A Highly-Interactive and User-Friendly PHR Application for the Provision of Homecare Services

Author(s):  
Vasso Koufi ◽  
Flora Malamateniou ◽  
George Vassilacopoulos

Homecare is an important component of the continuum of care as it provides the potential to improve quality of life and quality of healthcare delivery while containing costs. Personal Health Record (PHR) systems constitute a technological infrastructure that can support greater flexibility for healthcare professionals and patients, thus allowing for more effective homecare services. In particular, PHRs are intended to reach patients outside of care settings, influence their behaviors and satisfy their demand for greater information and access. Moreover, PHRs can facilitate access to comprehensive real-time patient data for healthcare professionals thus enabling them to identify problems quickly (e.g. prior to scheduled appointments) and steer patients to appropriate facilities when needed. To this ends, PHR technology needs to evolve well beyond providing a consolidated patient record, in ways that make it more widely applicable and valuable to health systems. The development of applications and tools on top of PHR systems can allow the PHR to function as a platform for both patients and healthcare professionals to exchange information and interact with the health system (e.g., scheduling appointments electronically). This chapter presents a prototype PHR-based system that aims at supporting chronic disease management. In particular, it assists healthcare professionals in assessing an individual’s condition and in forming the appropriate treatment plan for him/her while it provides individuals with a user-friendly application for step-to-step guidance to their treatment plans. The system has been developed on the grounds of a service-oriented architecture where healthcare process automation is realized by means of dynamic, patient-related workflows.

Author(s):  
Vassiliki Koufi ◽  
Flora Malamateniou ◽  
George Vassilacopoulos

Homecare is an important component of the continuum of care as it provides the potential to improve quality of life and quality of healthcare delivery while containing costs. Personal Health Record (PHR) systems are intended to reach patients outside of care settings and influence their behaviors thus allowing for more effective homecare services. To this end, these systems need to evolve well beyond providing a consolidated patient record, in ways that make it more widely applicable and valuable to health systems. The development of applications on top of PHR systems can allow them to function as a platform for both patients and healthcare professionals to exchange information and interact with the health system. This paper presents a prototype PHR-based system that aims at supporting chronic disease management at any point of care or decision making through familiar environments such as Google’s Android. In particular, it assists healthcare professionals in assessing an individual’s condition and in forming the appropriate treatment plan for him/her while it provides individuals with step-to-step guidance to their treatment plans.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. e000532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirstin Woody Scott ◽  
Theophile Dushime ◽  
Vincent Rusanganwa ◽  
Liana Woskie ◽  
Clint Attebery ◽  
...  

Improving the quality of healthcare delivery is increasingly a global health priority. However, quality improvement training opportunities that provide theoretical foundations and basic skills for patient safety and other quality initiatives have been limited or historically out of reach, especially in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). To address this gap, the Harvard Initiative on Global Health Quality (HIGHQ) created and launched a massive open online course (MOOC) in 2014 focused on patient safety and quality of care using the edX platform. More than 30 000 students from across 195 countries registered for the online course. This paper summarises an innovative educational partnership between the course team and one of these countries, Rwanda, to develop a blended-learning model to bolster participation in this new course among Rwandan healthcare professionals. Although a small country, Rwanda was among the top performing countries for attracting course registrants and was the leading country for the proportion of enrollees who ultimately completed the course. Further, half (21 of 42) of Rwanda’s district hospitals opted to appoint a PH555x course facilitator at their site to help lead regular meetings and discussions about the course content at their facility. The majority of Rwandan enrollees were health professionals (63%) and 81% reported that PH555x was their first experience taking an online course. Among those participating in the ‘flipped’ component at hospital sites, 94% reported that the course helped them to think of specific ways to improve healthcare quality at their facility. In this paper, we describe this innovative public–private educational model, challenges to implementation and lessons learned that may be helpful for future MOOC developers who wish to augment learning opportunities among healthcare professionals in LMICs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ahmed Babatunde Jimoh

