scholarly journals Managing Pandemic Responses with Health Informatics – Challenges for Assessing Digital Health Technologies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farah Magrabi ◽  
Elske Ammenwerth ◽  
Catherine K. Craven ◽  
Kathrin Cresswell ◽  
Nicolet F. De Keizer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Health Technologies

Objectives: To highlight the role of technology assessment in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: An overview of existing research and evaluation approaches along with expert perspectives drawn from the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Working Group on Technology Assessment and Quality Development in Health Informatics and the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) Working Group for Assessment of Health Information Systems. Results: Evaluation of digital health technologies for COVID-19 should be based on their technical maturity as well as the scale of implementation. For mature technologies like telehealth whose efficacy has been previously demonstrated, pragmatic, rapid evaluation using the complex systems paradigm which accounts for multiple sociotechnical factors, might be more suitable to examine their effectiveness and emerging safety concerns in new settings. New technologies, particularly those intended for use on a large scale such as digital contract tracing, will require assessment of their usability as well as performance prior to deployment, after which evaluation should shift to using a complex systems paradigm to examine the value of information provided. The success of a digital health technology is dependent on the value of information it provides relative to the sociotechnical context of the setting where it is implemented. Conclusion: Commitment to evaluation using the evidence-based medicine and complex systems paradigms will be critical to ensuring safe and effective use of digital health technologies for COVID-19 and future pandemics. There is an inherent tension between evaluation and the imperative to urgently deploy solutions that needs to be negotiated.

scholarly journals International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI): Strategy and Focus Areas, 1st Version

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (01) ◽  
pp. 015-025
Author(s):  
Fernando Martin-Sanchez ◽  
Marion J. Ball ◽  
Michio Kimura ◽  
Paula Otero ◽  
Elaine Huesing ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Living Nature ◽  
International Academy ◽  
And Training

Background: The International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics (IAHSI) is the Academy of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). As an international forum for peers in biomedical and health informatics, the Academy shall play an important role in exchanging knowledge, providing education and training, and producing policy documents. Objectives: A major priority of the Academy’s activities in its inaugural phase was to define its strategy and focus areas in accordance with its objectives and to prioritize the Academy’s work, which can then be transferred to respective taskforces. Method: This document reflects the major outcomes of intensive discussions that occurred during 2019. It was presented at the Academy’s 3rd Plenary on August 25th, 2019, in Lyon, France. Results: Regardless of the ‘living nature’ of the strategy and focus areas document, it was concluded during the Plenary that the first version, which will be used as a base for decisions on the Academy’s future activities, should be made available to a broad audience. Three out of eight ‘Visions for IAHSI‘, presented in the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2018, were identified as central for developing, implementing, and evaluating the Academy’s strategic directions: (1) advise governments and organizations on developing health and health sciences through informatics, (2) stimulate progress in biomedical and health informatics research, education, and practice, and (3) share and exchange knowledge. Taskforces shall be implemented to work in the following areas, which were considered as priority themes: (1) artificial intelligence in health: future collaboration of entities with natural and with artificial intelligence in health care, and (2) current landscape of standards for digital health. Conclusions: Taskforces are now being established. Besides specific key performance indicators, suggested for monitoring the work of theses taskforces, the strategy to monitor the progress of the Academy itself has to be measured by relevant and acceptable metrics.

scholarly journals Welcome to IMIA

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 263-265
Keyword(s):  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Vice Presidents ◽  
North African ◽  
Liaison Officer ◽  
African Health ◽  
President Elect

