bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Beyond Effectiveness: A Pragmatic Evaluation Framework for Learning and Continuous Quality Improvement of e-Learning Interventions in Healthcare
Authors: Dafalla Tarig Dafalla Mohamed  , Kushniruk Andre W.  , Borycki Elizabeth M.
Published: February 2025

A pragmatic evaluation framework for evaluating the usability and usefulness of an e-learning intervention for a patient clinical information scheduling system is presented in this paper. The framework was conceptualized based on two different but related concepts (usability and usefulness) and selection of appropriate and valid methods of data collection and analysis that included: (1) Low-Cost Rapid Usability Engineering (LCRUE), (2) Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA), (3) Heuristic Evaluation (HE) criteria for web-based learning, and (4) Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI). The results of the analysis showed some areas where usability that were related to General Interface Usability (GIU), instructional design and content was problematic; some of which might account for the poorly rated aspects of usability when subjectively measured. This paper shows that using a pragmatic framework can be a useful way, not only for measuring the usability and usefulness, but also for providing a practical objective evidences for learning and continuous quality improvement of e-learning systems. The findings should be of interest to educators, developers, designers, researchers, and usability practitioners involved in the development of e-learning systems in healthcare. This framework could be an appropriate method for assessing the usability, usefulness and safety of health information systems both in the laboratory and in the clinical context.
The Evaluation of Electronic Perioperative Nursing Documentation Using a Cognitive Walkthrough Approach
Authors: Usselman Erin  , Borycki Elizabeth M.  , Kushniruk Andre W.
Published: February 2025

Health Information System (HIS) implementations are on the rise in North America as the result of increased investment by governments. According to the evidence, systems not only have the potential to introduce error, but poorly designed user interfaces can result in systems that are not usable and possibly unsafe. Therefore, the need to evaluate HIS during the early phases of the system development lifecycle is becoming increasingly important. Researchers have begun to propose usability engineering methods that can be applied to help evaluate systems during design and development using an iterative evaluation process. A cognitive walkthrough was used to evaluate an Operating Room Management Information Systems' (ORMIS) electronic perioperative documentation. The resulting usability problems are discussed along with recommendations for improvement in this paper.
What is Missing from this Picture? Empowering the Health Consumer
Authors: Gabel Gail
Published: February 2025

As patients, we are told that we own all of our personal medical information, but we do not necessarily have it, control it or have immediate access to it. It is not portable enough to be carried in a pocket or purse or to take it with us when we travel. It is not readily accessible when we move to a new town, need to visit a new medical practitioner and are required to fill out yet another paper “Intake Form” when we hope to remember all of the answers to the questions but likely don't! Moreover, we do not want the government being a “Big Brother” controlling our personal medical information, storing it on the “Cloud” and ultimately transferring its management to a U.S. based Company as has happened with other personal medical related services. It is time we, as owners and prospective patients, are not only empowered, but trusted to manage and be responsible for storing our own health records.
The Importance of Telehealth for Directors and Other Decision Makers
Authors: Adriano Moran Juan J.  , Roudsari Abdul
Published: February 2025

Innovation in healthcare services and clinical service redesign is a must because currently gaps exist between the care that people should receive for disease management and the actual care they receive. Directors and other decision makers should be aware of key challenges in the design, implementation and deployment of telehealth. In this paper, we discuss how telehealth enable chronic disease management, population health management and patient engagement, and what are the biggest challenges with getting value out of telehealth.
Know Me – A Journey In Creating A Personal Electronic Health Record
Authors: Buckley Amanda  , Fox Suzanne
Published: February 2025

KnowMe is a patient created personal story of key life events both medical and non-medical that enables clinicians to understand what matters to the patient, not what's the matter with them. By shifting the Electronic Health Record (EHR) focus to knowing when a patient was at their best, what's important to them, their personal health goals, and care preferences, clinicians and patients can collaboratively work together in creating a treatment plan that aligns resources tailored to the their needs.
Application of Genetic Algorithms to Context-Sensitive Text Mining
Authors: Huk Maciej  , Mizera-Pietraszko Jolanta
Published: February 2025

Contextual queries constitute a great challenge for information retrieval – the most approved techniques include scanning content of HTML web pages, user supported metadata analysis, automatic inference grounded on knowledge base, or content-oriented digital documents analysis. We propose a meta-heuristic by making use of Genetic Algorithms for Contextual Search (GACS) built on genetic programming (GP) to optimize contextual queries in exact search that represents unstructured phrases generated by the user. Our findings show that the queries built with GACS optimize the retrieval process significantly.
Group Sender-based Message Logging Protocol for Conquering Simultaneous Failures
Authors: Ahn Jinho
Published: February 2025

