scholarly journals Digital Medicine Community Perspectives and Challenges: Survey Study

10.2196/24570 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. e24570
Author(s):  
Brinnae Bent ◽  
Ida Sim ◽  
Jessilyn P Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Medicine Research ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Digital Medicine ◽  
Medicine Community

Background The field of digital medicine has seen rapid growth over the past decade. With this unfettered growth, challenges surrounding interoperability have emerged as a critical barrier to translating digital medicine into practice. In order to understand how to mitigate challenges in digital medicine research and practice, this community must understand the landscape of digital medicine professionals, which digital medicine tools are being used and how, and user perspectives on current challenges in the field of digital medicine. Objective The primary objective of this study is to provide information to the digital medicine community that is working to establish frameworks and best practices for interoperability in digital medicine. We sought to learn about the background of digital medicine professionals and determine which sensors and file types are being used most commonly in digital medicine research. We also sought to understand perspectives on digital medicine interoperability. Methods We used a web-based survey to query a total of 56 digital medicine professionals from May 1, 2020, to July 10, 2020, on their educational and work experience, the sensors, file types, and toolkits they use professionally, and their perspectives on interoperability in digital medicine. Results We determined that the digital medicine community comes from diverse educational backgrounds and uses a variety of sensors and file types. Sensors measuring physical activity and the cardiovascular system are the most frequently used, and smartphones continue to be the dominant source of digital health information collection in the digital medicine community. We show that there is not a general consensus on file types in digital medicine, and data are currently handled in multiple ways. There is consensus that interoperability is a critical impediment in digital medicine, with 93% (52) of survey respondents in agreement. However, only 36% (20) of respondents currently use tools for interoperability in digital medicine. We identified three key interoperability needs to be met: integration with electronic health records, implementation of standard data schemas, and standard and verifiable methods for digital medicine research. We show that digital medicine professionals are eager to adopt new tools to solve interoperability problems, and we suggest tools to support digital medicine interoperability. Conclusions Understanding the digital medicine community, the sensors and file types they use, and their perspectives on interoperability will enable the development and implementation of solutions that fill critical interoperability gaps in digital medicine. The challenges to interoperability outlined by this study will drive the next steps in creating an interoperable digital medicine community. Establishing best practices to address these challenges and employing platforms for digital medicine interoperability will be essential to furthering the field of digital medicine.

scholarly journals Digital Medicine Community Perspectives and Challenges: Survey Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brinnae Bent ◽  
Ida Sim ◽  
Jessilyn P Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Survey Study ◽  
Medicine Research ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
Educational Backgrounds ◽  
Digital Medicine ◽  
Medicine Community

BACKGROUND The field of digital medicine has seen rapid growth over the past decade. With this unfettered growth, challenges surrounding interoperability have emerged as a critical barrier to translating digital medicine into practice. In order to understand how to mitigate challenges in digital medicine research and practice, this community must understand the landscape of digital medicine professionals, which digital medicine tools are being used and how, and user perspectives on current challenges in the field of digital medicine. OBJECTIVE The primary objective of this study is to provide information to the digital medicine community that is working to establish frameworks and best practices for interoperability in digital medicine. We sought to learn about the background of digital medicine professionals and determine which sensors and file types are being used most commonly in digital medicine research. We also sought to understand perspectives on digital medicine interoperability. METHODS We used a web-based survey to query a total of 56 digital medicine professionals from May 1, 2020, to July 10, 2020, on their educational and work experience, the sensors, file types, and toolkits they use professionally, and their perspectives on interoperability in digital medicine. RESULTS We determined that the digital medicine community comes from diverse educational backgrounds and uses a variety of sensors and file types. Sensors measuring physical activity and the cardiovascular system are the most frequently used, and smartphones continue to be the dominant source of digital health information collection in the digital medicine community. We show that there is not a general consensus on file types in digital medicine, and data are currently handled in multiple ways. There is consensus that interoperability is a critical impediment in digital medicine, with 93% (52) of survey respondents in agreement. However, only 36% (20) of respondents currently use tools for interoperability in digital medicine. We identified three key interoperability needs to be met: integration with electronic health records, implementation of standard data schemas, and standard and verifiable methods for digital medicine research. We show that digital medicine professionals are eager to adopt new tools to solve interoperability problems, and we suggest tools to support digital medicine interoperability. CONCLUSIONS Understanding the digital medicine community, the sensors and file types they use, and their perspectives on interoperability will enable the development and implementation of solutions that fill critical interoperability gaps in digital medicine. The challenges to interoperability outlined by this study will drive the next steps in creating an interoperable digital medicine community. Establishing best practices to address these challenges and employing platforms for digital medicine interoperability will be essential to furthering the field of digital medicine.

