MedWorm: Information Technology

4th international amam symposium: animal behavior turned into robots and more

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Sat, 17 May 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Building a machine that moves like a cockroach, salamander, fish or another creature is no easy task. Over 100 of the world's pioneering engineers, biologists and neuroscientists who have contributed to building biologically inspired robots will be on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, June 1-6, to discuss new developments in the field of biorobotics during the Fourth International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines (AMAM). (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

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Partnership to develop radiology reporting technology

Hospital IT Europe — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:42:58 +0100

A healthcare IT company has reached a partnership agreement with a speech recognition firm (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Dutch healthcare foundation gets new crm

Hospital IT Europe — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:42:58 +0100

Hospitallbroeders is the first organisation to go live with CACHÉ-based Eprísa online (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Dairyland creates emr first

Hospital IT Europe — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:42:58 +0100

Dairyland Healthcare Solutions hits milestone with first exchange of patient information (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Nhs it four years behind schedule

Hospital IT Europe — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:42:58 +0100

The National Audit Office says timescales for England’s NHS IT programme were unrealistic (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

New category added to the bt e-health insider awards 2008

E-Health-Insider — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:30:00 +0100

An extra category has been added to the BT e-Health Insider Awards 2008 offering another opportunity to showcase excellent work by the UK's healthcare IM&T community. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

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Senate leaders agree on privacy protections amendment to health care information technology bill

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:00:00 +0100

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Wednesday announced that sponsors of a bill (HR 1693) that would promote the use of health care information technology have agreed to include an amendment Leahy proposed to help protect patient privacy, (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

New chip detects heart attacks better than an ekg

Computerworld Health Care News — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:00:00 +0100

A silicon chip under development at the University of Texas promises to help doctors more quickly diagnose heart attacks. (Source: Computerworld Health Care News)

Doctors' notes get clearer with speech recognition software

Computerworld Health Care News — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:00:00 +0100

Speech recognition technology is being linked to an increase in adoption of electronic health records as doctors find it easier to build more complete patient records than with handwritten notes. (Source: Computerworld Health Care News)

Ge healthcare it takes top for klas and md buyline ranking

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:00:00 +0100

GE Healthcare IT, a division of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and a leading provider of clinical, financial and administrative information technology solutions, announced its Centricity® PACS-IW (formerly Dynamic Imaging IntegradWeb® PACS) products have been ranked number one by KLAS and MD Buyline. The announcement was made at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) conference in Seattle, May 15-18, 2008. (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

'new wave' in health care provision signalled by innovative antennae

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 +0100

Compact, wireless and power efficient body sensors that allow doctors to monitor illnesses and injuries remotely are a step closer thanks to new research.The use of biosensors attached to the body for health monitoring is not new. (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

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Could violent video games reduce rather than increase violence?

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:00:00 +0100

Does playing violent video games make players aggressive? It is a question that has taxed researchers, sociologists, and regulators ever since the first console was plugged into a TV and the first shots fired in a shoot 'em up game. (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

Nao says care records service delayed until 2015

E-Health-Insider — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:01 +0100

The delivery of electronic patient records to hospitals by the NHS National Programme for IT is now running four years late and, according to the National Audit Office is unlikely to be completed before 2015, five years later than originally planned. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

New proquest resource targets hospital information needs

EContent RSS Feeds : Research Center: Sci-Tech/Medical — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

ProQuest, which provides access to and navigation of digital pages, unveiled ProQuest Hospital Collection. (Source: EContent RSS Feeds : Research Center: Sci-Tech/Medical)

Bmj group teams up with the college of emergency medicine

eHealth News EU — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:02:00 +0100

BMJ Learning, part of the BMJ Group, announced that it has formed a partnership with the College of Emergency Medicine in the UK, to provide Continuous Professional Development (CPD) courses for Fellows and Associate Fellows of the College. The new learning resources are provided in a series of modules-those available immediately include courses on self-harm and the Medical Capacity Act, the management of acute coronary syndromes, and syncope. (Source: eHealth News EU)

Orion health participates in national event for reducing acute admissions

eHealth News EU — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:01:00 +0100

Orion Health, a leading provider of clinical workflow and integration technology for the healthcare sector, announced its participation in the National Event for Recurring Admission Patient Alerts (RAPA) being held at King's Mill Hospital in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, on Thursday May 15th, 2008. (Source: eHealth News EU)