Job satisfaction is vitally necessary in the daily life of the workforce, and the essential elements, materials and mechanism that drives job satisfaction demand great attention. At present, the situation of healthcare workers in the employment of Ogun State Hospitals Management Board, Nigeria, seems to be less satisfied with the policies of the healthcare institutions. The study examined job satisfaction and the quality of healthcare delivery in Ogun State Hospitals Management Board (HMB) in Nigeria. This study adopted a cross-sectional design method and was conducted among the healthcare professionals in the study area. A total of 729 copies of a well-structured questionnaire were administered using a multi-staged sampling technique to obtain information from all the available healthcare professionals in the study area. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings of this study revealed that 12.5 % of healthcare professionals in Ogun State Hospitals strongly agreed, 21.9% moderately, and 32% slightly agreed with the level of satisfaction of the leadership and management styles. 25.7% of the healthcare professionals disagreed (7.4% strongly, 4.0% moderately and 14.3% slightly) that they would recommend employment in the study area. The results further revealed that 47.9% of healthcare workers had a low level of job satisfaction that could lead to many factors. In addendum, 43.6% of the respondents believed that the healthcare delivery was not low but with moderate quality. The study concluded that majority of the healthcare workers had low level of job satisfaction. The quality of healthcare delivery is of medium quality. Finally, this study recommends that there should be an establishment of health and life insurance for health workers; improved health infrastructures; conducive work environment and working conditions; job security; regular and continuous training of healthcare professionals; and attractive rewards and compensation.


Author(s):  
Karan Chawla ◽  
Angesom Kibreab ◽  
Victor & Scott ◽  
Edward L. Lee ◽  
Farshad Aduli ◽  
...  

Objective: It is unknown whether patients’ ratings of the quality of healthcare services they receive truly correlate with the quality of care from their providers. Understanding this association can potentiate improvement in healthcare delivery. We evaluated the association between patients’ ratings of the quality of healthcare services received and uptake of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Subject and Methods: We used two iterations of the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) of adults in the United States. HINTS 2007 (4,007 respondents; weighted population=75,397,128) evaluated whether respondents were up-to-date with CRC screening while HINTS 4 cycle 3 (1,562 respondents; weighted population=76,628,000) evaluated whether participants had ever received CRC screening in the past. All included respondents from both surveys were at least 50 years of age, had no history of CRC, and had rated the quality of healthcare services that they had received at their healthcare provider’s office in the previous 12 months. Results: HINTS 2007 data showed that respondents who rated their healthcare as good, or fair/poor were significantly less likely to be up to date with CRC screening compared to those who rated their healthcare as excellent. We found comparable results from analysis of HINTS 4 cycle 3 data with poorer uptake of CRC screening as the healthcare quality ratings of respondents’ reduced. Conclusion: Our study suggested that patients who reported receiving lower quality of healthcare services were less likely to have undergone and be compliant with CRC screening recommendations. It is important to pay close attention to patient feedback surveys in order to improve healthcare delivery.


2013 ◽  
Vol 03 (12) ◽  
pp. 01-14
Author(s):  
Keelson, Solomon A. ◽  
Ann Dodor

The study was purposed to consider how encouraging use of locum nursing could aid in managing nurse shortage in the country and consequently improve the service quality of healthcare in Ghana. To be able to address the research problem and achieve the objectives, thirty public hospitals and thirty private hospitals were selected from the three major cities in Ghana to provide data for the study. Also, 250 locum nurses were sampled for information. Nursing Supervisors or Hospital Administrators from the selected hospitals were use as informant for the study. The paper adopted a survey approach, where incidental sampling technique was used to select the hospitals, and the snowball together with incidental sampling methods were used for selecting locum nurses for the study. Mean and standard deviation were the data analysis method used. The findings confirmed that locum practice in Ghana is relatively low. Similarly, the paper also suggested that locum contribute to addressing the issue of nurse shortage in Ghana. At the same time locum nursing was found to contribute to quality healthcare delivery in the country. Appropriate policy directions were recommended.


Author(s):  
Luciana Cardoso ◽  
Fernando Marins ◽  
César Quintas ◽  
Filipe Portela ◽  
Manuel Santos ◽  
...  