Sender-based message logging (SBML) is one of the most lightweight fault-tolerance techniques to considerably lower high failure-free overhead of receiver-based message logging by using volatile memory of its sender as storage for logging. However, all of the existing SBML protocols have the limitation that they can tolerate only a single failure at one time, called sequential failures. So, if more than one process crashes concurrently, they may not make the entire system consistent. Assuming reliable FIFO point-to-point communication links, all the existing SBML protocols may not effectively employ log information of the same message to a group its members received on being applied into group communication link-based distributed system platforms. This paper presents a new SBML protocol to tolerate concurrent failures by using the inherently beneficial features of FIFO broadcast links effectively. The protocol can lift the inherent drawback of the original SBML by replicating the log information of each message sent to a group into the volatile storages of its members. Therefore, even if only one process in a group survives at a time, our protocol can progress the execution of the entire system without stopping and restarting it.
Telehealth Application in Occupational Health
Authors: Morrison Janet G.
Published: February 2025

While occupational health is a significant driver of population health, productivity, and well-being in Canadian society, most workers do not currently have adequate access to qualified occupational health services. A case study is used to demonstrate the utility of a telehealth approach to service delivery.
Improving Access to Cardiac Rehabilitation Using the Internet: A Randomized Trial
Authors: Lear Scott A.  , Singer Joel  , Banner-Lukaris Davina  , Horvat Dan  , Park Julie E.  , Bates Joanna  , Ignaszewski Andrew
Published: February 2025

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is essential for secondary prevention, yet only 10%-30% of eligible patients attend as geographical proximity is a major barrier. We evaluated a ‘virtual’ CR program (vCRP) delivered by the Internet to patients in small urban and rural areas. In our study, in-patients (n=78) with acute coronary syndrome or post-revascularization were randomized to usual care (UC) or vCRP. The vCRP was a four-month program that included heart rate monitoring; physiologic data capture; education sessions; ask-an-expert sessions; and chat sessions with a nurse, exercise specialist and dietitian. Participants were assessed at baseline and four months, and followed for another 12 months. The primary outcome was change in maximal time on the treadmill stress test (MTT) between groups adjusted for age, sex, diabetes status and Internet use for health information. The vCRP resulted in a greater increase in MTT by 45.7 seconds (95% CI: 1.0, 90.5) compared to usual care (p=0.045). Cholesterol levels and dietary quality improved in the vCRP compared to the UC group. Participants perceived the vCRP to be an accessible, convenient and effective way to received healthcare. Eleven (30%) and 6 (18%) participants in the UC and vCRP groups, respectively, had cardiovascular-related events (p=0.275). In conclusion, the vCRP was safe and effective and resulted in sustainable risk reduction without the requirement of face-to-face visits and directly monitored exercise.
Expertizer: A Tool to Assess the Expert Level of Online Health Websites
Authors: Zowalla Richard  , Wiesner Martin  , Pfeifer Daniel
Published: February 2025

Health-related Web sites have become a primary resource to search for information on diseases, diagnoses or treatment options. Various Web sites offer a great variety of such information. However, lay people might have difficulties to assess whether a certain article or Web site fits their individual level of understandability. Hence, they might get overwhelmed with the delivered complexity of medical information. In this paper, we present a Web browser plugin, Expertizer that supports users in order to easily assess the expert level of textual medical Web content. The plugin communicates with a Web service, which leverages pre-computed classification models based on a Support Vector Machine.
Can eHealth Reduce Medical Expenditures of Chronic Diseases?
Authors: Tsuji Masatsugu  , Taher Sheikh Abu  , Kinai Yusuke
Published: February 2025

The objective of this research is to evaluate empirically the effectiveness of eHealth in Nishi-aizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture, based on a mail survey to the residents and their receipt data of National Health Insurance from November 2006 to February 2007. The residents were divided into two groups, users and non-users, and sent questionnaires to ask their characteristics or usage of the system. Their medical expenditures paid by National Health Insurance for five years from 2002 to 2006 are examined. The effects were analyzed by comparison of medical expenditures between users and non-users. The interests are focused on four chronic diseases namely heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, and strokes. A regression analysis is employed to estimate the effect of eHealth to users who have these diseases and then calculate the monetary effect of eHealth on reduction of medical expenditures. The results are expected to be valid for establishment of evidence-based policy such as reimbursement from medical insurance to eHealth.
A System Dynamics Approach to Analyze Laboratory Test Errors
Authors: Guo Shijing  , Roudsari Abdul  , Garcez Artur d'Avila
Published: February 2025

Although many researches have been carried out to analyze laboratory test errors during the last decade, it still lacks a systemic view of study, especially to trace errors during test process and evaluate potential interventions. This study implements system dynamics modeling into laboratory errors to trace the laboratory error flows and to simulate the system behaviors while changing internal variable values. The change of the variables may reflect a change in demand or a proposed intervention. A review of literature on laboratory test errors was given and provided as the main data source for the system dynamics model. Three “what if” scenarios were selected for testing the model. System behaviors were observed and compared under different scenarios over a period of time. The results suggest system dynamics modeling has potential effectiveness of helping to understand laboratory errors, observe model behaviours, and provide a risk-free simulation experiments for possible strategies.
Engaging in large-scale digital health technologies and services. What factors hinder recruitment?
Authors: O'Connor Siobhan  , Mair Frances S.  , McGee-Lennon Marilyn  , Bouamrane Matt-Mouley  , O'Donnell Kate
Published: February 2025

