Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Quality assessment of medical education and use of information technology.
Extensive and fast advancements in biomedical sciences created a significant delay in receiving relevant and updated information in medical practice - physicians use old techniques and treat patients incorrectly. Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Bologna Declaration on 18 September 2003, and in the light of this new approach to university education, and the process of joining The European Union, the authors set the following aims: to determine the current level of knowledge among medical students at the Medical Faculty of the University of Sarajevo, to determine the level of knowledge among medical students before their enrolment at the faculty, and to find out students opinion on their needs for further education. ⋯ Professional papers are rarely used. At present, the availability of learning material is insufficient at the faculty library.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
Needle bending in a VR-puncture training system using a 6DOF haptic device.
The use of virtual reality techniques opens up new perspectives to support and improve the puncture training in medical education. In this work a 3D VR-Simulator for the training of lumbar and ascites punctures has been extended to support the bending of the puncture needle. For this purpose the needle is designed as an angular spring model. ⋯ Proxy based haptic volume rendering is used to calculate the proxy movement. This way it is possible to integrate original CT-patient data into the rendering process and generate forces from structures that have not been segmented. The bending technique has been integrated in a VR-training system for puncture interventions and shows good results concerning update rate and user acceptance.
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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 pilot study exploring the clinical benefits when using a Mobile Clinical Assistant, the Motion C5 in medical wards.
Hand held computers and point of care devices have been identified as tools that can support more efficient safe care delivery. This paper describes a pilot which evaluates this technology for usage by the nursing and the wider clinical team. ⋯ The findings were reviewed qualitatively, and thematically analysed. The pilot highlighted significant benefits, the support of the delivery safer more effective care to patients in NHS Lothian.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2009
The electronic health record in Austria: physicians' acceptance is influenced by negative emotions.
Negative emotions like anxiety and fear due to a lack of information may cause change barriers and drag physicians' acceptance of the national electronic health record (ELGA) in Austria. Qualitative, problem-centric interviews were conducted with eight physicians. ⋯ They fear unknown changes, increased costs, workload and surveillance without having advantages from using electronic health records in their daily practice. Impartial information campaigns, tailored to the physicians' needs and questions as well as comprehensive cost-benefit analysis could benefit the physicians' opinion of ELGA.