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Csw group ltd appointed to new ascc framework contracts

eHealth News EU — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:00:00 +0100

CSW Group Ltd, a leading provider of patient-centric electronic healthcare records products, has been appointed to the new Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) framework contracts to provide clinical information systems to deliver a range of IT products and services to the NHS. (Source: eHealth News EU)

Millennium fails again across southern england

E-Health-Insider — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:15:45 +0100

Many NHS staff in the south were left unable to use the Cerner Millennium care record system last Wednesday morning, after the Fujitsu-provided system failed across the region for the second time in a month. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

Health grades expands health care facilities grading tool to include prescription drugs

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:00 +0100

Health Grades on Wednesday announced it will expand its online health care facilities and services grading tool to include information and ratings of prescription medications, Dow Jones reports. The new program will feature information on 4,345 prescription medications, including which drugs are most commonly prescribed and whether use of a certain drug is increasing or decreasing. (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

Patients should get wikirecords

E-Health-Insider — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:05:39 +0100

The Government should create 'Wikirecords' - online, accessible medical records which patients can contribute to and comment on - according to a new report from think tank Demos. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

Estimated 3.2 million burmese potentially affected by cyclone

IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:00:00 +0100

As many as 3.2 million Burmese are estimated to be affected by the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, according to geographic risk models developed by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Lehman College, CUNY. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the researchers calculated the likely distribution of the population of Burma (also known as Myanmar) and developed maps of the regions at greatest risk from the storm's effects. (Source: IT / Internet / E-mail News From Medical News Today)

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Picis unveils ed pulsecheck 4.0

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Picis releases ED PulseCheck 4.0, its comprehensive emergency department information system (EDIS) (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Medical device connectivity partnership

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Capsule and B. Braun Medical partnership to connect Outlook Safety Infusion System into CIS (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Conference to unveil integrated pacs/ris

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Experts say the RIS requires no extra interfacing and does not interrupt the PACS storage capabilities (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Medhost advances his integration

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

EDIS provider MEDHOST introduces unique, discrete patient data-sharing capability (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Cerner millennium implemented in abu dhabi

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Cerner has successfully implemented multiple Cerner Millennium HIT solutions in UAE (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

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Imatis and jaotech collaborate on patient multimedia terminals

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

JAOtech and Imatis have signed a global technology partnership (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Pacs voice recognition improves er care

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Hospital improves emergency care using voice recognition and other features of DR Systems Unity PACS (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Barcodes help reduce pharmaceutical waste pollution

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

EcoRex Pharmaceutical Waste Management System is first fully-automated, integrated system (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Antennas enable biosensor monitoring

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

New biosensor antennas are designed to combine maximum signal with minimum size (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

Nhs appoint siemens to cis contract

Hospital IT Europe — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:31:42 +0100

Siemens say the offer will aid the faster and easier procurement of IT systems and services (Source: Hospital IT Europe)

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Editorial: pervasive healthcare. selected papers from the pervasive healthcare 2008 conference, tampere, finland.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Editorial: pervasive healthcare. Selected papers from the pervasive healthcare 2008 conference, tampere, Finland.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):175-7

Authors: Saranummi N, Wactlar H

OBJECTIVE: Introducing the Special Topic of Methods of Information in Medicine on pervasive healthcare, with selected papers from the Pervasive Healthcare Conference at Tampere, Finland, January 30 to February 1, 2008. METHODS: Describing pervasive healthcare as field. Reporting about the content of the selected papers in this Special Topic. Developing and evaluating physiological measurement techniques, assistive care ambient notification and reminding systems, ambulatory monitoring, architectures and platforms for personalized home-health tele-monitoring, means of privacy-protecting health-sensitive information, and establishing a clinical proof-of-concept methodology. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Pervasive healthcare is an emerging field with considerable technological breadth and expected strong impact for the quality and efficiency of healthcare in an aging society. However, this field is still a nascent one, with a good deal of exploratory research. There is also hypothesis-based and empirical research, which tests the assumptions or feasibility of a solution using clinical evidence, but most such trials at this time are preliminary and small. The emergence of a truly evidence-based outcomes assessment will take some time, but is in the making.

