A Guideline to Use Activity Theory for Collaborative Healthcare Information Systems Design

In healthcare, collaborative systems serve very different stakeholders: researchers, clinicians, nurses, patients, and administrators for instance. In order to design a collaborative healthcare information system that satisfies the stakeholders' needs, all individual requirements have to be mapped into the software. Traditional system design focuses at technical features and oftentimes ignores social requirements like human factors or organizational structures. Instead of integrating existing processes and working habits into a system, a technical-focused design approach tries to force new behaviors. As a result, stakeholders could refuse to use collaborative healthcare information systems. In line with Kuutti (1991), we recommend activity theory as a rich framework to study and design collaborative information systems. We believe that activity theory analysis is particularly useful for healthcare settings where diverse stakeholders pursue very different goals. This book chapter offers a structured approach to analyze collaborative activities and to design the IT-support accordingly.

Analyzing the Role of Health Information Technology in Global Health Care

This chapter explains the perspectives on global health, the overview of health information technology (health IT), the applications of electronic health record (EHR), and the importance of health IT in global health care. Health IT is the area of IT involving the design, development, creation, utilization, and maintenance of information systems for the health care industry. Health IT makes it possible for health care providers to better manage patient care through the secure use and sharing of health information. Effective health IT can lower costs, improve efficiency, and reduce medical error, while providing better patient care and service. The chapter argues that utilizing health IT has the potential to enhance health care performance and reach strategic goals in global health care.

The First Step in Attainment Way Toward Excellence Quality and Productivity in Organization

New words are generated in quality & productivity every year. Some words point to basis & the words have an advertisement aspect for management consultant firms. Apart from these words, considering that the most important goal of any organization is obtaining (acquisition) high possible productivity or optimum productivity. We should have comprehensive & adequate acquaintance of organizational culture & present situation for making a choice of the best way of increasing productivity. We can say the way of increasing productivity is different in each organization considering important difference in organizational culture & present situation. In this chapter we explore productivity topic (subject) & practical mechanism for productivity establishment & ways of increasing productivity, then we survey established EFQM model (TQM) on Hasheminejad Hospital (Tehran, Iran) as a case study. Ultimately the first place (step) in attainment way toward excellence quality & productivity organization is presented based on output of questionnaire by utilization MADM methods.

GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling

Breast cancer is a major health issue in all countries affecting thousands of women. Its causes are unknown and the national and international strategies to reduce its morbidity and mortality levels are based on early detection of cancer through screening and treatment according to clinical guidelines. Thus, knowledge of which women are at risk and why they are at risk is therefore essential component of disease prevention and screening. In 2015, an estimated 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the United States, along with 60,290 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer. The purpose of this study is to provide a more detailed analysis of the breast cancer distribution in the United States by comparing the spatial distribution of breast cancer cases against physical environmental factors using Geographic Information System (GIS). Further, it gives background information to the GIS and its applications in health-related research.

Adoption of Mobile Devices in the Australian Healthcare

In recent years, the potential use of mobile devices has significantly positively impacted healthcare globally. Despite global claims of widespread use of mobile devices in healthcare, its adoption in the Australian healthcare context is slow. Limited research is available on slow adoption of mobile devices in the Australian healthcare context. Therefore, this chapter is designed to investigate the factors influencing adoption of mobile devices from healthcare professionals' perspective and develop a health specific conceptual framework. The influential factors for the adoption of mobile devices in the Australian health context may be intention, individual readiness, advantages, safety issues, features, self-efficacy, complexity, training, compatibility, social influences, age and gender.

Patient Privacy and Security in E-Health

In the digital era, undoubtedly, e-health is a major contributor for decision support, education, research and management activities in healthcare. It provides tremendous benefits by easy store and access to data. This easiness brings a big problem together with the benefits. Users have easy access to vast amount of sensitive health data about patients. This may give way to misuse and abuse. That is why the concepts of privacy and security becomes very popular and point of major concern. This chapter is a descriptive study aimed to give principles of these concepts and invoke awareness about.

Health Policy Implementation

This research describes policy implementation components of a health system and explains how they affect outcomes. It argues that implemented policies affect various components of a health system in terms of service delivery, workforce, information, financing, medical products, technologies, leadership and governance. Using health system as framework of analysis, the paper explains that the outcome of health policy implementation determines the availability, quality and equitability of program service delivery. The paper goes on to argue that policy implementation barriers, such as demand-and supply-side barriers, market, insufficient resources, cultural barriers, imperfect communication, information, education, coordination, leadership and governance affect the poor and vulnerable groups in developed and developing countries from benefitting from public spending on public health policies and programs.

Hospital Social Media Strategies

This chapter describes the role social media plays in patient communication at hospitals. The chapter explores how social media platforms are used by national and local hospitals to deliver higher quality healthcare and increase patient engagement. Using an in-depth literature review and semi-structured interviews at two local hospitals, the chapter assesses how hospitals approach traditional and social media strategies. The chapter identifies the importance of using both online and offline communication strategies for the most comprehensive and effective delivery of healthcare. The chapter also includes a discussion of how social media has the ability to influence health information seeking and the patient-physician relationship.

Trends of Social Media Applications in Healthcare

The twenty-first century has witnessed social media taking firm root into business and economic activity. It can no longer be considered as a tool for ‘social' activity alone. Even governments have taken to it in order to open up communication channels with citizens and provide more effective services. The healthcare sector is a unique field where information sources and uses need to be handled with utmost care, as the risks extend not only to the healthcare provider, but more so to the recipient and others such as prospective recipients, the broader community, and regulators. Therefore, responsible use of social media in healthcare is critical, whether it be with respect to ‘customer' relationship, marketing, education, recruitment or community building. This chapter scrutinizes relevant literature, which has been published in various disciplines, to provide significant insight into the question of how social media can improve healthcare administration. Practical implications and opportunities for further research are also highlighted.

Active and Healthy Aging

This study aims to investigate the difficulties experienced by elderly persons in accessing healthcare services and their satisfaction with issues as regards the healthcare system. In this study, qualitative research was carried out to assess the difficulties regarding the healthcare delivery system and satisfaction with the healthcare services. This qualitative research was performed through in-depth interviews with 6 men and 4 women aged 65+ years, in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was discovered that elderly persons required the support of others to access a doctor, a health institution or hospital and the care and support of others for the regular intake of their drugs with increasing age. They were satisfied with the current family physician program. The most significant challenges experienced by elderly persons regarding the healthcare delivery system included crowded hospitals, difficulty walking, the unavailability of wheel chairs, and inadequate assistance from support staff.