Studies in health technology and informatics
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2018
Security and Other Ethical Concerns of Instant Messaging in Healthcare.
There is a growing body of evidence highlighting the benefits of mobile health in terms of cost effectiveness, efficiency and patient satisfaction. These benefits have been further enhanced through the development of Instant Messaging (IM) applications (apps) that enable the transmission of images and text messages. The aim of this paper is to review the use of IM in clinical services, and to understand the medico legal concerns with regard to the security and management of protected health information on doctors' phones.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2018
Pending Laboratory Test Results at the Time of Discharge: A 3-Year Retrospective Comparison of Paper Versus Electronic Test Ordering in Three Emergency Departments.
Pending laboratory test results at discharge can have major adverse health outcomes. The availability of test results at discharge may depend on whether the tests were ordered electronically or by using a paper-based system. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of pending test results at time of discharge from Emergency Departments (ED), and compare the rate for paper-based and electronic orders across three EDs in New South Wales, Australia. ⋯ Similar differences were observed when analysis was done by year of ED presentation. Moreover, in a subgroup analysis that included the top five high volume tests, four of the five tests had significantly lower rates of pending test results for electronic orders than for paper-based orders. The study highlighted an important benefit of ordering tests via electronic system which can potentially improve patient outcomes.
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While it is widely accepted that whole of hospital solutions are necessary to reduce the ever-increasing burden on the public health system, little research has focussed on understanding the relationship between ambulance arrival related flow metrics and emergency department (ED) crowding. Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) shares patient load across multiple hospitals, and receiving facilities strive to meet a Patient Off Stretcher Time (POST) target of 30 minutes. ⋯ No relationship between POST and ED length of stay was found, perhaps due to competing ED National Emergency Access Targets (NEAT). Further modelling is recommended to formally test these observations.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2018
Telehealth: A Game Changer - Closing the Gap in Remote Indigenous Health in Three Remote Homeland Communities in the Laynhapuy Homelands, East Arnhem, Northern Australia.
Benefits of telehealth have been demonstrated both internationally and through local assessments. Early diagnosis and treatment, reduced costs associated with patient travel, minimized time spent away from community and providing improved patient and staff satisfaction are key drivers for using telehealth. Uptake of telehealth in the NT has been limited, for a variety of reasons including inadequate broadband access. ⋯ Early identification and decision making of malignancies can facilitate earlier intervention with better prognosis for the patient. Through collaboration, this program has demonstrated the value of uncontended and unlimited internet access in implementing telehealth. The question was: Is high quality internet required to improve service delivery? The service recognises the value and now relies heavily on this service and is committed to improving connectivity and implementing telehealth in more of their communities.
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Stud Health Technol Inform · Jan 2018
Learning Healthcare Systems in Pediatrics: Cross-Institutional and Data-Driven Decision-Support for Intensive Care Environments (CADDIE).
The vast amount of data generated in healthcare can be reused to support decision-making by developing clinical decision-support systems. Since evidence is lacking in Pediatrics, it seems to be beneficial to design future systems towards the vision of generating evidence through cross-institutional data analysis and continuous learning cycles. ⋯ Our approach has great potential to establish our vision of learning systems, which support decision-making in PICU by analyzing cross-institutional data and giving insights back to both, their own knowledge base and clinical care, to continuously learn about practices and evidence in Pediatrics.