PMID: 18473080 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Pervasive healthcare as a scientific discipline.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Pervasive healthcare as a scientific discipline.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):178-85

Authors: Bardram JE

OBJECTIVE: The OECD countries are facing a set of core challenges; an increasing elderly population; increasing number of chronic and lifestyle-related diseases; expanding scope of what medicine can do; and increasing lack of medical professionals. Pervasive healthcare asks how pervasive computing technology can be designed to meet these challenges. The objective of this paper is to discuss 'pervasive healthcare' as a research field and tries to establish how novel and distinct it is, compared to related work within biomedical engineering, medical informatics, and ubiquitous computing. METHODS: The paper presents the research questions, approach, technologies, and methods of pervasive healthcare and discusses these in comparison to those of other related scientific disciplines. RESULTS: A set of central research themes are presented; monitoring and body sensor networks; pervasive assistive technologies; pervasive computing for hospitals; and preventive and persuasive technologies. Two projects illustrate the kind of research being done in pervasive healthcare. The first project is targeted at home-based monitoring of hypertension; the second project is designing context-aware technologies for hospitals. Both projects approach the healthcare challenges in a new way, apply a new type of research method, and come up with new kinds of technological solutions. 'Clinical proof-of-concept' is recommended as a new method for pervasive healthcare research; the method helps design and test pervasive healthcare technologies, and in ascertaining their clinical potential before large-scale clinical tests are needed. CONCLUSION: The paper concludes that pervasive healthcare as a research field and agenda is novel; it is addressing new emerging research questions, represents a novel approach, designs new types of technologies, and applies a new kind of research method.

PMID: 18473081 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Effect of movements on the electrodermal response after a startle event.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Effect of movements on the electrodermal response after a startle event.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):186-91

Authors: Schumm J, Bächlin M, Setz C, Arnrich B, Roggen D, Tröster G

OBJECTIVES: In this work the effect of quasi-stationary movements on the electrodermal activity (EDA) after a startle event has been investigated and evaluated. In previous EDA research there is a discrepancy between the use of controlled environment studies and daily life surveys. This paper aims to address this by expanding the knowledge about EDA in real life applications. METHODS: A minimally obtrusive body-worn measurement device was designed and produced that simultaneously records EDA and finger movements. During this study, five subjects walked at different speeds and listened to startling sound events. The EDA response to these startle events was analyzed for different walking speeds using crosscorrelograms and cumulative frequency plots. RESULTS: The measured response to the startle event is consistent with the signal characteristics described in the literature. The results show that the faster a person is walking the more the signal property of the phasic part of the EDA is approaching a uniform distribution. However, even at a walking speed of 6 km/h the effect of the startle event is statistically still visible in the EDA (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The presented work offers a good understanding of the EDA while walking at different speeds. Although the artefacts evoked by walking cannot be determined directly, information on the movement can be useful. Depending on the walking speed a measurement about the reliability of peak detection could be introduced.

PMID: 18473082 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Electrode position optimization for facial emg measurements for human-computer interface.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Electrode Position Optimization for Facial EMG Measurements for Human-computer Interface.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):192-7

Authors: Nöjd N, Hannula M, Narra N, Hyttinen J

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to model facial electromyography (fEMG) to find optimal electrode positions for wearable wireless human-computer interface. The measurement system is a head cap developed in our institute and with it we can measure fEMG and electro-oculogram (EOG). The signals could be used to control the computer interface: gaze directions move the cursor and muscle activations correspond to clicking. METHODS: A very accurate 3D model of the human head was developed and it was used in the modeling of fEMG. The optimal positions of four electrodes on the forehead measuring the activations of frontalis and corrugator muscles were defined. Calculations were based on reciprocity theorem and lead field concept. RESULTS: A new accurate model is now in our use for modeling purposes. It has high spatial accuracy and number of inhomogeneities providing a good platform for various simulations. The best measurement sensitivity is achieved by placing the electrodes parallel to the muscle cells. Anyway, better separating capability for frontalis and corrugator activation is achieved by placing the electrodes more orthogonally. CONCLUSIONS: The developed model and the tools utilized are powerful methods to optimize the electrode positions of a wearable gaze and EMG-based user interface system. The modeling results provide direct feedback for developing next generation wearable head cap with optimized electrode locations.

