Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Endotracheal intubation comparing a prototype Storz CMAC and a glidescope videolaryngoscope in a medical transport helicopter - a pilot study.
In this pilot study, experienced medical helicopter personnel evaluated and compared the prototype Storz CMAC and GlideScope (GS) videolaryngoscopes in intubating a Laerdal Difficult Airway Manikin in a helicopter. No significant differences were found between the devices in the standard airway mode with 100% success rates for the intubations. ⋯ The success rate for intubating the difficult airway was 0% with DV; compared to 63% with the CMAC and 50% with the GS (p = 0.03). The participants answered a post study questionnaire regarding the characteristics of the devices and indicated preference for the CMAC over the GS in intubation of the difficult airway.
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An interactive, video game-based training module, Burn Center, was developed to simulate the real-life emergency events of a mass casualty disaster scenario, involving in 40 victims. The game contains two components - triage and resuscitation. ⋯ After complete the triage component, the player will then take on the role of a burn care provider, balancing the clinical needs of multiple burn patients through a 36-hour resuscitation period, using familiar computer-simulated hospital devices. Once complete, players of Burn Center will come away with applicable skills and knowledge of burn care, for both field triage and initial resuscitation of the burn patients.
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We live our lives in digital networks. We wake up in the morning, check our e-mail, make a quick phone call, commute to work, buy lunch. Many of these transactions leave digital breadcrumbs--tiny records of our daily experiences. ⋯ It is crucial that behavior-logging technology not be forced on anyone. But legal statutes are lagging behind data collection capabilities, making it particularly important to begin discussing how the technology will and should be used. Therefore, an additional focus of this chapter will be the development of a legal and ethical framework concerning the data used by reality mining techniques.
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A study of Australian nurses on their use of information technology in the workplace was undertaken by the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) in 2007. This study of over 4000 nurses highlighted that nurses recognise benefits to adopting more information technology in the workplace although there are significant barriers to their use. It also identified gross deficits in the capacity of the nursing workforce to engage in the digital processing of information. ⋯ This project is being developed in collaboration with the ANF and the Queensland University of Technology. This paper will discuss the methodology, development and publication of the Australian Nursing Informatics Competency Standards Project which is currently underway and due for completion in May 2009. The Australian Nursing Informatics Competencies will be presented at the conference.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
A standard operating protocol (SOP) and minimum data set (MDS) for nursing and medical handover: considerations for flexible standardization in developing electronic tools.
As part of Australia's participation in the World Health Organization, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) is the leading federal government technical agency involved in the area of clinical handover improvement. The ACSQHC has funded a range of handover improvement projects in Australia including one at the Royal Hobart Hospital (RHH), Tasmania. The RHH project aims to investigate the potential for generalizable and transferable clinical handover solutions throughout the medical and nursing disciplines. ⋯ It considers the implications of these standardized operating protocols and minimum data sets for developing electronic clinical handover support tools. Significantly, the paper highlights a human-centred design approach that actively involves medical and nursing staff in data collection, analysis, interpretation, and systems design. This approach reveals the dangers of info-centrism when considering electronic tools, as information emerges as the only factor amongst many others that influence the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical handover.