scholarly journals Consumer Informatics and COVID-19 Pandemics: Challenges and Opportunities for Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 210-218
Author(s):  
Pascal Staccini ◽  
Annie Y. S. Lau ◽  

Summary Objective: To summarise the state of the art during the year 2020 in consumer health informatics and education, with a special emphasis on “Managing Pandemics with Health Informatics - Successes and Challenges”. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of articles published in PubMed using a predefined set of queries, which identified 147 potential articles for review. These articles were screened according to topic relevance and 15 were selected for consideration of best paper candidates, which were then presented to a panel of international experts for full paper review and scoring. The top five papers were discussed in a consensus meeting. Three papers received the highest score from the expert panel, and these papers were selected to be representative papers on consumer informatics for managing pandemics in the year 2020. Results: Bibliometrics analysis conducted on words found in abstracts of the candidate papers revealed 4 clusters of articles, where the clustering outcomes explained 77.04% of the dispersion. The first cluster composed of articles related to the use of mobile apps for video consultation and telehealth during the pandemic. The second revealed studies reporting the lived experience of healthcare workers and patients during COVID-19. The third focused on ways people used the internet to seek for health information during the pandemic and the dissemination of fake news. The last cluster composed of articles reporting the use of social listening methods (e.g., via tweet hashtags) to explore the spread of the virus around the world. Conclusions: The pandemic outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) constitutes a grave risk to the global community and sparks a significant increase in public interest and media coverage, especially on social media. Consumers are facing a new set of challenges that were not considered before COVID-19, often finding themselves in a world that is constantly changing—blended with facts and fake information—and unable to decide what to do next. Despite most people understanding the good will behind public health policies, one must not forget it is individuals we are supporting and that their personal circumstances may affect how they perceive and comply with these policies. Consumers more than ever need help to make sense of the uncertainty and their situation and we need to help them navigate the best option in a world that is constantly evolving.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 608
Author(s):  
Ayoung Suh ◽  
Mengjun Li

This study explores how people appraise the use of contact tracing apps during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in South Korea. Despite increasing attention paid to digital tracing for health disasters, few studies have empirically examined user appraisal, emotion, and their continuance intention to use contact tracing apps for disaster management during an infectious disease outbreak. A mixed-method approach combining qualitative and quantitative inquiries was employed. In the qualitative study, by conducting interviews with 25 people who have used mobile apps for contact tracing, the way users appraise contact tracing apps for COVID-19 was explored. In the quantitative study, using data collected from 506 users of the apps, the interplay among cognitive appraisal (threats and opportunities) and its association with user emotion, and continuance intention was examined. The findings indicate that once users experience loss emotions, such as anger, frustration, and disgust, they are not willing to continue using the apps. App designers should consider providing technological affordances that enable users to have a sense of control over the technology so that they do not experience loss emotions. Public policymakers should also consider developing measures that can balance public health and personal privacy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Vandekerckhove ◽  
Yves Vandekerckhove ◽  
Rene Tavernier ◽  
Kelly De Jaegher ◽  
Marleen de Mul

UNSTRUCTURED During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, cardiologists have attempted to minimize risks to their patients by using telehealth to provide continuing care. Rapid implementation of video consultations in outpatient clinics for patients with heart disease can be challenging. We employed a design thinking tool called a customer journey to explore challenges and opportunities when using video communication software in the cardiology department of a regional hospital. Interviews were conducted with 5 patients with implanted devices, a nurse, an information technology manager and two cardiologists. Three lessons were identified based on these challenges and opportunities. Attention should be given to the ease of use of the technology, the meeting features, and the establishment of the connection between the cardiologist and the patient. Further, facilitating the role of an assistant (or virtual assistant) with the video consultation software who can manage the telehealth process may improve the success of video consultations. Employing design thinking to implement video consultations in cardiology and to further implement telehealth is crucial to build a resilient health care system that can address urgent needs beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 7512505155p1-7512505155p1
Author(s):  
Paula J. Thompson-Costello ◽  
Mackenzie Traub ◽  
Eleanor Sweeney ◽  
Mallory Schrier ◽  
Hannah R. Dau

Abstract Date Presented Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations. For young adults and adults with autism, the outcomes related to independence, social relationships, employment status, and living arrangements have been poor. This session will share research using PhotoVoice to explore the lived experience of young adults with autism in a community-based independent-living residence. Challenges and opportunities for independence as seen through photos and reflections on the OT role will be shared. Primary Author and Speaker: Paula J. Thompson-Costello Additional Authors and Speakers: Mackenzie Traub, Eleanor Sweeney, Mallory Schrier, and Hannah R. Dau


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 4021
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Lariccia ◽  
Simona Magi ◽  
Tiziano Serfilippi ◽  
Marwa Toujani ◽  
Santo Gratteri ◽  
...  