PMID: 18473083 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

A support system for context awareness in a group home using sound cues.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

A support system for context awareness in a group home using sound cues.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):198-202

Authors: Kanai H, Nakada T, Hanba Y, Kunifuji S

OBJECTIVES: In a group home, caregivers should be aware of the inhabitant's real-time situation. The aim of our study is to facilitate the awareness of an inhabitant's situation by means of enhanced sound cues. METHODS: We propose an audio notification system that indicates the real-time situation of persons in a group home environment using sound cues instead of visual surveillance. The notification system comprises a prediction and a notification function. The prediction function estimates a person's real-time situation using a Bayesian network and sensed information; the notification function informs recipients of the predicted situation and the confidence level of the prediction by means of sound cues. We use natural sounds as sound cues. RESULTS: As a first step to examine our system in a group home, we conducted operation and performance tests of each unit under a simple test environment. The correct prediction of the subject's situation is approximately 90%; further, it is shown that the sound cues should be selected according to their environmental dependence. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that the method is useful for monitoring persons. As future study, we will conduct a field test on an implemented system and improve it for practical use in a group home.

PMID: 18473084 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

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User-adaptive reminders for home-based medical tasks. a case study.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

User-adaptive Reminders for Home-based Medical Tasks. A Case Study.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):203-7

Authors: Kaushik P, Intille SS, Larson K

OBJECTIVES: We present a prototype adaptive reminder system for home-based medical tasks. The system consists of a mobile device for reminder presentation and ambient sensors to determine opportune moments for reminder delivery. Our objective was to study interaction with the prototype under naturalistic living conditions and gain insight into factors affecting the long-term acceptability of context-sensitive reminder systems for the home setting. METHODS: A volunteer participant used the prototype in a residential research facility while adhering to a regimen of simulated medical tasks for ten days. Some reminders were scheduled at fixed times during the day and some were automatically time-shifted based on sensor data. We made a complete video and sensor record of the stay. Finally, the participant commented about his experiences with the system in a debriefing interview. RESULTS: Based on this case study, including direct observation of individual alert-action sequences, we make four recommendations for designers of context-sensitive adaptive reminder systems. Captured metrics suggest that adaptive reminders led to faster reaction times and were perceived by the participant as being more useful. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of context-sensitive systems that overlap into domestic lives is challenging. We believe that the ideal experiment is to deploy such systems in real homes and assess performance longitudinally. This case study in an instrumented live-in facility is a step toward that long-term goal.

PMID: 18473085 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Activity and heart rate-based measures for outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Activity and Heart Rate-based Measures for Outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):208-16

Authors: Bidargaddi NP, Sarela A

OBJECTIVES: Derive activity and heart rate (HR) monitor-based clinically relevant measures for outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (CR). METHODS: We are currently collecting activity/ECG data from patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation over duration of six weeks. From these data sets, we a) derive various measures which can be used in assessing home-based CR patients remotely and b) investigate the usefulness of continuous ambulatory HR and heart rate variability (HRV) for various core components of CR. RESULTS: The information provided by these measures is interpreted according to the CR guidelines framework by American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), thus showing how these tools can be used in assessing the progress of patients' condition. The usefulness and significance of these measures from a health care professional perspective is also presented by evaluating them against the existing hospital-based measures through examples. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital-based CR programs, despite their clinical benefits are severely under-utilized and resource-demanding. Ambulatory monitoring technologies, which provide a means for continuous physiological monitoring of patients at home compared to hospital-based tools, can enable home-based CR. The clinically relevant measures derived from these tools not only reflect patients' condition in a similar way as conventional tools but also show the continuous status of functional capacity (FC).

PMID: 18473086 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Mobile health and wellness application framework.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Mobile health and wellness application framework.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):217-22

Authors: Laakko T, Leppänen J, Lähteenmäki J, Nummiaho A

OBJECTIVES: There is an increasing need for user-friendly and interoperable mobile applications in health and wellness domain. The objective of this work has been to provide support for rapid and cost-effective development of such applications. METHODS: We have introduced an application framework which provides a generic tool for mobile application designers. We have demonstrated the usage of the application framework by providing an example implementation and demonstrating its usage in a Tele-ECG use case. In order to support interoperability we propose a solution compatible with clinical document standards such as the HL7 CDA. RESULTS: A new mobile platform applicable for a wide range of telemedicine and wellness applications is introduced. The platform provides connectivity between healthcare professionals, patients and measurement devices. It is based on an open application framework that provides interfaces for measurement, user interface, database and network connectivity implementations. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile application development based on the application framework was demonstrated successfully. The developed UPHIAC platform adopts a new technical approach using a local database solution for caching of information at the mobile terminal. The platform applies a document-based approach providing a versatile and reliable way of sharing and collaboratively complementing of health information including standard information model documents (HL7/CDA), and integration with health information systems and personal storages. The implemented mobile tele-ECG case demonstrates the overall function of the platform. The platform can be used as a basis for developing new applications for specific purposes.

