Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2011
ReviewEvaluation of telephone triage and advice services: a systematic review on methods, metrics and results.
Telephone triage and advice services (TTAS) have been increasingly used to assess patients' symptoms, provide information and refer patients to appropriate levels of care (attempting to pursue efficiency and quality of care gains while ensuring safety). However, previous reviews have pointed out for the need for adequately evaluating TTAS. ⋯ To review TTAS evaluation studies, compile methodologies and metrics used and compare results. Systematic search in PubMed database; data collection and categorization by TTAS features and context, type of evaluation, methods, metrics and results; critical assessment of studies; discussion on research needs. 395 articles screened, 55 of them included in the analysis. In conclusion, several aspects of TTAS impact on healthcare systems remain unclear either due to a lack of research (e.g. on long term clinical outcomes, clinical pathways, safety, enhanced access) or because of huge disparities in existing studies on the accuracy of advice, patient compliance, system use, satisfaction and economic evaluation. Further research on TTAS impact is required, comprising multiple perspectives and broad range of metrics.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialControl over the virtual environment influences the presence and efficacy of a virtual reality intervention on pain.
The main aim of this study is to investigate whether the control the user has over a virtual environment (VE) influences the sense of presence. A secondary purpose is to explore the relationship between Virtual Reality (VR) presence and pain tolerance during a cold-pressor experience. Ninety-four participants underwent two consecutive cold-pressor trials, one without VR exposure and the other providing a VR stereoscopic figure used as a symbolic representation of the sensation of pain. ⋯ Participants had a higher pain tolerance during both VR conditions than in the no-VR trial, with a greater increase in pain tolerance from the non-VR trial in the interactive condition. Presence scores correlated significantly and positively with pain tolerance scores. We discuss the importance of VR interaction and control over the VR environments used in VR pain interventions designed to increase cognitive control over pain.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2011
Generation of connectivity-preserving surface models of multiple sclerosis lesions.
Progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) results in brain lesions caused by white matter inflammation. MS lesions have various shapes, sizes and locations, affecting cognitive abilities of patients to different extents. ⋯ This tool allows users to create 3D models of lesions quickly and to visualize the lesions and brain tissues using various visual attributes and configurations. The software package is based on breadth-first search based 3D connected component analysis and a 3D flood-fill based region growing algorithm to generate 3D models from binary or non-binary segmented medical image stacks.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2011
Observing effectiveness of pathology ordering controls in emergency departments.
To demonstrate application of data integration technology for observing the effectiveness of interventions to control pathology orders in Emergency Departments. ⋯ Pathology ordering can be reduced using sustainable protocols. This work has demonstrated HDI capability to extract and link pathology data efficiently to evaluate an ED intervention.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyComparison of a disposable bougie versus a newly designed malleable bougie in the intubation of a difficult manikin airway.
The endotracheal bougie is used for difficult intubations when only a minimal glottic view is obtained. Standard bougies are designed for use during direct, line-of-sight viewing of the glottic opening. ⋯ A malleable bougie with an imbedded internal wire was created to enable intubators to shape the curve to best fit a difficult airway. This pilot study examined the malleable bougie compared to the SunMed bougie in a simulated difficult airway intubation using video laryngoscopy.