Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Challenges in data quality assurance for electronic health records.
Data quality is an integral part of EHR systems. Quality assurance for these systems not only identifies the current defects in the data but also aims for minimizing the risk of their future occurrence. ⋯ Although those methods were successful in small scale research studies, their application to large scale day-to-day flow of information in EHR systems involves many challenges. In this paper, we highlighted those challenges for each method and each dimension and proposed a framework for using existing technologies to address those challenges.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
An automated information system for families of patients in the operation room based on EMR data.
When children undergo surgery, the parents waiting for them outside the room feel extreme anxiety. SNUH was a full EMR hospital. But nurses had to manually operate an electronic display board which provided information regarding the progresses of the operations. ⋯ Therefore, we were about to improve the system to provide efficient information satisfying both parents and nurses. This service, which connected to the EMR system to provide real time location of patients undergoing operations, provide information through an electronic display board outside the operating room and SMS messages. We could reduce uneasiness of patients' families, increase satisfactions, and further, not only contribute to establishing the improved service of SNUH but also lessening unnecessary duties of nurses.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Knowledge representation and management enabling intelligent interoperability - principles and standards.
Based on the paradigm changes for health, health services and underlying technologies as well as the need for at best comprehensive and increasingly automated interoperability, the paper addresses the challenge of knowledge representation and management for medical decision support. After introducing related definitions, a system-theoretical, architecture-centric approach to decision support systems (DSSs) and appropriate ways for representing them using systems of ontologies is given. Finally, existing and emerging knowledge representation and management standards are presented. The paper focuses on the knowledge representation and management part of DSSs, excluding the reasoning part from consideration.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2013
Impact of Thailand universal coverage scheme on the country's health information systems and health information technology.
Thailand achieved universal healthcare coverage with the implementation of the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) in 2001. This study employed qualitative method to explore the impact of the UCS on the country's health information systems (HIS) and health information technology (HIT) development. The results show that health insurance beneficiary registration system helps improve providers' service workflow and country vital statistics. ⋯ The financial incentive of outpatient data quality improvement project enhance providers' HIS and HIT investment and also induce data fraudulence tendency. Implementation of UCS has largely brought favorable impact on the country HIS and HIT development. However, the unfavorable effects are also evident.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2012
Analysis of body growth parameters in girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: single thoracic idiopathic scoliosis versus single lumbar idiopathic scoliosis.
Abnormal pattern of growth has been reported in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients. However, the sequential changes of growth in different curve types of AIS have not been properly studied. The present study aimed to investigate the body growth characteristics of girls with single thoracic idiopathic scoliosis and lumbar idiopathic scoliosis in China. 339 AIS girls and 3914 healthy girls, aged 10~17yr, were included. ⋯ The standing and sitting height between thoracic and lumbar AIS girls were similar during the pubertal period. Compared to healthy girls at the same age, thoracic and lumbar AIS girls had a significantly higher corrected standing, sitting height and leg length. In addition, thoracic AIS girls are leaner than healthy girls.