PMID: 18473087 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

A tele-home care system exploiting the dvb-t technology and mhp.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

A Tele-home Care System Exploiting the DVB-T Technology and MHP.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):223-228

Authors: Angius G, Pani D, Raffo L, Randaccio P, Seruis S

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research work is the development of a low-cost system for telemedicine based on the DVB-T technology. The diffusion of DVB-T standard and the low cost of DVB-T set-top boxes bring the vision of a capillary distribution of tele-home care monitoring systems with easy-to-use patient's interface. METHODS: Exploiting the potentiality of the DVB-T set-top box, we transformed it into an "on-demand tele-home care interface". The Xlet we developed is able to govern the functionality of an external microcontroller-based unit for the acquisition of the bio-signals of interest. The uplink connection is used to send the exam results to a remote care center. RESULTS: The Xlet providing the patient interface on the set-top box is uploaded by a DVB-T broadcaster without any intervention in the patient's home. A prototypal low-cost base station for the acquisition of the patient's signals (1-lead ECG) has been developed. It is able to be connected to the set-top box via an infrared link. A smart-card-based system is in charge for the customization of the Xlet for every patient. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed system, based on a currently widespread infrastructure, is able to allow the patients monitoring from home without any installation procedure. Even untrained (or elderly) people can easily use such system due to their practice with the basic DVB-T home-entertainment equipments.

PMID: 18473088 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

An open and reconfigurable wireless sensor network for pervasive health monitoring.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

An open and reconfigurable wireless sensor network for pervasive health monitoring.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):229-34

Authors: Triantafyllidis A, Koutkias V, Chouvarda I, Maglaveras N

OBJECTIVES: Sensor networks constitute the backbone for the construction of personalized monitoring systems. Up to now, several sensor networks have been proposed for diverse pervasive healthcare applications, which are however characterized by a significant lack of open architectures, resulting in closed, non-interoperable and difficult to extend solutions. In this context, we propose an open and reconfigurable wireless sensor network (WSN) for pervasive health monitoring, with particular emphasis in its easy extension with additional sensors and functionality by incorporating embedded intelligence mechanisms. METHODS: We consider a generic WSN architecture comprised of diverse sensor nodes (with communication and processing capabilities) and a mobile base unit (MBU) operating as the gateway between the sensors and the medical personnel, formulating this way a body area network (BAN). The primary focus of this work is on the intra-BAN data communication issues, adopting SensorML as the data representation mean, including the encoding of the monitoring patterns and the functionality of the sensor network. RESULTS: In our prototype implementation two sensor nodes are emulated; one for heart rate monitoring and the other for blood glucose observations, while the MBU corresponds to a personal digital assistant (PDA) device. Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) is used to implement both the sensor nodes and the MBU components. Intra-BAN wireless communication relies on the Blue-tooth protocol. Via an adaptive user interface in the MBU, health professionals may specify the monitoring parameters of the WSN and define the monitoring patterns of interest in terms of rules. CONCLUSIONS: This work constitutes an essential step towards the construction of open, extensible, inter-operable and intelligent WSNs for pervasive health monitoring.

