Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial3D CPR Game Can Improve CPR Skill Retention.
Adequate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skill is essential in improving survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). However, the skill deteriorates rapidly following CPR training. We developed a computer game by using 3-Dimensional virtual technology (3-D CPR game) for laypersons in the purpose to improve skill retention. ⋯ The usability of the game was also tested using a 33 item questionnaire rated with 5-point Likert scale. Three months after the initial CPR training, the retention rate of CPR skill in the game group was significantly higher compared with the control (p<0.05) and the average score on 4 dimensions of usability were 3.99-4.05. Overall, using 3-D CPR game in improving CPR skill retention is feasible and effective.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
Health Care Decision Support System for the Pediatric Emeregency Department Management.
Health organization management is facing a high amount of complexity due to the inherent dynamics of the processes and the distributed organization of hospitals. It is therefore necessary for health care institutions to focus on this issue in order to deal with patients' requirements and satisfy their needs. The main objective of this study is to develop and implement a Decision Support System which can help physicians to better manage their organization, to anticipate the overcrowding feature, and to establish avoidance proposals for it. ⋯ These entities which can be either physical agents representing real actors in the health care institution or software agents allowing the implementation of optimizing tools, cooperate to satisfy the demands of patients while respecting emergency degrees. This paper is concerned with agents' negotiation. It proposes a new approach for multi-skill tasks scheduling based on interactions between agents.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
Clinical Decision Support Based on Integrated Patient Models: A Vision.
Clinical decision making is non-trivial given the amounts of data and knowledge that needs to be considered. So far, medical knowledge, biological knowledge and patient data are separated from each other and need to be integrated mentally by a physician to form an overarching patient model. In this paper, we describe a vision for future decision support systems that link knowledge about organ functions, biological processes, treatment decisions and clinical data represented in repsective models. Requirements and challenges for realizing this vision will be collected.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
ECHO Ontario Chronic Pain & Opioid Stewardship: Providing Access and Building Capacity for Primary Care Providers in Underserviced, Rural, and Remote Communities.
Chronic pain is a prevalent and serious problem in the province of Ontario. Frontline primary care providers (PCPs) manage the majority of chronic pain patients, yet receive minimal training in chronic pain. ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Ontario Chronic Pain & Opioid Stewardship aims to address the problem of chronic pain management in Ontario. ⋯ We discuss how ECHO increases PCP access and capacity to manage chronic pain, the development of a community of practice, as well as the limitations of our approach. The ECHO model is a promising approach for healthcare system improvement. ECHO's strength lies in its simplicity, adaptability, and use of existing telemedicine infrastructure to increase both access and capacity of PCPs in underserviced, rural, and remote communities.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2015
The Prognostic Scale CRASH in the Treatment of Children with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.
The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness and validity of prognostic scale CRASH which is calculated using on-line resources and which may serve as a decision support for physicians in treating severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children. This retrospective study was conducted using clinical and physiological data of 168 hospitalized pediatric patients with severe traumatic brain injury (GCS score less than or equal to 8). CRASH scale was used for calculating the severity of patients' state and for prognosing death outcomes at 14 days and at 6 months using the on-line resource. ⋯ The study has also shown that the scale has a satisfactory calibration ability in the option of 14 days with CT (χ2 equal 8.7 and p-value equal to 0.368). Calibration ability for other options was unsatisfactory. Thus, CRASH scale with CT scan has turned to be useful for assessing death outcomes at 14 days in children with severe TBI.