registered in the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) (UMIN000019810) on 16, November, 2015.

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Residents’ medical information needs in clinic: are they being met?

The American Journal of Medicine ◽

10.1016/s0002-9343(00)00458-7 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 109 (3) ◽

pp. 218-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 94

Author(s):

Michael L Green ◽

Marc A Ciampi ◽

Peter J Ellis

Keyword(s):

Information Needs ◽

Medical Information

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Patient Satisfaction, Needs and Preferences Concerning Information Dispensation at the Emergency Department; A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-860920/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marank de Steenwinkel ◽

Juanita A Haagsma ◽

Esther C.M. van Berkel ◽

Lotte Rozema ◽

Pleunie P.M. Rood ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Patient Satisfaction ◽

Observational Study ◽

Medical Information ◽

General Information ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Patient Satisfaction Score ◽

Important Indicator ◽

Practical Information ◽

To Receive

Abstract Background Patient satisfaction is an important indicator of emergency care quality and has been associated with information dispensation at the Emergency Department (ED). Optimal information dispensation could improve patient experience and expectations. Knowing what kind of information patients want to receive and the preferred way of information dispensation are essential to optimize information delivery at the ED. The purpose of this cross-sectional observational study was to evaluate patient satisfaction concerning information dispensation (including general, medical and practical information), the need for additional information and preferences with regards to the way of information dispensation at the ED of a teaching hospital in the Netherlands. Results423 patients (patients ≥18 years with Glasgow Coma Scale 15) were enrolled (response rate 79%). The median patient satisfaction score concerning the overall information dispensation at the ED was 7.5 on a rating scale 0-10. Shorter length of ED stay was associated with higher patient satisfaction in multivariate analysis (P<0.001). The majority of respondents was satisfied regarding medical (N=328; 78%) and general information (N =233; 55%). Patients were less satisfied regarding practical information (N =180; 43%). Respondents who indicated that they received general, medical and practical information were significantly more often satisfied compared to patients who did not receive this information (P<0.001). Two thirds (N=260; 62%) requested more general information. Half of the respondents (N=202; 48%) requested more practical information and a third (N=152; 36%) requested more medical information. The preferred way for receiving information was orally (N=189; 44.7%) or by leaflets (N=108; 25.5%).ConclusionThe majority of respondents were satisfied concerning information dispensation at the ED, especially regarding medical information. Respondents requested more general and practical information and preferred to receive the information orally or by leaflets.

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Web-Based Medical Information Searching by Chinese Patients With Breast Cancer and its Influence on Survival: Observational Study

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/16768 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. e16768 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Yan Li ◽

Shan Ye ◽

Yidong Zhou ◽

Feng Mao ◽

Hailing Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Observational Study ◽

Internet Use ◽

Medical Information ◽

Chinese Patients ◽

Cancer Information ◽

The Internet ◽

Online Information ◽

Information Searching ◽

Web Based

Background The internet allows patients to easily look for health information. However, how Chinese patients with breast cancer use the internet has rarely been investigated, and there is a scarcity of information about the influence of internet use on survival. Objective This observational study aimed to investigate the details of online medical information searching by Chinese patients with breast cancer and to determine whether internet use has any survival benefits. Methods Patients who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between January 2014 and December 2015 were enrolled. We obtained information on their internet-searching behavior and gathered data from the patients’ medical and follow-up records. The associations between internet use and other clinic-pathological factors were analyzed. A Cox proportional-hazards model and the Kaplan-Meier method were used for disease-free survival (DFS) analyses. Results A total of 973 patients with invasive breast cancer who underwent definitive surgery took part in the study. Among them, 477 cases (49.0%) performed web-based breast cancer information searching before the initial treatment. A multivariate logistic regression analysis suggested that web-based breast cancer information searching was significantly associated with younger age (odds ratio [OR] 0.95, 95% CI 0.94-0.97, P<.001), higher education level (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.01–1.86, P=.04), and breast conserving surgery (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.04-1.77, P=.03). Baidu (73.4%, 350/477) and WeChat (66.7%, 318/477) were the two most popular online information sources for breast cancer; however, only 44.9% (214/477) felt satisfied with the online information. In contrast to the nonweb searching group, the web-using patients who were satisfied with online information showed significantly improved DFS (hazard ratio 0.26; 95% CI 0.08-0.88, P=.03). Conclusions The patients who were most likely to search the internet for breast cancer information were younger and well-educated, and they were more likely to have breast conserving therapy. Web-using patients who were satisfied with the internet information showed significantly improved DFS. Patients should browse credible websites offering accurate and updated information, and website developers should provide high-quality and easy-to-understand information to better meet the needs of patients with breast cancer.

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