Health informatics journal
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In this article we examine how one of the most pervasive technological implementations in the healthcare domain--the alarm system--is used in anaesthesiology as part of patient monitoring. The utility and appropriateness of alarms in healthcare domains have been widely addressed in the literature. ⋯ They have mainly considered how medical professionals manage the interpretation of and response to alarms. Rather than examining how the anaesthesiologist identifies and responds to alarms and critical problems, in this article we focus on how the anaesthesiologist is actively and prospectively engaged in implementing a situated and emergent organization of patient monitoring, using a wide range of different technological and material resources.
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Health Informatics J · Dec 2006
Computer-based decision support for pediatric asthma management: description and feasibility of the Stop Asthma Clinical System.
Clinical guidelines can assist in the management of asthma. Decision support systems (DSSs) can enhance adherence to clinical guidelines but tend not to provide clinicians with cues for behavioral change strategies to promote patient self-management. The Stop Asthma Clinical System (SACS) is a DSS designed for this purpose. ⋯ Clinician-patient communication was enhanced. The primary challenge was that SACS increased clinic visit time. SACS can enhance clinician behavior to improve patient asthma self-management, but more studies are indicated to mitigate temporal constraints and evaluate impact on clinician and patient communication and behavior as well as clinical outcomes.
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This paper presents findings from a study of information seeking behaviour by National Health Service patients which explored motivational triggers for infor- mation needs. Previous research has highlighted the importance of contextual elements in users' changing information needs. ⋯ The study has revealed that having confidence in health practitioners is one key motiva- tion for information seeking. Another is a desire to use health service resources judiciously, efficiently and effectively.