Implementing consumer oriented digital health products and services at scale is challenging and a range of barriers to reaching and recruiting users to these types of solutions can be encountered. This paper describes the experience of implementers with the rollout of the Delivering Assisted Living Lifestyles at Scale (dallas) programme. The findings are based on qualitative analysis of baseline and midpoint interviews and project documentation. Eight main themes emerged as key factors which hindered participation. These include how the dallas programme was designed and operationalised, constraints imposed by partnerships, technology, branding, and recruitment strategies, as well as challenges with the development cycle and organisational culture.
Electronic Whiteboards: Review of the Literature
Authors: Randell Rebecca  , Greenhalgh Joanne  , Wyatt Jeremy  , Gardner Peter  , Pearman Alan  , Honey Stephanie  , Dowding Dawn
Published: February 2025

Electronic whiteboards are being introduced into hospitals to communicate real-time patient information instantly to staff. This paper provides a preliminary review of the current state of evidence for the effect of electronic whiteboards on care processes and patient outcomes. A literature search was performed for the dates 1996 to 2014 on MEDLINE, EMBASE, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, and the ACM Digital Library. Thirteen papers, describing 11 studies, meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. The majority of studies took place in the Emergency Department. While studies looked at the impact of electronic whiteboards on the process of care, there is an absence of evidence concerning impact on patient outcomes. There is a need for robust research measuring the impact of electronic whiteboards on inpatient care.
A Multi-Method Pilot Evaluation of An Online Diabetes Exercise System
Authors: Schaarup Clara  , Hejlesen Ole K.
Published: February 2025

The American Diabetes Association and The European Association of The Study of Diabetes recommend people with Type 2 diabetes to do moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise for 150 min per week to avoid late diabetic complications. However, most people with diabetes do not follow the recommendation. Consumer health information technology (CHIT) might play a role in supporting behavior changes that promote health and well-being. A CHIT prototype of an online diabetes exercise system, which contained the newest research of low volume high-intensity interval training (HIT), was developed. To test the system we used a multi-method pilot evaluation that includes; interviews, paper prototyping, heuristic evaluation, and test with patients. The patients expressed satisfaction with HIT and appreciated that the system was web-based. The findings from this pilot study inspire to further development and evaluation of online CHIT systems to diabetics.
Blinded Anonymization: a method for evaluating cancer prevention programs under restrictive data protection regulations
Authors: Bartholomäus Sebastian  , Hense Hans Werner  , Heidinger Oliver
Published: February 2025

Evaluating cancer prevention programs requires collecting and linking data on a case specific level from multiple sources of the healthcare system. Therefore, one has to comply with data protection regulations which are restrictive in Germany and will likely become stricter in Europe in general. To facilitate the mortality evaluation of the German mammography screening program, with more than 10 Million eligible women, we developed a method that does not require written individual consent and is compliant to existing privacy regulations. Our setup is composed of different data owners, a data collection center (DCC) and an evaluation center (EC). Each data owner uses a dedicated software that preprocesses plain-text personal identifiers (IDAT) and plaintext evaluation data (EDAT) in such a way that only irreversibly encrypted record assignment numbers (RAN) and pre-aggregated, reversibly encrypted EDAT are transmitted to the DCC. The DCC uses the RANs to perform a probabilistic record linkage which is based on an established and evaluated algorithm. For potentially identifying attributes within the EDAT (‘quasi-identifiers’), we developed a novel process, named ‘blinded anonymization’. It allows selecting a specific generalization from the pre-processed and encrypted attribute aggregations, to create a new data set with assured k-anonymity, without using any plain-text information. The anonymized data is transferred to the EC where the EDAT is decrypted and used for evaluation. Our concept was approved by German data protection authorities. We implemented a prototype and tested it with more than 1.5 Million simulated records, containing realistically distributed IDAT. The core processes worked well with regard to performance parameters. We created different generalizations and calculated the respective suppression rates. We discuss modalities, implications and limitations for large data sets in the cancer registry domain, as well as approaches for further improvements like l-diversity and automatic computation of ‘optimal’ generalizations.
Participatory design for drug-drug interaction alerts
Authors: Luna Daniel  , Otero Carlos  , Almerares Alfredo  , Stanziola Enrique  , Risk Marcelo  , González Bernaldo de Quirós Fernán
Published: February 2025