With the advancement of technology, patient information has been being computerized in order to facilitate the work of healthcare professionals and improve the quality of healthcare delivery. However, there are many heterogeneous information systems that need to communicate, sharing information and making it available when and where it is needed. To respond to this requirement the Agency for Integration, Diffusion, and Archiving of medical information (AIDA) was created, a multi-agent and service-based platform that ensures interoperability among healthcare information systems. In order to improve the performance of the platform, beyond the SWOT analysis performed, a system to prevent failures that may occur in the platform database and also in machines where the agents are executed was created. The system has been implemented in the Centro Hospitalar do Porto (one of the major Portuguese hospitals), and it is now possible to define critical workload periods of AIDA, improving high availability and load balancing. This is explored in this chapter.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiang Zhou ◽  
Wenya Tian ◽  
Rengyu Wu ◽  
Chongzhen Qin ◽  
Hongjuan Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Transfer delay provokes prolongation of prehospital time, which contributes to treatment delay that endangers patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). A key constraint in reducing transfer delay is the shortage of emergency healthcare workers. This study was to explore the influence of the quality and quantity of healthcare professionals at emergency medical stations on transfer delay and in-hospital mortality among STEMI patients. Methods A cross-sectional study using mixed methods was conducted at 89 emergency stations in 9 districts in China’s Shenzhen province. Based on a sample of 31 hospitals, 1255 healthcare professionals, and 3131 patients with STEMI, a generalized linear model was used to explore the associations between the quality and quantity of healthcare professionals and transfer delay and in-hospital mortality among STEMI patients. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed to explore the reasons for the lack of qualified healthcare professionals at emergency medical stations. Results The analysis of the quantity of healthcare professionals showed that an increase of one physician per 100,000 individuals was associated with decreased transfer delay for patients with STEMI by 5.087 min (95% CI − 6.722, − 3.452; P < 0.001). An increase of one nurse per 100,000 individuals was associated with decreased transfer delay by 1.471 min (95% CI − 2.943, 0.002; P = 0.050). Analysis of the quality of healthcare professionals showed that an increase of one physician with an undergraduate degree per 100,000 individuals was associated with decreased transfer delay for patients with STEMI by 8.508 min (95% CI − 10.457, − 6.558; P < 0.001). An increase of one nurse with an undergraduate degree per 100,000 individuals was associated with decreased transfer delay by 6.645 min (95% CI − 8.218, − 5.072; P < 0.001). Qualitative analysis illustrated that the main reasons for low satisfaction of healthcare professionals at emergency medical stations included low income, limited promotion opportunities, and poor working environment. Conclusions The quantity and quality of emergency healthcare professionals are key factors influencing transfer delay in STEMI patients. The government should increase the quantity of healthcare professionals at emergency medical stations, strengthen the training, and improve their performance by linking with clinical pathways to enhance job enthusiasm among emergency healthcare professionals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Howard Stuart ◽  
Nilay Ozen ◽  
Vivian Petropoulos

In the fall of 2014 the Quebec Health Ministry announced plans for a broad restructuring of the entire Healthcare network, implemented shortly thereafter in 2015. The effect on institutions was dramatic and immediate. Local  management was eradicated, concentrating and centralizing control of the entire system ultimately into the office of the Minister. With the abrupt reorganization of services came relocation of large numbers of personnel. Management at a distance became the norm. In many institutions, the commonly held view among physicians with regard to relations with management can be summarized as, “Suddenly there was no one to talk to.”Confusion and tension were prevalent and palpable. In this context, in attempt to have a voice, a group of physicians at one community hospital formed an independent organization. It developed into an influential body which continues to remain active. This workshop will use the experiences and reflections of physicians from that organization as a basis to explore questions such as: -Is there a difference between Health Services and Health Care? Do we care? -Does worker engagement matter in Healthcare delivery? Or are good systems and modern equipment all we really need? -Does sense of community matter within a healthcare institution? If so why?If it matters, is it just for the benefit of those working for the organization? Or is there a benefit for the users too? -What is the basis for sense of community? Where does it come from? Can it be destroyed? Can it be developed? -Is there an importance to the quality of relationships between people working within Healthcare? Do these relationships have impact on quality of care? -Should the perspective of those working in the system be incorporated input Management decision making? If so how? -What can physicians, nurses and other allied Healthcare professionals do in order to have a voice? 


Author(s):  
Jelena Mirkovic ◽  
Haakon Bryhni

The use of mobile and wireless technologies has great potential to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery. The main goal of this chapter is to describe the current state of the art in the research field of development and integration of mobile services in the healthcare sector by addressing the two main challenges: usability and security. The authors investigate the main requirements and approaches for developing highly usable, user-friendly, and well-accepted mobile healthcare services. In addition, they identify various ways of addressing security and privacy issues in mobile healthcare services and discuss the advantages and shortcomings of each approach. Finally, the chapter presents the CONNECT (Care Online: Novel Networks to Enhance Communication and Treatment) project and describes how security and usability issues can be addressed during the development of mobile access to a multi-modal Internet-based patient support system.


Author(s):  
Hany F. EL Yamany ◽  
David S. Allison ◽  
Miriam A.M. Capretz

Security is one of the largest challenges facing the development of a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). This is due to the fact that SOA security is the responsibility of both the service consumer and service provider. In recent years, many solutions have been implemented, such as the Web Services Security Standards, including WS-Security and WS-SecurityPolicy. However, those standards are insufficient for the promising new generations of Web 2.0 applications. In this research, we describe an Intelligent SOA Security (ISOAS) framework and introduce four of its services: Authentication and Security Service (NSS), the Authorization Service (AS), the Privacy Service (PS) and the Service of Quality of Security Service (SQoSS). Furthermore, a case study is presented to examine the behavior of the described security services inside a market SOA environment.


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