The role of digital clinical measures in improving cancer care and research.

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e13584-e13584
Author(s):  
Jennifer Goldsack ◽  
Ariel Aguilo ◽  
Andrea Coravos ◽  
Chris Economos ◽  
Kate Lyden
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Performance Status ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Digital Medicine ◽  
Oncology Trial ◽  
Clinical Measures

e13584 Background: From objectively assessing performance status to recording simple vital signs, the adoption of high quality digital clinical measures offers enormous possibilities for transforming cancer care & research. However, the development & deployment of high quality digital measures in oncology lags behind adoption in other therapeutic areas. At the time of submission, the DiMe library of digital endpoints reports 166 unique digital endpoints being used in industry sponsored trials of new medical products, but none are being used in an oncology trial. There are seven digital clinical measures working their way through the FDA qualification program, but none in oncology. During the pandemic, care for patients with cardiac and other chronic conditions transitioned out of the clinic & into the home powered not only by virtual visits, but high quality information from remote monitoring. A study of oncology care facilities worldwide reported 89% finding difficulty in delivering usual care due to the challenges of safely bringing patients into the clinic during COVID. Methods: From March to Sep 2020, cross-industry stakeholders at the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), Elektra Labs, Genentech, Koneksa, Myokardia, Sage Bionetworks, Scripps Research, and the US Food & Drug Administration came together to synthesize best practices from the digital health field, breaking down silos to create ‘ The Playbook’, the comprehensive and accessible “how-to” guide to support all stakeholders working to advance the safe, effective, ethical, and equitable use of digital clinical measures to improve lives. In October 2020, DiMe -- a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to advancing digital medicine to improve lives -- convenened a pre-competitive collaboration of 44 participants from 29 organizations to drive the adoption of the best practices articulated in The Playbook. Results: The Playbook describes trans-industry consensus for best practices for developing and deploying digital clinical measures across patient care, clinical research, and public health, including for oncology. Conclusions: The clinical, technical, and operational best practices necessary to develop and deploy high quality digital clinical measures into cancer care & research have been established. There is no reason for their successful adoption in oncology to lag behind other therapeutic areas. The Playbook and additional resources to support implementation due for launch on April 30 are critical tools for the field of oncology.

Psychiatry Transcript Annotation: Process Study and Improvements

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Srinivasan Sridhar ◽  
Nazmul Kazi ◽  
Indika Kahanda ◽  
Bernadette McCrory
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Kappa Statistics ◽  
Phase 2 ◽  
Rater Reliability ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
Annotation Process ◽  
Data Collection Process ◽  
Two Phases

Background: The demand for psychiatry is increasing each year. Limited research has been performed to improve psychiatrist work experience and reduce daily workload using computational methods. There is currently no validated tool or procedure for the mental health transcript annotation process for generating “gold-standard” data. The purpose of this paper was to determine the annotation process for mental health transcripts and how it can be improved to acquire more reliable results considering human factors elements. Method: Three expert clinicians were recruited in this study to evaluate the transcripts. The clinicians were asked to fully annotate two transcripts. An additional five subjects were recruited randomly (aged between 20-40) for this pilot study, which was divided into two phases, phase 1 (annotation without training) and phase 2 (annotation with training) of five transcripts. Kappa statistics were used to measure the inter-rater reliability and accuracy between subjects. Results: The inter-rater reliability between expert clinicians for two transcripts were 0.26 (CI 0.19 to 0.33) and 0.49 (CI 0.42 to 0.57), respectively. In the pilot testing phases, the mean inter-rater reliability between subjects was higher in phase 2 with training transcript (k= 0.35 (CI 0.052 to 0.625)) than in phase 1 without training transcript (k= 0.29 (CI 0.128 to 0.451)). After training, the accuracy percentage among subjects was significantly higher in transcript A (p=0.04) than transcript B (p=0.10). Conclusion: This study focused on understanding the annotation process for mental health transcripts, which will be applied in training machine learning models. Through this exploratory study, the research found appropriate categorical labels that should be included for transcripts annotation, and the importance of training the subjects. Contributions of this case study will help the psychiatric clinicians and researchers in implementing the recommended data collection process to develop a more accurate artificial intelligence model for fully- or semi-automated transcript annotation.

