scholarly journals Exploring digital health care: eHealth, mHealth, and librarian opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet Chan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Technology Advances

Technology advances in eHealth and mHealth are changing the way that health care consumers and providers communicate, receive and deliver care, and access health information. As electronic health records and smartphones have become ubiquitous in the United States, opportunities and applications for the integration of eHealth and mHealth have increased. In addition to technology advances, the changing health care model is simultaneously adapting to and driving initiatives in digital health care. With these digital initiatives have come challenges, including data overload, security and privacy concerns, deficits in technological and health literacy skills, and sorting through the vast number of choices of digital applications. Navigating this changing landscape can be overwhelming and time consuming for both health care providers and consumers. Librarians are uniquely positioned to assist providers and consumers to break down barriers within the digital health care landscape through data management initiatives, technology and health literacy instruction, and finding and evaluating health information and digital health technologies.

Health Literacy and Health/Risk Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mackert ◽  
Sara Champlin ◽  
Jisoo Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Providers

Health literacy—defined as the ability of an individual to obtain, process, understand, and communicate about health information—contributes significantly to health outcomes and costs to the U.S. health-care system. Approximately one-quarter to one-half of U.S. adults struggle with health information, which includes understanding patient education materials, reading medication labels, and communicating with health-care providers. Low health literacy is more common among the elderly, those who speak English as a second language, and those of lower socioeconomic status. In addition to conceptualizing health literacy as an individual-level skill, it can also be considered an organizational or community-level ability. Increased attention to the field of health literacy has resulted in debates about the definition and the best ways to assess health literacy; there is also a strong and growing movement within the field of health literacy research and practice to frame health literacy less as a deficit to overcome and more as an approach to empowering patients and improving outcomes. As health-care providers have recognized the importance of health literacy, workshops, and training programs have been developed and evaluated to improve the care of low-health-literate patients. Similarly, health promotion professionals have developed best practices for reaching low-health-literate audiences with traditional and new digital media, which can also increase access for patients with hearing or visual impairments. Additionally, recent policy changes in the United States, including those related to the Affordable Care Act, contribute to a greater focus and regulation of factors that impact health literacy. Researchers and practitioners together are advancing understanding of health literacy, its relationship to health outcomes and health-care costs, and improved strategies for improving the health of lower health literate patients. Development and review of health literacy pieces can aid in shared decision making and provide insights for patients on various health-care services.

scholarly journals 31.C. Workshop: Development and implementation of action plans on health literacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
Social Consequences ◽  
Action Plans

Abstract Health literacy (HL) has become an important topic in many countries. As HL - meaning the ability to access, understand, appraise and apply health information (Sørensen et al. 2012) - is important to make sound health decisions, to promote health and to take an active part in managing health and illness in everyday life and navigating the health care system. In the modern digital knowledge society, HL is also indispensable for orienting oneself in the abundance of mostly digital health information, including incorrect and false information, for locating reliable information and for assessing the trustworthiness and quality of information. However, available studies show that HL is insufficient in many countries. Low HL has - as many studies show - negative social consequences ranging from unhealthy behaviour, higher risk for diseases, less self-care and deficits in coping with illness and chronicity, to over- and misuse (extensive use) of health care. The promotion of HL is therefore an important public health task. An increasing number of population studies and policy documents currently underline this. The WHO has therefore included HL into many of its strategies, like the declarations of Shanghai (2016) and Astana (2018), and has published several publications focusing on HL, like the Solid Facts (2013), the 57th Health Evidence Network Report (2018) or the Roadmap for Implementing Health Literacy Activities (2019). In many countries, strategies and national action plans to improve HL have been developed in response to the political call for action, e.g. in Scotland, Germany and recently also in Portugal. Other countries and regions are currently working on the development of a HL action plan, e.g. Belgium and the WHO European Region action plan on HL. The development and especially the implementation strategies of action plans in different countries and the experiences gained will be discussed comparatively in the workshop. Following an introduction (10'), two countries, which already have action plans will introduce their implementation strategy in one presentation each: Germany and Portugal (30'). This will be followed by two presentations of countries/regions in which action plans are currently being developed: Belgium and WHO Europe (30'). Afterwards the participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss on the different strategies (20'). The workshop will help other initiatives to successfully develop and implement policy plans and strategies in different fields of public health. Key messages Strategies and national action plans to improve HL have been developed in different countries/regions. It is important to reflect on the chosen development and implementation strategies and to discuss their effects, successes and barriers.