The utilization of decision support systems, in the point of care, to alert drug-drug interactions has been shown to improve quality of care. Still, the use of these systems has not been as expected, it is believed, because of the difficulties in their knowledge databases; errors in the generation of the alerts and the lack of a suitable design. This study expands on the development of alerts using participatory design techniques based on user centered design process. This work was undertaken in three stages (inquiry, participatory design and usability testing) it showed that the use of these techniques improves satisfaction, effectiveness and efficiency in an alert system for drug-drug interactions, a fact that was evident in specific situations such as the decrease of errors to meet the specified task, the time, the workload optimization and users overall satisfaction in the system.
Tablet Technology for Rehabilitation after Spinal Cord Injury: a Proof-of-Concept
Authors: Fizzotti Gabriella  , Rognoni Carla  , Imarisio Arianna  , Meneghini Alessandro  , Pistarini Caterina  , Quaglini Silvana
Published: February 2025

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a damage to the spinal cord resulting in a change, either temporary or permanent, in motor, sensory, or autonomic functions. Patients with SCI usually have permanent and often devastating neurologic deficits and disability. Trunk motor control is crucial for postural stability and propulsion after low thoracic SCI and several rehabilitative strategies are aimed at trunk stability and control. Tablet technology and gaming systems are novel and potentially useful strategies that apply relevant concepts in rehabilitation for these patients. In this study we combined the traditional training of trunk control with exercises administered through two iPad games apps, 2 or 3 times a week. All the participant patients showed increasing game scores during the treatment, as well as increasing Trunk Recovery Scale scores, showing a significant improvement in trunk control. Also the personal judgment of the patients, collected through evaluation questionnaires, was very positive.
Evaluation of Internet Social Networks using Net scoring Tool: A Case Study in Adverse Drug Reaction Mining
Authors: Katsahian Sandrine  , Simond Moreau Erica  , Leprovost Damien  , Lardon Jeremy  , Bousquet Cedric  , Kerdelhué Gaétan  , Abdellaoui Redhouane  , Texier Nathalie  , Burgun Anita  , Boussadi Abdelali  , Faviez Carole
Published: February 2025

Background and objectives: Suspected adverse drug reactions (ADR) reported by patients through social media can be a complementary tool to already existing ADRs signal detection processes. However, several studies have shown that the quality of medical information published online varies drastically whatever the health topic addressed. The aim of this study is to use an existing rating tool on a set of social network web sites in order to assess the capabilities of these tools to guide experts for selecting the most adapted social network web site to mine ADRs.
Clinical simulation of aortic valve: a narrative review
Authors: Miandehi E. Ebrahimi  , Aazami M.H.  , Niazmand H.  , Mesri Y.  , Deyranlou A.  , Eslami S.
Published: February 2025

Introduction: About 30 percent of the worldwide death is due to cardiovascular diseases. Clinical simulation is a promising filed that can help to understand diseases, their nature and intervention's effects. The simulated models are flexible and make it easy to study the changes' effects and help to select the appropriate interventions. This narrative review aims to report common methods for the clinical simulation and its merits focusing on the cardiovascular field especially those pertaining to the aortic valve.
Experiences as input to eHealth design – a hip surgery patient journey case
Authors: Hägglund Maria  , Bolin Peter  , Koch Sabine
Published: February 2025

The objective of the study is to describe the planned hip-surgery care process as experienced by patients and healthcare professionals, as well as a qualitative analysis of problems. Data was collected through 3 focus group meetings with patients and healthcare professionals. We present the results in form of a patient journey model, examples of problems as expressed by patients and examples of proposed eHealth services by both patients and care professionals. The results indicate that although the patient journey is similar for most patients, their experiences are highly individual and designing eHealth to improve the patient journey will require flexibility and adaptability to the individual's needs.
Content Based Image Retrieval Using Local Binary Pattern Operator and Data Mining Techniques
Authors: Vatamanu Oana Astrid  , Frandeş Mirela  , Lungeanu Diana  , Mihalaş Gheorghe-Ioan
Published: February 2025

Content based image retrieval (CBIR) concerns the retrieval of similar images from image databases, using feature vectors extracted from images. These feature vectors globally define the visual content present in an image, defined by e.g., texture, colour, shape, and spatial relations between vectors. Herein, we propose the definition of feature vectors using the Local Binary Pattern (LBP) operator. A study was performed in order to determine the optimum LBP variant for the general definition of image feature vectors. The chosen LBP variant is then subsequently used to build an ultrasound image database, and a database with images obtained from Wireless Capsule Endoscopy. The image indexing process is optimized using data clustering techniques for images belonging to the same class. Finally, the proposed indexing method is compared to the classical indexing technique, which is nowadays widely used.
A Mobile Platform for Emergency Care
Authors: Losiouk Eleonora  , Quaglini Silvana  , Pesenti Campagnoni Massimo  , Lanzola Giordano
Published: February 2025