President Dr. Christoph Lehmann, United States (2017–2019) President elect Dr. Sabine Koch, Sweden (2017–201 9) Past President Dr. Hyeoun-Ae Park, South Korea (2017–2019) Secretary Dr. Petter Hurlen, Norway (2015–2021) Treasurer Johanna Westbrook, Australia (2017–2020) Vice Presidents MedInfoDr. Patrick Weber, Switzerland (2017–2019)MembershipDr. Daniel Luna, Argentina (2018–2021)ServicesDr. Brigitte Seroussi, France (2016–2019)Special AffairsDr. Elizabeth Borycki, Canada (2016–2019)Working & Special Interest Groups Dr. Ying (Helen) Wu, China (2016–2019) CEO Elaine Huesing, Canada IMIA Web site: www.imia.org Regional Vice Presidents to IMIA APAMI: Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics Dr. Vajira Dissanayake, Sri Lanka EFMI: European Federation for Medical Informatics Dr. Christian Lovis, Switzerland HELINA: Pan African Health Informatics Association Dr. Ghislain Kouematchoua Tchuitcheu, Germany/Cameroon IMIA-LAC: Health Informatics Association for Latin America and the Caribbean Marcelo Lucio da Silva, Brazil MENAHIA: Middle East and North African Health Informatics Association Dr. Riyad Al Shammari, Saudi Arabia North American Region Andre Kushniruk, Canada IMIA Liaison Officers, ex officio WHO Liaison OfficerDr. Antoine Geissbuhler, SwitzerlandIFIP Liaison OfficerDr. Hiroshi Takeda, JapanISO Liaison OfficerDr. Michio Kimura, Japan

Machine Learning and Data Analytics in Pervasive Health

2018 ◽  
Vol 57 (04) ◽  
pp. 194-196
Author(s):  
Nuria Oliver ◽  
Michael Marschollek ◽  
Oscar Mayora
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Personalised Medicine ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Small Data ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Pervasive Health

Summary Introduction: This accompanying editorial provides a brief introduction to this focus theme, focused on “Machine Learning and Data Analytics in Pervasive Health”. Objective: The innovative use of machine learning technologies combining small and big data analytics will support a better provisioning of healthcare to citizens. This focus theme aims to present contributions at the crossroads of pervasive health technologies and data analytics as key enablers for achieving personalised medicine for diagnosis and treatment purposes. Methods: A call for paper was announced to all participants of the “11th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare”, to different working groups of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and European Federation of Medical Informatics (EFMI) and was published in June 2017 on the website of Methods of Information in Medicine. A peer review process was conducted to select the papers for this focus theme. Results: Four papers were selected to be included in this focus theme. The paper topics cover a broad range of machine learning and data analytics applications in healthcare including detection of injurious subtypes of patient-ventilator asynchrony, early detection of cognitive impairment, effective use of small data sets for estimating the performance of radiotherapy in bladder cancer treatment, and the use negation detection in and information extraction from unstructured medical texts. Conclusions: The use of machine learning and data analytics technologies in healthcare is facing a renewed impulse due to the availability of large amounts and new sources of human behavioral and physiological data, such as that captured by mobile and pervasive devices traditionally considered as nonmainstream for healthcare provision and management.

scholarly journals The Safe and Effective Use of Shared Data Underpinned by Stakeholder Engagement and Evaluation Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (01) ◽  
pp. 025-028
Author(s):  
Andrew Georgiou ◽  
Farah Magrabi ◽  
Hannele Hyppönen ◽  
Zoie Wong ◽  
Pirkko Nykänen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Data Governance ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Shared Data ◽  
Collaborative Models

Objectives: The paper draws attention to: i) key considerations involving the confidentiality, privacy, and security of shared data; and ii) the requirements needed to build collaborative arrangements encompassing all stakeholders with the goal of ensuring safe, secure, and quality use of shared data. Method: A narrative review of existing research and policy approaches along with expert perspectives drawn from the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Working Group on Technology Assessment and Quality Development in Health Care and the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) Working Group for Assessment of Health Information Systems. Results: The technological ability to merge, link, re-use, and exchange data has outpaced the establishment of policies, procedures, and processes to monitor the ethics and legality of shared use of data. Questions remain about how to guarantee the security of shared data, and how to establish and maintain public trust across large-scale shared data enterprises. This paper identifies the importance of data governance frameworks (incorporating engagement with all stakeholders) to underpin the management of the ethics and legality of shared data use. The paper also provides some key considerations for the establishment of national approaches and measures to monitor compliance with best practice. Conclusion: Data sharing endeavours can help to underpin new collaborative models of health care which provide shared information, engagement, and accountability amongst all stakeholders. We believe that commitment to rigorous evaluation and stakeholder engagement will be critical to delivering health data benefits and the establishment of collaborative models of health care into the future.

HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN IRELAND

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Ahern ◽  
Nessa O'Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Maximum Efficiency ◽  
Hospital System ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
New Public Health

Ireland's health system is primarily funded from general taxation and is publicly provided, although private health care retains a considerable role. It is a unique structure, a mixture of universal health service free at the point of consumption and a fee-based private system where individuals subscribe to private health insurance that covers some of their medical expenses. The recent history of the Irish health services saw consolidation of existing services and an expansion into new areas to adapt to changing practices and needs. There has also been a drive to extract maximum efficiency so as to maintain the volume and quality of patient services at a time of very tight financial constraints. Introduction of new health technologies continued to accelerate. New technologies tended to spread rapidly before systematic appraisal of their costs and benefits. When the state is involved in funding the public hospital system, acceptance of new technology is a matter for discussion between agencies and the Department of Health and Children. Decisions about spending annual “development funding” have generally not been based on careful assessment of proposals for new technology. In 1995, a healthcare reform put new Public Health Departments in Health Boards in a prime position in Ireland's health services organization. These departments now emphasize evidence-based medicine. While Ireland does not have a national health technology assessment (HTA) program, there are plans to form an advisory group on HTA in 1998. HTA is seen as a significant element of future health policy in Ireland.

Application of a health technology assessment framework to digital health technologies that manage chronic disease: a systematic review

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy von Huben ◽  
Martin Howell ◽  
Joseph Carrello ◽  
Sarah Norris ◽  
Sally Wortley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Cochrane Library ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Health Technologies

Abstract Background As health services increasingly make investment decisions in digital health technologies (DHTs), a DHT-specific and comprehensive health technology assessment (HTA) process is crucial in assessing value-for-money. Research in DHTs is ever-increasing, but whether it covers the content required for HTA is unknown. Objectives To summarize current trends in primary research on DHTs that manage chronic disease at home, particularly the coverage of content recommended for DHT-specific and comprehensive HTA. Methods Medline, Embase, Econlit, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Library (1 January 2015 to 20 March 2020) were searched for primary research studies using keywords related to DHT and HTA domains. Studies were assessed for coverage of the most frequently recommended content to be considered in a nine domain DHT-specific HTA previously developed. Results A total of 178 DHT interventions were identified, predominantly randomized controlled trials targeting cardiovascular disease/diabetes in high- to middle-income countries. A coverage assessment of the cardiovascular and diabetes DHT studies (112) revealed less than half covered DHT-specific content in all but the health problem domain. Content common to all technologies but essential for DHTs was covered by more than half the studies in all domains except for the effectiveness and ethical analysis domains. Conclusions Although DHT research is increasing, it is not covering all the content recommended for a DHT-specific and comprehensive HTA. The inability to conduct such an HTA may lead to health services making suboptimal investment decisions. Measures to increase the quality of trial design and reporting are required in DHT primary research.

scholarly journals Informatics for Health 2017: Advancing both science and practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Scott ◽  
Ronald Cornet ◽  
Colin McCowan ◽  
Niels Peek ◽  
Paolo Fraccaro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health It ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Organizational Intervention ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Multi Level

Introduction: The Informatics for Health congress, 24-26 April 2017, in Manchester, UK, brought together the Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) conference and the Farr Institute International Conference. This special issue of the Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics contains 113 presentation abstracts and 149 poster abstracts from the congress.Discussion: The twin programmes of “Big Data” and “Digital Health” are not always joined up by coherent policy and investment priorities. Substantial global investment in health IT and data science has led to sound progress but highly variable outcomes. Society needs an approach that brings together the science and the practice of health informatics. The goal is multi-level Learning Health Systems that consume and intelligently act upon both patient data and organizational intervention outcomes.Conclusions: Informatics for Health demonstrated the art of the possible, seen in the breadth and depth of our contributions. We call upon policy makers, research funders and programme leaders to learn from this joined-up approach.

scholarly journals Welcome to IMIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (01) ◽  
pp. 259-260
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Special Interest Groups ◽  
European Federation ◽  
Vice Presidents ◽  
Liaison Officer ◽  
African Health ◽  
President Elect