Patients' Perceptions of Different Information Exchange Mechanisms: An Exploratory Study in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (04/05) ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Pouyan Esmaeilzadeh
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Exchange Mechanism ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
Direct Exchange

Abstract Background Patients may seek health care services from various providers during treatment. These providers could serve in a network (affiliated) or practice separately (unaffiliated). Thus, using secure and reliable health information exchange (HIE) mechanisms would be critical to transfer sensitive personal health information (PHI) across distances. Studying patients' perceptions and opinions about exchange mechanisms could help health care providers build more complete HIEs' databases and develop robust privacy policies, consent processes, and patient education programs. Objectives Due to the exploratory nature of this study, we aim to shed more light on public perspectives (benefits, concerns, and risks) associated with the four data exchange practices in the health care sector. Methods In this study, we compared public perceptions and expectations regarding four common types of exchange mechanisms used in the United States (i.e., traditional, direct, query-based, patient-mediated exchange mechanisms). Traditional is an exchange through fax, paper mailing, or phone calls, direct is a provider-to-provider exchange, query-based is sharing patient data with a central repository, and patient-mediated is an exchange mechanism in which patients can access data and monitor sharing. Data were collected from 1,624 subjects using an online survey to examine the benefits, risks, and concerns associated with the four exchange mechanisms from patients' perspectives. Results Findings indicate that several concerns and risks such as privacy concerns, security risks, trust issues, and psychological risks are raised. Besides, multiple benefits such as access to complete information, communication improvement, timely and convenient information sharing, cost-saving, and medical error reduction are highlighted by respondents. Through consideration of all risks and benefits associated with the four exchange mechanisms, the direct HIE mechanism was selected by respondents as the most preferred mechanism of information exchange among providers. More than half of the respondents (56.18%) stated that overall they favored direct exchange over the other mechanisms. 42.70% of respondents expected to be more likely to share their PHI with health care providers who implemented and utilized a direct exchange mechanism. 43.26% of respondents believed that they would support health care providers to leverage a direct HIE mechanism for sharing their PHI with other providers. The results exhibit that individuals expect greater benefits and fewer adverse effects from direct HIE among health care providers. Overall, the general public sentiment is more in favor of direct data transfer. Our results highlight that greater public trust in exchange mechanisms is required, and information privacy and security risks must be addressed before the widespread implementation of such mechanisms. Conclusion This exploratory study's findings could be interesting for health care providers and HIE policymakers to analyze how consumers perceive the current exchange mechanisms, what concerns should be addressed, and how the exchange mechanisms could be modified to meet consumers' needs.

scholarly journals Development and Evaluation of a New Security and Privacy Track in a Health Informatics Graduate Program: Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Education (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leming Zhou ◽  
Bambang Parmanto ◽  
James Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Widespread Application ◽  
Mobile Health Apps

BACKGROUND The widespread application of technologies such as electronic health record systems, mobile health apps, and telemedicine platforms, has made it easy for health care providers to collect relevant data and deliver health care regimens. While efficacious, these new technologies also pose serious security and privacy challenges. OBJECTIVE The training program described here aims at preparing well-informed health information security and privacy professionals with enhanced course materials and various approaches. METHODS A new educational track has been built within a health informatics graduate program. Several existing graduate courses have been enhanced with new security and privacy modules. New labs and seminars have been created, and students are being encouraged to participate in research projects and obtain real-world experience from industry partners. Students in this track receive both theoretical education and hands-on practice. Evaluations have been performed on this new track by conducting multiple surveys on a sample of students. RESULTS We have succeeded in creating a new security track and developing a pertinent curriculum. The newly created security materials have been implemented in multiple courses. Our evaluation indicated that students (N=72) believed that receiving security and privacy training was important for health professionals, the provided security contents were interesting, and having the enhanced security and privacy training in this program was beneficial for their future career. CONCLUSIONS The security and privacy education for health information professionals in this new security track has been significantly enhanced.

A Viewpoint of Security for Digital Health Care in the United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Demurjian ◽  
Alberto De la Rosa Algarín ◽  
Jinbo Bi ◽  
Solomon Berhe ◽  
Thomas Agresta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Hard Copy ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Patient Portals ◽  
Health Records

In health care, patient information of interest to health providers, researchers, public health researchers, insurers, patients, etc., is stored in different locations via electronic media and/or hard-copy formats. All potential users need electronic access to health information technology systems such as: electronic health records, personal health records, patient portals, and ancillary systems such as imaging, laboratory, pharmacy, etc. Controlling access to information from multiple systems requires granularity levels of privileges ranging from one patient to a cohort to an entire population. In this paper, we present a viewpoint of the state of secure digital health care in the United States, focusing on the resources that need to be protected as dictated by legal entities and regulations, the available approaches in the present state-of-the art, and, the potential needs for the future of security for digital health care. By utilizing a real world scenario, the authors explore the limitations of health information exchange in the United States, and present one possible architecture for secure digital health care that builds on existing technology alternatives.

scholarly journals Factoring digital health for improved outcomes in management of Non Communicable Diseases

2016 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 102-107
Author(s):  
Neera Gupta ◽  
Tushar Dixit ◽  
Vikram K.
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Health Information Technology ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Treatment Compliance ◽  
Security And Privacy ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
The Government