The paper describes the adaptation of a mobile platform initially developed for designing and administering questionnaires to a new context supporting checklists in emergency care. We took part in the checklists formalization process together with the domain experts and recognized that some tasks would highly benefit from the inherent features offered by the mobile technology. Thus we exploited the robustness of the model already designed for navigating among questionnaires and implemented additional functionalities that improved the usability of the mobile application, making it suitable for the paramedic staff and the volunteers that manage emergency cases.
Heart rate prediction for coronary artery disease patients (CAD): Results of a clinical pilot study
Authors: Müller-von Aschwege Frerk  , Workowski Anke  , Willemsen Detlev  , Müller Sebastian M.  , Hein Andreas
Published: February 2025

This paper describes the results of a pilot study with cardiac patients based on information that can be derived from a smartphone. The idea behind the study is to design a model for estimating the heart rate of a patient before an outdoor walking session for track planning, as well as using the model for guidance during an outdoor session. The model allows estimation of the heart rate several minutes in advance to guide the patient and avoid overstrain before its occurrence. This paper describes the first results of the clinical pilot study with cardiac patients taking β-blockers. 9 patients have been tested on a treadmill and during three outdoor sessions each. The results have been derived and three levels of improvement have been tested by cross validation. The overall result is an average Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) of 4.26 BPM between measured heart rate and smartphone sensor based model estimation.
Developing a mobile application for recording learning experiences in nursing practice
Authors: Becker Marcus B.  , Behrends Marianne  , Barthel Christoph  , Kupka Thomas  , Schmeer Regina  , Meyenburg-Altwarg Iris  , Marschollek Michael
Published: February 2025

Objective: In complex clinical on-the-job training a seamless and target-oriented incorporation is crucial to assure a good medical care. The reliable transmission of specific and relevant facts, besides education knowledge, is a key factor to ensure sustainable quality in care processes.
Specializing Architectures for the Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Care Use Cases with a Focus on Process Management
Authors: Uribe Gustavo A.  , Blobel Bernd  , López Diego M.  , Ruiz Alonso A.
Published: February 2025

The development of software supporting inter-disciplinary systems like the type 2 diabetes mellitus care requires the deployment of methodologies designed for this type of interoperability. The GCM framework allows the architectural description of such systems and the development of software solutions based on it. A first step of the GCM methodology is the definition of a generic architecture, followed by its specialization for specific use cases. This paper describes the specialization of the generic architecture of a system, supporting Type 2 diabetes mellitus glycemic control, for a pharmacotherapy use case. It focuses on the behavioral aspect of the system, i.e. the policy domain and the definition of the rules governing the system. The design of this architecture reflects the inter-disciplinary feature of the methodology. Finally, the resulting architecture allows building adaptive, intelligent and complete systems.
Impedance Matching Wireless Power Transmission System for Biomedical Devices
Authors: Lum Kin Yun  , Lindén Maria  , Tan Tian Swee
Published: February 2025

For medical application, the efficiency and transmission distance of the wireless power transfer (WPT) are always the main concern. Research has been showing that the impedance matching is one of the critical factors for dealing with the problem. However, there is not much work performed taking both the source and load sides into consideration. Both sides matching is crucial in achieving an optimum overall performance, and the present work proposes a circuit model analysis for design and implementation. The proposed technique was validated against experiment and software simulation. Result was showing an improvement in transmission distance up to 6 times, and efficiency at this transmission distance had been improved up to 7 times as compared to the impedance mismatch system. The system had demonstrated a near-constant transfer efficiency for an operating range of 2cm–12cm.
A Personalized Health-Monitoring System for Elderly by Combining Rules and Case-Based Reasoning
Authors: Ahmed Mobyen Uddin
Published: February 2025

Health-monitoring system for elderly in home environment is a promising solution to provide efficient medical services that increasingly interest by the researchers within this area. It is often more challenging when the system is self-served and functioning as personalized provision. This paper proposed a personalized self-served health-monitoring system for elderly in home environment by combining general rules with a case-based reasoning approach. Here, the system generates feedback, recommendation and alarm in a personalized manner based on elderly's medical information and health parameters such as blood pressure, blood glucose, weight, activity, pulse, etc. A set of general rules has used to classify individual health parameters. The case-based reasoning approach is used to combine all different health parameters, which generates an overall classification of health condition. According to the evaluation result considering 323 cases and k=2 i.e., top 2 most similar retrieved cases, the sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy are achieved as 90%, 97% and 96% respectively. The preliminary result of the system is acceptable since the feedback; recommendation and alarm messages are personalized and differ from the general messages. Thus, this approach could be possibly adapted for other situations in personalized elderly monitoring.
Prediction of Heart Attack Risk Using GA-ANFIS Expert System Prototype
Authors: Begic Fazlic Lejla  , Avdagic Aja  , Besic Ingmar
Published: February 2025

