Bmc Med Inform Decis
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Jan 2012
Developing open source, self-contained disease surveillance software applications for use in resource-limited settings.
Emerging public health threats often originate in resource-limited countries. In recognition of this fact, the World Health Organization issued revised International Health Regulations in 2005, which call for significantly increased reporting and response capabilities for all signatory nations. Electronic biosurveillance systems can improve the timeliness of public health data collection, aid in the early detection of and response to disease outbreaks, and enhance situational awareness. ⋯ OpenESSENCE and ESSENCE Desktop Edition are two open-source software products with the capability of significantly improving disease surveillance in a wide range of resource-limited settings. These products, and other emerging surveillance technologies, can assist resource-limited countries compliance with the revised International Health Regulations.
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Jan 2012
Comparative StudyUsers' perspectives of key factors to implementing electronic health records in Canada: a Delphi study.
Interoperable electronic health record (EHR) solutions are currently being implemented in Canada, as in many other countries. Understanding EHR users' perspectives is key to the success of EHR implementation projects. This Delphi study aimed to assess in the Canadian context the applicability, the importance, and the priority of pre-identified factors from a previous mixed-methods systematic review of international literature. ⋯ Amongst all factors influencing EHR implementation identified in a previous systematic review, ten were prioritized through this Delphi study. The varying levels of agreement between and within user groups could mean that users' perspectives of each factor are complex and that each user group has unique professional priorities and roles in the EHR implementation process. As more EHR implementations in Canada are completed it will be possible to corroborate this preliminary result with a larger population of EHR users.
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Jan 2012
CMDX©-based single source information system for simplified quality management and clinical research in prostate cancer.
Histopathological evaluation of prostatectomy specimens is crucial to decision-making and prediction of patient outcomes in prostate cancer (PCa). Topographical information regarding PCa extension and positive surgical margins (PSM) is essential for clinical routines, quality assessment, and research. However, local hospital information systems (HIS) often do not support the documentation of such information. Therefore, we investigated the feasibility of integrating a cMDX-based pathology report including topographical information into the clinical routine with the aims of obtaining data, performing analysis and generating heat maps in a timely manner, while avoiding data redundancy. ⋯ cMDX SSIS can be integrated into the local HIS and provides clinical routine data and timely heat maps for quality assessment and research purposes.
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Jan 2012
Intention to adopt clinical decision support systems in a developing country: effect of physician's perceived professional autonomy, involvement and belief: a cross-sectional study.
Computer-based clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are regarded as a key element to enhance decision-making in a healthcare environment to improve the quality of medical care delivery. The concern of having new CDSS unused is still one of the biggest issues in developing countries for the developers and implementers of clinical IT systems. The main objectives of this study are to determine whether (1) the physician's perceived professional autonomy, (2) involvement in the decision to implement CDSS and (3) the belief that CDSS will improve job performance increase the intention to adopt CDSS. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested. ⋯ The proposed model with the three main constructs (physician's professional characteristic, involvement and belief) explains 47% of the variance in the intention to use CDSS. This is significantly higher than the models addressed so far. The results will have a major impact in implementing CDSS in developing countries.
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Bmc Med Inform Decis · Jan 2012
Attitudes among healthcare professionals towards ICT and home follow-up in chronic heart failure care.
eHealth applications for out-of-hospital monitoring and treatment follow-up have been advocated for many years as a promising tool to improve treatment compliance, promote individualized care and obtain a person-centred care. Despite these benefits and a large number of promising projects, a major breakthrough in everyday care is generally still lacking. Inappropriate organization for eHealth technology, reluctance from users in the introduction of new working methods, and resistance to information and communication technology (ICT) in general could be reasons for this. Another reason may be attitudes towards the potential in out-of-hospital eHealth applications. It is therefore of interest to study the general opinions among healthcare professionals to ICT in healthcare, as well as the attitudes towards using ICT as a tool for patient monitoring and follow-up at home. One specific area of interest is in-home follow-up of elderly patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). The aim of this paper is to investigate the attitudes towards ICT, as well as distance monitoring and follow-up, among healthcare professionals working with this patient group. ⋯ The results indicate that a majority of the healthcare professionals in this study are positive to both current and future use of ICT tools in healthcare and home follow-up. Consequently other factors have to play an important role in the slow penetration of out-of-hospital eHealth applications in daily healthcare practice.