Background: The increased application of eServices in health care, in general, and ePrescribing (electronic prescribing) in particular, have brought quality and interoperability to the forefront. The application of standards has been put forward as one important factor in improving interoperability. However, less focus has been placed on other factors, such as stakeholders’ involvement and the measurement of interoperability. An information system (IS) can be regarded to comprise an...

Background: Health care service based on telemedicine can reduce both physical and time barriers in stroke treatments. Moreover, this service connects centers specializing in stroke treatment with other centers and practitioners, thereby increasing accessibility to neurological specialist care and fibrinolytic treatment. Objective: Development, implementation, and evaluation of a care service for the treatment of acute stroke patients based on telemedicine (TeleStroke) at Virgen del...

Background: Until recently, laboratory automation has focused primarily on improving hardware. Future advances are concentrated on intelligent software since laboratories performing clinical diagnostic testing require improved information systems to address their data processing needs. In this paper, we propose DB4US, an application that automates information related to laboratory quality indicators information. Currently, there is a lack of ready-to-use management quality measures. This...

Background: Despite mandates and incentives for electronic health record (EHR) adoption, little is known about factors predicting physicians’ satisfaction following EHR implementation. Objective: To measure predictors of physician satisfaction following EHR adoption. Methods: A total of 163 physicians completed a mailed survey before and after EHR implementation through a statewide pilot project in Massachusetts. Multivariable logistic regression identified predictors of physician...

Background: Availability of information in hospitals is an important prerequisite for good service. Significant resources have been invested to improve the availability of information, but it is also vital that the security of this information can be guaranteed. Objective: The goal of this study was to assess information security in hospitals through a questionnaire based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)...

Background: Patient registries are often a helpful first step in estimating the impact and understanding the etiology of rare diseases - both requisites for the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics. The value and utility of patient registries rely on the use of both well-constructed structured research questions and relevant answer sets accompanying them. There are currently no clear standards or specifications for developing registry questions, and there are no banks of existing...

Background: Diabetes, a metabolic disorder, has reached epidemic proportions in developed countries. The disease has two main forms: type 1 and type 2. Disease management entails administration of insulin in combination with careful blood glucose monitoring (type 1) or involves the adjustment of diet and exercise level, the use of oral anti-diabetic drugs, and insulin administration to control blood sugar (type 2). Objective: State-of-the-art technologies have the potential to assist...

Background: Persons with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) frequently search online for information about causes and treatment options. The GerdQ self-assessment questionnaire can be used for diagnosis of GERD and follow-up of symptoms. Objectives: To assess whether it is feasible (1) to study the prevalence and impact of GERD in persons visiting a GERD information website, and (2) to identify partial responsiveness to proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy using the GerdQ. Methods: All...

Background: Communication and collaboration failures can have negative impacts on the efficiency of both individual clinicians and health care system delivery as well as on the quality of patient care. Recognizing the problems associated with clinical and collaboration communication, health care professionals and organizations alike have begun to look at alternative communication technologies to address some of these inefficiencies and to improve interprofessional collaboration. Objective: To...

Background: Clostridium difficile (C-Diff) infection following colorectal resection is an increasing source of morbidity and mortality. Objective: We sought to determine if machine-learned Bayesian belief networks (ml-BBNs) could preoperatively provide clinicians with postoperative estimates of C-Diff risk. Methods: We performed a retrospective modeling of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) national registry dataset with independent set validation. The NIS registries for 2005 and 2006 were...

Background: In emergency department resuscitation units, writing down information related to interventions, physical examination, vital signs, investigations, and treatments ordered is a crucial task carried out by nurses. To facilitate this task, a team composed of emergency physicians, nurses, and one computer engineer created a novel electronic platform equipped with a tactile screen that allows systematic collection of critical data. This electronic platform also has medical software...

Background: Physician office practices are increasingly adopting electronic medical records (EMRs). Therefore, the impact of such systems needs to be evaluated to ensure they are helping practices to realize expected benefits. In addition to experimental and observational studies examining objective impacts, the user’s subjective view needs to be understood, since ultimate acceptance and use of the system depends on them. Surveys are commonly used to elicit these views. Objective: To...

Background: Point-of-care (POC) products are widely used as information reference tools in the clinical setting. Although usability, scope of coverage, ability to answer clinical questions, and impact on health outcomes have been studied, no comparative analysis of the characteristics of the references, the evidence for the content, in POC products is available. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the type of evidence behind five POC clinical information products. Methods:...