The aim of this research is to develop a novel GA-ANFIS expert system prototype for classifying heart disease degree of a patient by using heart diseases attributes (features) and diagnoses taken in the real conditions. Thirteen attributes have been used as inputs to classifiers being based on Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) for the first level of fuzzy model optimization. They are used as inputs in Genetic Algorithm (GA) for the second level of fuzzy model optimization within GA-ANFIS system. GA-ANFIS system performs optimization in two steps. Modelling and validating of the novel GA-ANFIS system approach is performed in MATLAB environment. We compared GA-ANFIS and ANFIS results. The proposed GA-ANFIS model with the predicted value technique is more efficient when diagnosis of heart disease is concerned, as well the earlier method we got by ANFIS model.
Detection of Vulnerable Plaque in Virtual Histology Intravascular Ultrasound Images Using SVM
Authors: Rezaei Zahra  , Selamat Ali  , Taki Arash  , Mohd Rahim Mohd Shafry  , Abdul Kadir Mohammed Rafiq
Published: February 2025

Virtual Histology Intravascular Ultrasound (VH-IVUS) is a clinically available for visualizing color coded of coronary artery plaque. However, current VH-IVUS image processing techniques have not considered the combinations of features to identify vulnerable plaque. This paper presents a new method for classification of TCFA (thin-cap fibroatheromas) and Non-TCFA plaque based on combined features using the VH-IVUS images using support vector machine (SVM). The proposed method is applied to 546 in-vivo VH-IVUS images. Results proved the dominance of our proposed method with accuracy rates of 98.15% for TCFA.
Development of a Generic Monitoring Application by the Example of Coronary Artery Disease
Authors: Burgsteiner Harald  , Fellner Benjamin  , Jöbstl Jakob  , Messer-Misak Karin  , Stani Sabrina  , Url Carina  , Wallner Eva
Published: February 2025

The demographic change, the social structure and the development of new and complex therapies for diseases are responsible for a permanent rise of health expenditure. To guarantee affordable health care, AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) is one possibility. Our objective is to show that it is possible to create remote support for caregivers by physicians even with widely available and versatile hardware. A single board computer currently only equipped with 6 different sensors to measure blood pressure, glucose level, pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature and ECG is used as a showcase for patients with e.g. coronary artery disease. We created a user-friendly local application that collects and stores all data and transmits them to a remote server as soon as an Internet connection becomes available. Additionally, a web-application gives access to remote physicians and nurses to support caregivers and patients. Patients keep the overview of their vital signs, caregivers, nurses and physician can be alerted on demand or check the patient's data anytime to give advice. We conclude, that projects like this are showcases for the usage of technology that can foster AAL due to the focus on widely available and cheap, versatile equipment.
Implementation and Validation of a Conceptual Benchmarking Framework for Patient Blood Management
Authors: Kastner Peter  , Breznik Nada  , Gombotz Hans  , Hofmann Axel  , Schreier Günter
Published: February 2025

Background: Public health authorities and healthcare professionals are obliged to ensure high quality health service. Because of the high variability of the utilisation of blood and blood components, benchmarking is indicated in transfusion medicine. Objectives: Implementation and validation of a benchmarking framework for Patient Blood Management (PBM) based on the report from the second Austrian Benchmark trial. Methods: Core modules for automatic report generation have been implemented with KNIME (Konstanz Information Miner) and validated by comparing the output with the results of the second Austrian benchmark trial. Results: Delta analysis shows a deviation <0.1% for 95% (max. 1.4%). Conclusion: The framework provides a reliable tool for PBM benchmarking. The next step is technical integration with hospital information systems.
Governance Guidelines for Digital Healthcare Ecosystems
Authors: Benedict Martin  , Schlieter Hannes
Published: February 2025

Advanced Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions are the key instrument to enable modern integrated care. They are not limited the traditional boundaries. Moreover, their aim is to provide medical care at the right point, in the right manner, at the right time without technological, institutional boundaries or integration issues, esp. for comorbidity treatment cases. Open digital ecosystems enabled by eHealth platforms can help to create a prospering eHealth environment. However, the creation of digital ecosystems in the health care domain is an ambitious task. The conditions how an open system can be achieved are often consented in complex projects, but they are not often scientific questioned. Conducting an action design research process, the paper contributes 13 guidelines for implementing eHealth platforms by reflection of the work in an EU-funded infrastructure project, which can be used as input for further research to provide generic guidelines for eHealth ecosystem projects.
A Framework for (Tele-) Monitoring of Rehabilitation Progress in Stroke Patients
Authors: Jagos Harald  , David Veronika  , Haller Michael  , Kotzian Stefan  , Hofmann Manuela  , Schlossarek Stefan  , Eichholzer Karoline  , Winkler Manfred  , Frohner Matthias  , Reichel Martin  , Mayr Winfried  , Rafolt Dietmar
Published: February 2025