BOARD President Sabine Koch, Sweden (2019 - 2021) President elect Jack Li, Taiwan (2019 - 2021) Past President Chris Lehmann, United States (2019 - 2021) Secretary Dr. Petter Hurlen, Norway (2015 - 2021) Treasurer Johanna Westbrook, Australia (2017 - 2020) Vice Presidents MedInfoNajeeb Al-Shorbaji, Jordon (2020 - 2021)MembershipDr. Daniel Luna, Argentina (2018 - 2021)ServicesDr. Brigitte Séroussi, France (2016 - 2019)Special AffairsJennifer Bichel-Findlay, Australia (2019 - 2022)Working & Special Interest GroupsLuis Fernandez Luque (2019- 2022) CEO Elaine Huesing, Canada IMIA Web site: www.imia.org Regional Vice Presidents to IMIA APAMI: Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics Vajira Dissanayake, Sri Lanka EFMI: European Federation for Medical Informatics Christian Lovis, Switzerland HELINA: Pan African Health Informatics Association Ghislain Kouematchoua Tchuitcheu, Germany/Cameroon IMIA-LAC: Health Informatics Association for Latin America and the Caribbean Marcelo Lucio da Silva, Brazil MENAHIA: Middle East and North African Health Informatics Association Riyad Al Shammari, Saudi Arabia North American Region James Cimino, United States IMIA Liaison Officers, ex officio WHO Liaison OfficerPatrick Weber, SwitzerlandIFIP Liaison OfficerHiroshi Takeda, JapanISO Liaison OfficerMichio Kimura, Japan

scholarly journals Role reconfiguration: what ethnographic studies tell us about the implications of technological change for work and collaboration in healthcare

BMJ Leader ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. leader-2020-000224
Author(s):  
Heloise Agreli ◽  
Ruthanne Huising ◽  
Marina Peduzzi
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Leadership Challenges ◽  
Health Occupations ◽  
Ethnographic Studies

New technologies including digital health and robotics are driving the evolution of healthcare. At the same time, healthcare systems are transitioning from a multiprofessional model approach of healthcare delivery to an interprofessional model. The concurrence of these two trends may represent an opportunity for leaders in healthcare because both require renegotiation of the complex division of work and enhanced interdependency. This review examines how the introduction of new technologies alters the role boundaries of occupations and interdependencies among health occupations. Based on a scoping review of ethnographic studies of technology implementation in a variety of contexts (from primary care to operating room) and of diverse technologies (from health informatics systems to robotics), we develop the concept of role reconfiguration to capture simultaneous adjustments of multiple, interdependent roles during technological change. Ethnographic and qualitative studies provide rich, detailed accounts of what people actually do and how their work and role is changed (or not) when a new technology arrives. Through a synthesis of these studies, we develop a typology of four types of role reconfiguration: negotiation, clarification, enlargement and restriction. We discuss leadership challenges in managing role reconfiguration and formulate four leadership priorities. We suggest that leaders: redesign roles proactively, paying attention to interdependencies; offer opportunities for collective learning about new technologies; ensure that knowledge of new technologies is distributed across roles and prepare to address resistance.

Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Biomedical and Health Informatics

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (02) ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ammenwerth ◽  
G. Demiris ◽  
A. Hasman ◽  
R. Haux ◽  
W. Hersh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
International Medical

Summary Objective: The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) agreed on revising the existing international recommendations in health informatics /medical informatics education. These should help to establish courses, course tracks or even complete programs in this field, to further develop existing educational activities in the various nations and to support international initiatives concerning education in biomedical and health informatics (BMHI), particularly international activities in educating BMHI specialists and the sharing of courseware. Method: An IMIA task force, nominated in 2006, worked on updating the recommendations’ first version. These updates have been broadly discussed and refined by members of IMIA’s National Member Societies, IMIA’s Academic Institutional Members and by members of IMIA’s Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education. Results and Conclusions: The IMIA recommendations center on educational needs for health care professionals to acquire knowledge and skills in information processing and information and communication technology. The educational needs are described as a three-dimensional framework. The dimensions are: 1) professionals in health care (e.g. physicians, nurses, BMHI professionals), 2) type of specialization in BMHI (IT users, BMHI specialists), and 3) stage of career progression (bachelor, master, doctorate). Learning outcomes are defined in terms of knowledge and practical skills for health care professionals in their role a) as IT user and b) as BMHI specialist. Recommendations are given for courses /course tracks in BMHI as part of educational programs in medicine, nursing, health care management, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, health record administration, and informatics /computer science as well as for dedicated programs in BMHI (with bachelor, master or doctor degree).To support education in BMHI, IMIA offers to award a certificate for high-quality BMHI education. It supports information exchange on programs and courses in BMHI through its Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education.

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