AbstractMake in India is a flagship campaign from the Government of India which is aimed at various sectors. Indian health-care system can take advantages by introducing digital technologies to health care. The possible uses of health information technology as a method to engage with people involving communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are wide-ranging. Health information technology can support interventions for prevention, diagnosis, managing surveillance, disease monitoring, and treatment compliance of many conditions. Digital health can offer various technologies such as wearables that are tracked by various mobile or smartphone applications to facilitates patient engagement, self-monitoring, and implementing behavior changes in NCDs such as diabetes. By incorporating the interactive audiovisual items, the digital health tools can create greater interest and engage people from different geographies, age, gender, and culture. Currently, the common digital heath tech issues include hesitancy from doctors to adopt any new product or technology, difficulty in reaching and accessing the needy patients, cultural diversity in population, and inadequate infrastructure. The ethical issues of consent, data security, and privacy of patients need to be addressed as they are highly sensitive in nature.

scholarly journals Literacy, Numeracy, and Health Information Seeking Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Yamashita ◽  
Anthony R. Bardo ◽  
Darren Liu ◽  
Phyllis A. Cummins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Information Seeking ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Nationally Representative

Objectives: Health literacy is often viewed as an essential skill set for successfully seeking health information to make health-related decisions. However, this general understanding has yet to be established with the use of nationally representative data. The objective of this study was to provide the first nationally representative empirical evidence that links health information seeking behaviors with health literacy among middle-age to older adults in the United States. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2012/2014 Program for the International Assessment of Adult Literacy (PIAAC). Our analytic sample is representative of adults age 45 to 74 years ( N = 2,989). Results: Distinct components of health literacy (i.e., literacy and numeracy) were uniquely associated with the use of different health information sources (e.g., health professionals, the Internet, television). Discussion: Findings should be useful for government agencies and health care providers interested in targeting health communications, as well as researchers who focus on health disparities.

scholarly journals Viewpoint: Health literacy and patient portals

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulong Gu ◽  
Martin Orr ◽  
Jim Warren
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Patient Portal ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Patient Portals ◽  
Health Consumer ◽  
Improve Patient

Health literacy has been described as the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Improving health literacy may serve to promote concordance with therapy, engage patients in their own health care, and improve health outcomes. Patient portal technology aims at enabling patients and families to have easy access to key information in their own medical records and to communicate with their health care providers electronically. However, there is a gap in our understanding of how portals will improve patient outcome. The authors believe patient portal technology presents an opportunity to improve patient concordance with prescribed therapy, if adequate support is provided to equip patients (and family/carers) with the knowledge needed to utilise the health information available via the portals. Research is needed to understand what a health consumer will use patient portals for and how to support a user to realise the technology?s potential.

The Digital Revolution in Behavioral Health

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Hasselberg
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Behavioral Health ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Behavioral Health Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Digital Revolution ◽  
The University

BACKGROUND: Technology is disrupting every modern industry, from supermarkets to car manufacturing, and is now entering the health care space. Technological innovations in psychiatry include the opportunity for conducting therapy via two-way video conferencing, providing electronic consultations, and telementoring and education of community health care providers. Use of mobile health applications is also an expanding area of interest and promise. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this article is to review the evolution and pros and cons of technology-enabled health care since the digital movement in psychiatry began more than 50 years ago as well as describe the University of Rochester’s innovative digital behavioral health care model. METHODS: A review of the literature and recent reports on innovations in digital behavioral health care was conducted, along with a review of the University of Rochester’s model to describe the current state of digital behavioral health care. RESULTS: Given the lack of access to care and mental health professional shortages in many parts of the United States, particularly rural areas, digital behavioral health care will be an increasingly important strategy for managing mental health care needs. However, there are numerous hurdles to be overcome in adopting digital health care, including provider resistance and knowledge gaps, lack of reimbursement parity, restrictive credentialing and privileging, and overregulation at both the state and federal levels. CONCLUSIONS: Digital health innovations are transforming the delivery of mental health care services and psychiatric mental health nurses can be on the forefront of this important digital revolution.

Development of health literacy in persons and caregivers living with dementia: A qualitative directed content analysis

Dementia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147130122110496
Author(s):  
Michelle Kimzey ◽  
Carol J. Howe ◽  
Chelsea Martin ◽  
Jim McLarty ◽  
Ramona Baucham
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Medication Management ◽  
Community Setting ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Directed Content Analysis

Background Persons living with dementia and their caregivers need health information to understand and manage daily life. Previous studies focused on the associations of health literacy and cognitive impairment with less exploring if and how individuals develop health literacy during the course of the disease. Purpose This descriptive qualitative study aimed to explore the development of health literacy competencies among persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Methods Directed content analysis of six focus groups conducted in the community setting (15 persons living with dementia and 28 caregivers) was completed, using predetermined categories from the Integrated Model of Health Literacy: access, understand, appraise, and apply health information. Findings Participants described developing health literacy competencies over time, moving from a dependence on health care providers to becoming their own experts. Although health care providers were involved in the diagnosis and medication management, most participants admitted that they provided very little information on how to manage their daily life with dementia and often failed to inform them of community resources. Conclusion Participants seemed to find dementia resources on their own for both education and support, often stumbling upon them by accident. Health care providers should promote the health literacy competencies of their patients and caregivers by more intentionally providing dementia health and community resource information.

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