Background: Preservation of mobility in conjunction with an independent life style is one of the major goals of rehabilitation after stroke.
Net Generation's Learning Styles in Nursing Education
Authors: Christodoulou Eleni  , Kalokairinou Athina
Published: February 2025

Numerous surveys have confirmed that emerging technologies and Web 2.0 tools have been a defining feature in the lives of current students, estimating that there is a fundamental shift in the way young people communicate, socialize and learn. Nursing students in higher education are characterized as digital literate with distinct traits which influence their learning styles. Millennials exhibit distinct learning preferences such as teamwork, experiential activities, structure, instant feedback and technology integration. Higher education institutions should be aware of the implications of the Net Generation coming to university and be prepared to meet their expectations and learning needs.
A Proposed Framework to Enrich Norwegian EHR System with Health-trusted Information for Patients and Professionals
Authors: Konstantinidis Stathis Th.  , Kummervold Per Egil  , Luque Luis Fernandez  , Vognild Lars Kristian
Published: February 2025

In the era of social media, semantic web and big data, a huge amount of health-related information, knowledge and resources exist on the Web. Patients and healthcare professionals should spend enormous effort and time in order to find health-trusted information, while the appropriate technologies to interlink and retrieve this type of information already exist. In this paper we propose a framework to enrich DIPS, the most deployed Norwegian EHR System, with health-trusted information for patients and state-of-the-art resources for healthcare professionals. The framework based upon the new architecture of DIPS, namely DIPS Arena, and upon the interlinking with the semantic web, social media and open linked data cloud information, knowledge and resources through well-established medical thesauri like SNOMED CT and MeSH.
eHealth Services for the European Reference Network on Rare Anaemias (eENERCA)
Authors: Antoniou Zinonas  , Schiza Eirini C.  , Neokleous Kleanthis  , Angastiniotis Michael  , Pattichis Constantinos S.  , Schizas Christos N.
Published: February 2025

This paper presents an electronic registry system for the purposes of the eENERCA for rare congenital conditions that require lifelong follow up and treatment. The main objective of the eENERCA project focusses on the prevention of major rare anaemias (RAs) by facilitating the access, at a European level, to the best genetic counselling, diagnosis and clinical management of the patients with RA independently of their country of origin. This can be achieved by promoting an extension of the full Electronic Health Record system and specifically the electronic registries for RAs, across Europe for the purposes stated hence promoting service development for the benefit of patients. The proposed eRegistry will serve as an epidemiological tool to improve the management of patient services and ultimately improve patient care.
Developing an Emergency Physician Productivity Index Using Descriptive Health Analytics
Authors: Khalifa Mohamed
Published: February 2025

Emergency department (ED) crowding became a major barrier to receiving timely emergency care. At King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Saudi Arabia, we identified variables and factors affecting crowding and performance to develop indicators to help evaluation and improvement. Measuring efficiency of work and activity of throughput processes; it was important to develop an ED physician productivity index. Data on all ED patients' encounters over the last six months of 2014 were retrieved and descriptive health analytics methods were used. Three variables were identified for their influence on productivity and performance; Number of Treated Patients per Physician, Patient Acuity Level and Treatment Time. The study suggested a formula to calculate the productivity index of each physician through dividing the Number of Treated Patients by Patient Acuity Level squared and Treatment Time to identify physicians with low productivity index and investigate causes and factors.
Staffing and Educational Level of Military Hospital Personnel in Relation to Patients' Satisfaction from the Provided Health Care Services
Authors: Trachanatzis Theodoros  , Mechili Aggelos E.  , Diomidous Marianna
Published: February 2025

Over the course of the last decades there has been a significant interest in assessing the quality of the health care services. Professionals and experts recognize patient satisfaction as an important indicator of the so-called quality. The purpose of the study is to measure patients' satisfaction in a military hospital in relation to educational and staffing levels of the health care workers. The evaluation in the individual level has been done by completing questionnaires. The study involved 109 patients from 2 clinics. According to the results, the majority of the patients indicated high satisfaction level both from physicians and nurses. The high educational level and general competence of the health care personnel are the key elements for the efficient provision of health care services.
The Implementation Experiences of an Endoscopy Information System (EIS) on the Improvement of Workflow Processes in a Saudi Endoscopy Department
Authors: Al Dogether Majed  , Al Muallem Yahya  , Al Assaf Rakan  , Al Ateeq Asma  , Al Moammary Eman  , Al Ghamdi Huda  , Househ Mowafa
Published: February 2025

