Studies in health technology and informatics
-
An increase in interest in the establishment of telephone advice services has resulted in the proliferation of call centers. Despite their wide usage, research for the most part has not addressed the quality of care in relation to consumer satisfaction. This paper examines consumer outcomes of satisfaction, and follow-up with recommendations, within a framework of the nursing process and its associated components of assessment (including problem identification), care planning, intervention, and evaluation. ⋯ Exploratory regression analysis showed that the component of intervention was significantly related to consumer satisfaction. The present study pioneers the way to rate the quality of the advice nurses' interactions with consumers, and lays the groundwork for further investigations of health care provider behavior and consumer outcomes. Further studies are recommended to investigate predictors of consumer satisfaction, and cost-benefit in terms of consumer expenditures of time, funds, and energy.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2001
Comparative StudyInformation needs in primary care: a survey of rural and nonrural primary care physicians.
To compare the self-reported information needs of rural and nonrural primary care physicians. ⋯ Rural and nonrural primary care physicians reported equal information needs, similar information seeking, and similar resource preferences. Rural physicians reported less access to some information resources, but little difference in use of resources. Further studies are needed to determine how these differences impact rural practitioners and their patients.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2001
Ranking of information in the computerized problem-oriented patient record.
We propose a framework for a problem-oriented patient record for general practice 1 and defend that the problem-oriented medical record represents an intuitive way to organize the patient record. By adding a layer of knowledge to the electronic patient record the record system is able to better utilize the information stored in the record. If a record system is process aware, having knowledge of work processes and is able to distinguish between different contexts in use, the system can provide relevant and useful information during the handling of patients' medical problems. ⋯ Traces give valuable indications of what is going on during the process of patient care. Decision frames represents relevant contexts based on the information in the record. Both decision frames and traces provide an environment in which more optimal medical decisions can be made.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2001
Implementation and evaluation of a distance learning introductory course in medical informatics.
There is a growing interest in and need for continuing education in medical informatics delivered by distance learning. ⋯ The learning technologies used in this course were implemented successfully and a Graduate Certificate Program is planned to further meet educational needs in medical informatics.
-
Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2001
Measurement of in-vivo local shear modulus by combining multiple phase offsets mr elastography.
To provide realistic surgical simulation, haptic feedback is important. In the existing surgical simulators, the fidelity of the deformation and haptic feedback is limited because they are based on the subjective evaluation of the expert-user and not on an objective model-based evaluation. To obtain elastic modulus of in-vivo human tissues, magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) was developed. ⋯ To confirm the reliability of this method, a computer simulation and phantom study were performed. The shear modulus measured with various elastic objects was well consistent with the value obtained by MRE and the mechanical method. The shear moduli of excised porcine liver and in-vivo human calf muscle were also analyzed by this method. on the subjective evaluation of an expert-user and not on objective model-based methods.