PMID: 18473089 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

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Patient privacy protection using anonymous access control techniques.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Patient privacy protection using anonymous access control techniques.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):235-40

Authors: Weerasinghe D, Rajarajan M, Elmufti K, Rakocevic V

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to develop a solution to preserve security and privacy in a healthcare environment where health-sensitive information will be accessed by many parties and stored in various distributed databases. The solution should maintain anonymous medical records and it should be able to link anonymous medical information in distributed databases into a single patient medical record with the patient identity. METHODS: In this paper we present a protocol that can be used to authenticate and authorize patients to healthcare services without providing the patient identification. Healthcare service can identify the patient using separate temporary identities in each identification session and medical records are linked to these temporary identities. Temporary identities can be used to enable record linkage and reverse track real patient identity in critical medical situations. RESULTS: The proposed protocol provides main security and privacy services such as user anonymity, message privacy, message confidentiality, user authentication, user authorization and message replay attacks. The medical environment validates the patient at the healthcare service as a real and registered patient for the medical services. Using the proposed protocol, the patient anonymous medical records at different healthcare services can be linked into one single report and it is possible to securely reverse track anonymous patient into the real identity. CONCLUSION: The protocol protects the patient privacy with a secure anonymous authentication to healthcare services and medical record registries according to the European and the UK legislations, where the patient real identity is not disclosed with the distributed patient medical records.

PMID: 18473090 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Automatically created concept graphs using descriptive keywords in the medical domain.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Automatically created concept graphs using descriptive keywords in the medical domain.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):241-50

Authors: Diederich J, Balke WT

OBJECTIVES: Besides keyword search, navigational search is an important means to find relevant information in digital object collections. Such navigation is often supported by categorization systems or thesauri, which provide a hierarchical view on a particular domain and allow for browsing digital collections. Existing categorization systems, however, require large and expensive efforts for the manual creation and maintenance. Our Semantic GrowBag algorithm fully automatically creates concept graphs, i.e. directed graphs similar to categorization systems but without strong subsumption semantics. This article sketches our algorithm and evaluates it for the medical domain. METHODS: Our Semantic GrowBag algorithm uses descriptive keywords and exploits higher-order co-occurrences between them to create concept graphs (so-called GrowBag graphs) from annotated object collections. In this study, we have automatically created more than 2000 GrowBag graphs based on the Medline data set to show the applicability of our algorithm in the medical domain. For the evaluation, we first compared our algorithm to a baseline algorithm that does not take higher-order co-occurrences into account, and then compared the resulting GrowBag graphs systematically against the manually crafted MeSH thesaurus. RESULTS: Our experiments revealed that the Semantic GrowBag approach essentially increases the number of relevant relationships in comparison to a baseline approach by about 50%. Furthermore, the identified relations usually correspond to and hardly ever contradict to relationships as stated by MeSH. CONCLUSIONS: The Semantic GrowBag algorithm allows creating concept graphs fully automatically. While it does not systematically exploit specifics of a domain (such as the fundamental separation between 'drugs' and 'therapy' in MeSH), the resulting GrowBag graphs are nevertheless well-suited to support navigation in digital object collections. Moreover, they can also be used to help maintaining existing categorization systems based on the actual usage of categories.

PMID: 18473091 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Prioritizing the risk factors influencing the success of clinical information system projects. a delphi study in canada.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

Prioritizing the risk factors influencing the success of clinical information system projects. A delphi study in Canada.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):251-9

Authors: Paré G, Sicotte C, Jaana M, Girouard D

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the risk factors influencing the success of clinical information system projects. METHODS: This study addresses this issue by first reviewing the extant literature on information technology project risks, and second conducting a Delphi survey among 21 experts highly involved in clinical information system projects in Québec, Canada, a region where government have invested heavily in health information technologies in recent years. RESULTS: Twenty-three risk factors were identified. The absence of a project champion was the factor that experts felt most deserves their attention. Lack of commitment from upper management was ranked second. Our panel of experts also confirmed the importance of a variable that has been extensively studied in information systems, namely, perceived usefulness that ranked third. Respondents ranked project ambiguity fourth. The fifth-ranked risk was associated with poor alignment between the clinical information systems' characteristics and the organization of clinical work. The large majority of risk factors associated with the technology itself were considered less important. This finding supports the idea that technology-associated factors rarely figure among the main reasons for a project failure. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to providing a comprehensive list of risk factors and their relative importance, the study presents a major contribution by unifying the literature on information systems and medical informatics. Our checklist provides a basis for further research that may help practitioners identify the effective countermeasures for mitigating risks associated with the implementation of clinical information systems.