The objective of this paper is to investigate the experiences in implementing a smart capsule system for a Saudi endoscopy department. The study was conducted at a leading Saudi healthcare institution located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A case study approach was used in the study. Endoscopy Information System (EIS) system data documentation, key informant interviews, and meeting documents were the data collection sources used in the study. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted. Preliminary data showed improvements in hospital clinical workflow as a result of implementing the new EIS. Although the findings of this study are preliminary, more work is needed to evaluate the overall impact of the new EIS on clinical workflow, patient wait times, usability, and data accuracy.
An Extensible Neuroimaging e-Repository for Clinical Trials of Paediatric Brain Tumours
Authors: Fetit Ahmed E.  , Khan Omar  , Afyouni Soroosh  , Zarinabad Niloufar  , Novak Jan  , Peet Andrew C.  , Arvanitis Theodoros N.
Published: February 2025

Novel imaging techniques are playing an increasing role in tumour characterisation, assessment and management. However, incorporating imaging data into clinical trials presents a number of challenges in terms of quality control, standardisation in data collection, interoperability of widely used archiving systems and extensibility of imaging software architectures. Additionally, currently available monolithic applications cannot fulfil the diverse and rapidly changing needs of the clinical imaging research community. This paper discusses the limitations of the current CCLG Remote Data Entry (RDE) system and introduces the prototype of an alternative modular system based on the Extensible Neuroimaging Archive Toolkit (XNAT). The modular nature of the presented prototype promotes incremental software evolution and allows for flexible system customisation to suit the needs of individual imaging centres.
Decision Support Systems and Line Performance: Case of Gold Coast University Hospital
Authors: Connor Martin  , Ghapanchi Amir Hossein  , Blumenstein Michael  , Amrollahi Alireza  , Najaftorkaman Mohammadreza
Published: February 2025

Computer-based decision support information systems have been promoted for their potential to improve physician performance and patient outcomes and support clinical decision making. The current case study reported design and implementation of a high-level decision support system (DSS) which facilitated the flow of data from operational level to top managers and leadership level of hospitals. The results shows that development of a DSS improve data connectivity, timing, and responsiveness issues via centralised sourcing and storing of principal health-related information in the hospital. The implementation of the system has resulted in significant enhancements in outpatient waiting times management.
A Registry Framework Enabling Patient-Centred Care
Authors: Bellgard Matthew I.  , Napier Kathryn  , Render Lee  , Radochonski Maciej  , Lamont Leanne  , Graham Caroline  , Wilton Steve D.  , Fletcher Sue  , Goldblatt Jack  , Hunter Adam A.  , Weeramanthri Tarun
Published: February 2025

Clinical decisions rely on expert knowledge that draws on quality patient phenotypic and physiological data. In this regard, systems that can support patient-centric care are essential. Patient registries are a key component of patient-centre care and can come in many forms such as disease-specific, recruitment, clinical, contact, post market and surveillance. There are, however, a number of significant challenges to overcome in order to maximise the utility of these information management systems to facilitate improved patient-centred care. Registries need to be harmonised regionally, nationally and internationally. However, the majority are implemented as standalone systems without consideration for data standards or system interoperability. Hence the task of harmonisation can become daunting. Fortunately, there are strategies to address this. In this paper, a disease registry framework is outlined that enables efficient deployment of national and international registries that can be modified dynamically as registry requirements evolve. This framework provides a basis for the development and implementation of data standards and enables patients to seamlessly belong to multiple registries. Other significant advances include the ability for registry curators to create and manage registries themselves without the need to contract software developers, and the concept of a registry description language for ease of registry template sharing.
A Model of Tradeoffs for Understanding Health Information Technology Implementation
Authors: Kuziemsky Craig E.
Published: February 2025

Implementing health information technology (HIT) is a challenge that frequently results in unintended consequences post implementation. To better manage these consequences we need approaches that can proactively identify issues so we deal with them pre-implementation. It can be suggested that a reason unintended consequences occur is because of trade-offs between people's work practices and pre and post HIT implementation. If we can identify what these trade-offs are we can use them for proactive management of unintended consequences. This paper uses a case study of a perioperative information system and principles of social BPM and qualitative content analysis to develop a model of seven trade-off patterns that can be used to study HIT mediated change. It also discusses the implications of the model on the design and evaluation of HIT.
Use of Techno-Anthropologic Approaches in Studying Technology-induced Errors
Authors: Borycki Elizabeth M.  , Kushniruk Andre W.
Published: February 2025

In this book chapter the authors review several Techno-Anthropologic approaches that can be used to improve the quality and safety of health information technology (HIT) by eliminating or reducing the incidence and occurrence of technology-induced errors. Technology-induced errors arise from interactions between health professionals, patients and/or HIT (i.e. software and hardware) and lead to a medical error. Techno-Anthropologic methods can be used to address these types of medical errors before they occur. In this book chapter they are discussed in the context of: (a) how they can be applied to identifying technology-induced errors and (b) how this information can be used to design and implement safer HIT. Important in this chapter is a review of several methods: traditional ethnography, rapid assessment of clinical information systems, video ethnography and photovoice as they are applied to the discovery of potential (i.e. near misses) and actual (i.e. mistakes) technology-induced errors.