scholarly journals The Trending Academic Library Job Market: An Analysis of Library Position Announcements from 2011 with Comparisons to 1996 and 1988

2015 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 716-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese F. Triumph ◽  
Penny M. Beile
Keyword(s):  
Work Experience ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Job Market ◽  
Current State ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
Job Advertisements ◽  
Salary Information ◽  
Over Time

The primary objective of the study was to describe the number, types and titles, requested qualifications and skills, salary information, and locations of positions advertised in 2011 on the ALA JobLIST and ARL Job Announcements websites and in the print version of the Chronicle of Higher Education for purposes of determining the current state of the academic library job market in the United States. To investigate changes in the academic library job market and identify emerging trends over a 23-year period, results also were compared to studies that analyzed position announcements from 1996 and 1988. Content analysis of 957 unique academic library job advertisements revealed relative stasis in the market regarding the number of positions advertised, presence of administrative duties, geographic distribution of positions, and, to some extent, educational requirements. However, other comparisons were more dynamic. Specifically, there has been a decline in foreign language skills and prior work experience requirements over time while computer skills are increasingly sought. Perhaps most striking is the proliferation of new position titles that have emerged over time, which serves as an indication that library positions are becoming increasingly specialized.

scholarly journals Developing a Novel Measurement of Sleep in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Study Proposal for Approach and Considerations

2021 ◽  
pp. 191-205
Author(s):  
Michelle Crouthamel ◽  
Robert J. Mather ◽  
Suraj Ramachandran ◽  
Kai Bode ◽  
Godhuli Chatterjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Drug Development ◽  
Sleep Disturbances ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Tool Selection ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Digital Medicine ◽  
Regulatory Strategy

The development of novel digital endpoints (NDEs) using digital health technologies (DHTs) may provide opportunities to transform drug development. It requires a multidisciplinary, multi-study approach with strategic planning and a regulatory-guided pathway to achieve regulatory and clinical acceptance. Many NDEs have been explored; however, success has been limited. To advance industry use of NDEs to support drug development, we outline a theoretical, methodological study as a use-case proposal to describe the process and considerations when developing and obtaining regulatory acceptance for an NDE to assess sleep in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA patients often suffer joint pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances (SDs). Although many researchers have investigated the mobility of joint functions using wearable technologies, the research of SD in RA has been limited due to the availability of suitable technologies. We proposed measuring the improvement of sleep as the novel endpoint for an anti-TNF therapy and described the meaningfulness of the measure, considerations of tool selection, and the design of clinical validation. The recommendations from the FDA patient-focused drug development guidance, the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) pathway for developing novel endpoints from DHTs, and the V3 framework developed by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) have been incorporated in the proposal. Regulatory strategy and engagement pathways are also discussed.

Corona hotels in Israel: Care and abandonment under the auspices of digital medicine

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932110679
Author(s):  
Shirly Bar-Lev
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Medical Technology ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
Digital Medicine ◽  
Hybrid Spaces ◽  
Human Embodiment

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel established a number of ‘corona hotels’ – hybrid spaces that were neither fully treatment-oriented nor fully incarcerational, in which people known or suspected to be infected with the coronavirus were confined, sometimes for prolonged and indefinite periods. This paper describes the experience of 25 people who were confined in corona recovery and isolation hotels between March and July 2020. The corona hotels exemplify how remote medical technology and digital medicine together enable a new ‘technogeography of care’, where care and abandonment are inextricably linked. The paper adds to the growing number of critical studies on digital health by showing how the employed technologies impact the concepts of human embodiment, subjectivity and social relations, as well as how the occupants negotiated the meaning of these technologies and resisted their effects.

Critical Issues in Mobile Solution-Based Clinical Decision Support Systems

2021 ◽  
pp. 32-45
Author(s):  
Nalika Ulapane ◽  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support Systems ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Clinical Decision Support Systems ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Critical Issues

The use of mobile solutions for clinical decision support is still a rather nascent area within digital health. Shedding light on this important application of mobile technology, this chapter presents the initial findings of a scoping review. The review's primary objective is to identify the state of the art of mobile solution based clinical decision support systems and the persisting critical issues. The authors contribute by classifying identified critical issues into two matrices. Firstly, the issues are classified according to a matrix the authors developed, to be indicative of the stage (or timing) at which the issues occur along the timeline of mobile solution development. This classification includes the three classes: issues persisting at the (1) stage of developing mobile solutions, (2) stage of evaluating developed solutions, and (3) stage of adoption of developed solutions. Secondly, the authors present a classification of the same issues according to a standard socio-technical matrix containing the three classes: (1) technological, (2) process, and (3) people issues.

