Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2008
Initial implementation of mixed reality simulation targeting teamwork and patient safety.
Patient safety is one of the most pressing challenges of modern healthcare. Being a multifactorial problem, patient safety requires improvement interventions on multiple levels including individual, team and organization as a whole. ⋯ Each simulation session was followed by facilitated debriefing and teaching new team communication skills. Team performances were assessed by both direct observation and team's self-assessment where each team member assessed his or her own performance as well as the performance of all other team members (360 degree assessment).
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2008
IT-based information management in health care networks: the MedoCom approach.
Transinstitutional information systems support collaboration beyond the borders of single health care institutions. Information management in health care networks aims at establishing systematic information processing in order to contribute to the network's strategic goals. Health care networks can be characterized by complex and even conflicting goal systems. ⋯ The framework is used to deduce effects of network characteristics on information management. Concluding, we present an architectural approach of a management platform for health care networks. The framework as well as the management platform are parts of our MedoCom approach.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2008
In vivo robotics for natural orifice transgastric peritoneoscopy.
Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is potentially the next paradigm shift in minimally invasive surgery. Currently, NOTES procedures are performed using modified endoscopic tools with significant constraints. ⋯ The design and kinematic configuration of the robot allows for its complete insertion into the peritoneal cavity, and provides intuitive visualization and sufficient force application for tissue manipulation within the dexterous workspace. The NOTES robot successfully demonstrated various capabilities in a non-survival natural orifice surgical procedure in a porcine model suggesting the feasibility of using miniature in vivo robots for performing natural orifice procedures within the peritoneal cavity.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2008
Repeated palpatory training of medical students on the Virtual Haptic Back.
The effectiveness of simulation-based training has been accepted with great success in many fields including medicine. Most of the simulation research and development in medicine has focused on surgery. ⋯ The Virtual Haptic Back (VHB) is a simulator based on virtual reality and haptics that is currently being used to train medical students in palpatory diagnosis. This study examined the effect of repeating the training on the VHB.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2008
Telemedicine in extreme conditions: disasters, war, remote sites.
Telemedicine has developed around certain assumptions about connectivity and format. From the pioneer work of Kenneth Bird in the 1970's medical events separated by distance were connected for videoconference interaction [1]. The connection implied well developed telecommunications tools at both ends of the interaction. ⋯ New solutions can meet the expectation of being wherever services are need whenever the need arises. This chapter looks at the experiences, successes and failures of telemedicine in natural disaster, war, and extreme remote sites. The presentation is concluded with recommendations to make telemedicine integral to any disaster response and a natural tool for any human endeavor that requires sending people to remote and hostile environments.