PMID: 18473092 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

An overview and analysis of theories employed in telemedicine studies. a field in search of an identity.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

An overview and analysis of theories employed in telemedicine studies. A field in search of an identity.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):260-9

Authors: Gammon D, Johannessen LK, Sørensen T, Wynn R, Whitten P

OBJECTIVES: This study asks: What theories are employed in telemedicine studies? How might they be categorized in ways that help distinguish the knowledge base of telemedicine? METHODS: Theories in use were identified from a database of telemedicine-related publications between 1990 and 2005. Eighty-three (5% of 1615) articles referred to a theoretical concept. Grounded Theory procedures were used to analyze and categorize theories, while descriptive statistics were used for supplementary information. RESULTS: The proportion of studies with theory was 3% in 1999 and 7% in 2005. The 83 articles were dispersed among 48 of the in total 795 different journals in the original sample. Identified theories were grouped into two main categories; 'shared' (used in two or more studies) and 'lone ranger'. All of the shared theories are social science theories employed without notable adjustments to any uniquely defining features of telemedicine; diffusion, technology acceptance, health behavior, science and technology studies (STS), and economics. Theoretical concepts within the lone ranger category may well address unique features of telemedicine, but have yet to attract the attention of colleagues. CONCLUSION: The theories identified as 'shared' play an important role, but are inadequate in illuminating any unique features of telemedicine. The future of telemedicine as a field will need to identify its underlying theoretical components. Frameworks employed in the field of evaluation may aid in identifying the types of theories worth articulating in telemedicine.

PMID: 18473093 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

Virtx - evaluation of a computer-based training system for mobile c-arm systems in trauma and orthopedic surgery.

Methods of Information in Medicine — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:45:14 +0100

virtX - Evaluation of a Computer-based Training System for Mobile C-arm Systems in Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery.

Methods Inf Med. 2008;47(3):270-8

Authors: Bott OJ, Teistler M, Duwenkamp C, Wagner M, Marschollek M, Plischke M, Raab BW, Stürmer KM, Pretschner DP, Dresing K

OBJECTIVES: Operating room personnel (ORP) operating mobile image intensifier systems (C-arms) need training to produce high quality radiographs with a minimum of time and X-ray exposure. Our study aims at evaluating acceptance, usability and learning effect of the CBT system virtX that simulates C-arm based X-ray imaging in the context of surgical case scenarios. METHODS: Prospective, interventional study conducted during an ORP course with three groups: intervention group 1 (training on a PC using virtX), and 2 (virtX with a C-arm as input device), and a control group (training without virtX) - IV1, IV2 and CG. All participants finished training with the same exercise. Time needed to produce an image of sufficient quality was recorded and analyzed using One-Way-ANOVA and Dunnett post hoc test (alpha = .05). Acceptance and usability of virtX have been evaluated using a questionnaire. RESULTS: CG members (n = 21) needed more time for the exercise than those of IV2 (n = 20): 133 +/- 55 vs. 101 +/- 37 sec. (p = .03). IV1 (n = 12) also performed better than CG (128 +/- 48 sec.), but this was not statistically significant. Seventy-nine participants returned a questionnaire (81% female, age 34 +/- 9 years, professional experience 8.3 +/- 7.6 years; 77% regularly used a C-arm). 83% considered virtX a useful addition to conventional C-arm training. 91% assessed virtual radiography as helpful for understanding C-arm operation. CONCLUSIONS: Trainees experienced virtX as substantial enhancement of C-arm training. Training with virtX can reduce the time needed to perform an imaging task.

PMID: 18473094 [PubMed - in process]

(Source: Methods of Information in Medicine)

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Walsall to electronically tag paper records

E-Health-Insider — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:35:52 +0100

Traditional paper patient records at Walsall Manor Hospital are to be electronically tagged to cut the number of files lost whilst being moved between departments. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

Eli lilly aims to tap 'rock star' programmers

Computerworld Health Care News — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:00:00 +0100

Eli Lilly plans to use TopCoder's stable of "rock star" programmers to help build enterprise IT applications. (Source: Computerworld Health Care News)

Iba boss says lorenzo ‘will happen’

E-Health-Insider — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:10:10 +0100

The chairman of IBA Health has told E-Health Insider that he is not aware of any problems that would prevent the installation of Lorenzo at three NHS pilot sites this summer. (Source: E-Health-Insider)

Nhs direct online to be moved to choices

E-Health-Insider — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:32:25 +0100

NHS Direct Online, the highly successful and popular web-based patient advice and information service, looks set to be transferred wholesale to rival NHS Choices. (Source: E-Health-Insider)