The Understanding and Implementation of Key Best Practices in National Park Service Education Programs

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin A. “Kale” Bowling
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Inquiry Based Learning ◽  
Education Professionals ◽  
Park Service ◽  
The Common ◽  
Interpretive Practices

U.S. national parks provide excellent venues for learning experiences in history and the sciences with tangible, primary resources. However, best practices associated with experiential and inquiry-based learning targeted specifically toward students, as opposed to interpretive practices for the general public, must be both well understood and well implemented to be effective. This action research study was undertaken in order to identify where and why gaps in the understanding and implementation of these best practices exist. A survey of 25 NPS educators revealed that they are being implemented approximately half of the time. Significant gaps exist between staff with academic training and/or prior work experience in education and those without this background. Follow-up interviews suggested that changes in the recruitment of new educators and the increased availability of training, networking, and coaching may increase the prevalence of experiential and inquiry based practices. Efforts that leverage education professionals outside the agency, the expertise of more successful park education programs, and the common concepts between education and interpretation may be particularly effective. Other agencies and organizations that conduct both interpretation and education may also benefit from similar actions.

Outsourcing Issues in Web Development

2010 ◽  
pp. 217-238
Author(s):  
Clif Kussmaul ◽  
Roger Jack
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Web Development ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Upper Management ◽  
Strategic Issues ◽  
Concise Overview ◽  
Development Teams ◽  
Key Concepts

This chapter addresses issues, alternatives, and best practices that apply when outsourcing Web development. The chapter’s primary objective is to provide a concise overview of key concepts and best practices for practitioners and students, as well as other audiences. First, we introduce and motivate the chapter, provide background, and present three key ideas that are expanded and developed in the two subsequent sections. The first describes four steps to help executives and upper management address strategic issues and decisions in outsourcing. The second describes four more steps to help managers, team leaders, and development teams address more tactical issues. We conclude with future trends and implications, and a summary of the best practices.

OIL SPILL PREPAREDNESS ASSURANCE IN A POST MACONDO WORLD

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Martin Cramer ◽  
Geeva Varghese
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Oil Spill ◽  
Size Structure ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Open Communication ◽  
Assurance Process

ABSTRACT The increased public awareness of oil spills and their impacts following the 2010 Macondo oil spill incident along with the changing global landscape of regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations present numerous challenges to operators. Many of these challenges, as well as incorporation of lessons learned from Macondo, can be addressed through robust preparedness. Oil spill preparedness programs generally include a combination of response plans, incident management and response teams, response equipment and personnel (resources), training and exercises. However, what constitutes a robust preparedness program is often open to interpretation. While acknowledging the availability of a few preparedness assessment/audit tools, such as RETOS, it was felt a fit for purpose assurance program that facilitated open communication, free exchange of ideas and sharing of best practices would result in a greater overall improvement to the company’s global level of preparedness. Consequently, ConocoPhillips retained Oil Spill Response Ltd. (OSRL) to assist in developing a process and methodology for evaluating ConocoPhillips’ existing oil spill preparedness programs. The evaluations were conducted at nine business units (BUs) in various countries whose operations ranged from deepwater exploration and production to onshore production to tanker operations. The main objective of this project was to achieve a high and consistent level of global preparedness through the identification of potential gaps in each BU’s preparedness program and implementation of associated improvement plans. The preparedness assurance process consisted of several components including:Detailed review of the oil spill/emergency response plans to evaluate contents and identify improvement opportunities and best practices.Evaluation of each BU’s Incident Management and Emergency Response Team size, structure, competency and lines of communication and coordinationEvaluation and validation of training and exercise programsEvaluation of Tiers 1, 2 and 3 response resource availability including dispersant stockpiles The results of the evaluations were shared with the BU emergency response leads and management and an improvement plan developed to address any identified gaps. Upon completion of the program, a report was prepared summarizing the preparedness evaluation results for each BU, highlighting best practices identified during the evaluations and providing a general assessment of what “good” looks like. This report was then shared with all BUs to, along with the individual improvement plans, enhance consistency and the level of spill preparedness across the company. The primary objective of this paper is to explain the assurance process that was developed, share key lessons learned during the implementation and provide a summary of the general findings such that it can provide a blue-print for use by other companies to inform the development of similar oil spill preparedness assurance programs.

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