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that continues to sweep across the world, posing an urgent need for effective therapies and prevention of the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome related to coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). A major hypothesis that is currently guiding research and clinical care posits that an excessive and uncontrolled surge of pro-inflammatory cytokines (the so-called “cytokine storm”) drives morbidity and mortality in the most severe cases. In the overall efforts made to develop effective and safe therapies (including vaccines) for COVID-19, clinicians are thus repurposing ready-to-use drugs with direct or indirect anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Speculatively, there are many opportunities and challenges in targeting immune/inflammatory processes in the evolving settings of COVID-19 disease because of the need to safely balance the fight against virus and aggressive inflammation versus the suppression of host immune defenses and the risk of additional harms in already compromised patients. To this end, many studies are globally underway to weigh the pros and cons of tailoring drugs used for inflammatory-driven conditions to COVID-19 patient care, and the next step will be to summarize the growing clinical trial experience into clean clinical practice. Based on the current evidence, anti-inflammatory drugs should be considered as complementary approaches to anti-viral drugs that need to be timely introduced in the management of COVID-19 according to disease severity. While drugs that target SARS-CoV-2 entry or replication are expected to confer the greatest benefits at the early stage of the infection, anti-inflammatory drugs would be more effective in limiting the inflammatory processes that drive the worsening of the disease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 2-3
Author(s):  
C. A. Kulikowski ◽  
A. Geissbuhler

SummaryTo provide an editorial introduction to the 2012 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics with an overview of its contents and contributors.A brief overview of the main theme, and an outline of the purposes, contents, format, and acknowledgment of contributions for the 2012 IMIA Yearbook.This 2012 issue of the IMIA Yearbook highlights important developments in personal health informatics, impacting the activities in research, education and practice in this interdisciplinary field.There has been steady progress towards introducing individualization or personalization into informatics systems by taking advantage of the increasing amounts of personal information that is relevant to medical decisions and application in clinical practice. At the same time, there are serious issues about the limits of existing systems being able to effectively personalize information within both practical and ethical constraints so critical to the practice of medicine. Recent literature bearing on these questions includes the selected papers published during the past 12 months, and articles reported by IMIA Working Groups on these topics.Surveys of the main research sub-fields in biomedical informatics in the Yearbook provide an overview of progress and current challenges across the spectrum of the discipline, focusing on the challenges and opportunities involved in personal health informatics.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (06) ◽  
pp. 545-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kimura ◽  
C. A. Kulikowski ◽  
P. J. Murray ◽  
L. Ohno-Machado ◽  
H.-A. Park ◽  
...  

SummaryObjective: To discuss international aspects as they relate to the convergence of disciplines in health informatics.Method: A group of international experts was invited at a symposium to present and discuss their perspectives on this topic. These have been collated in a single manuscript.Results and Conclusions: Significant challenges, as well as opportunities, appear when cumulating the intrinsic multidisciplinary nature of health informatics interventions with the diversity of contexts at the global level, in particular when considered in the perspective of a confluence, i.e., the mixing of different waters and their merging into a new, stronger entity. Health informatics experts reflect on key issues such as collaborative software development and distributed knowledge sourcing, social media and mobile technologies, the evolutions of the discipline from an historical perspective, as well as examples of challenges for implementing ubiquitous healthcare or for supporting disaster situations when infrastructures get disrupted.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. e82-e89
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Bahramnezhad ◽  
Parvaneh Asgari

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic as a public health emergency poses dramatic challenges for health-care systems. The experiences of health-care workers are important in planning for future outbreaks of infectious diseases. This study explored the lived experiences of 14 nurses in Tehran, Iran caring for coronavirus patients using an interpretative phenomenological approach as described by Van Manen. In-depth interviews were audio-recorded between March 10 and May 5, 2020. The essence of the nurses' experiences caring for patients with COVID-19 was categorized as three themes and eight subthemes: (a) Strong pressure because of coronavirus: initial fear, loneliness, communication challenges, exhaustion. (b) Turn threats into opportunities: improvement of nursing image, professional development. (c) Nurses' expectations: expectations of people, expectations of government. The findings of this study showed that identifying the challenges and needs of health-care providers is necessary to create a safe health-care system and to prepare nurses and expand their knowledge and attitudes to care for patients in new crises in the future.


Author(s):  
Luca Sforzini ◽  
Courtney Worrell ◽  
Melisa Kose ◽  
Ian M. Anderson ◽  
Bruno Aouizerate ◽  
...  

AbstractCriteria for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and partially responsive depression (PRD) as subtypes of major depressive disorder (MDD) are not unequivocally defined. In the present document we used a Delphi-method-based consensus approach to define TRD and PRD and to serve as operational criteria for future clinical studies, especially if conducted for regulatory purposes. We reviewed the literature and brought together a group of international experts (including clinicians, academics, researchers, employees of pharmaceutical companies, regulatory bodies representatives, and one person with lived experience) to evaluate the state-of-the-art and main controversies regarding the current classification. We then provided recommendations on how to design clinical trials, and on how to guide research in unmet needs and knowledge gaps. This report will feed into one of the main objectives of the EUropean Patient-cEntric clinicAl tRial pLatforms, Innovative Medicines Initiative (EU-PEARL, IMI) MDD project, to design a protocol for platform trials of new medications for TRD/PRD.


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