bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Virtual Patients for a Virtual Hospital
Authors: Loke E  , Lun KC
Published: February 2025

With the introduction of VBscript & Active-X it is now possible to construct interactive websites with ease. This paper discusses the author's experience in setting up TWO different ‘VIRTUAL PATIENT’ websites. One such site, named VIRTUAL PATIENT 97, is based upon a goal based scenario, in this case the clinical management of common clinical problems like upper gastro-intestinal bleeding in a surgical ward. The second website, CLICK ‘n’ LEARN, is essentially a health education website providing material on common chronic illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and asthma. The first module deals with aspects of self care in diabetes. Included are textual as well as video clips which show various elements of diabetes self care: like the administration of insulin or the usage of a glucometer. An added twist is a target oriented interface borrowed from the TAMAGOTCHI. If the user dutifully looks after his virtual diabetic, it will thrive & the disease will be well controlled, else the virtual patient deteriorates in accelerated time. This allows for safe experimentation & promotes awareness of the importance of self care in the total management of chronic illnesses.
Experience Journals: Using Computers to Share Personal Stories About Illness and Medical Intervention
Authors: Gonzalez-Heydrich Joseph  , Bromley Dennis  , Strohecker Carol  , Marks Joe  , DeMaso David Ray  , Ackermann Edith  , Gibson Sarah  , Shen Chia  , Umasehi Marina
Published: February 2025

Medical advances make it increasingly possible for children with previously fatal illness to live and thrive. However, a significant number still experience repeated operations, hospitalization, and invasive procedures, or need special care at home. Many do so with little or no intervention to help them and their families cope with the emotional stresses involved. One significant source of emotional and cognitive support is the community of patients and families who have experienced similar medical procedures. However, in spite of a general willingness to share experiences, communication among patients and families is usually limited. To facilitate this process, we are investigating the use of computer technology to record, organize, and display stories about the experiences of families with children who have been treated for cardiac and neurological illness at Children's Hospital, Boston. We are asking children and their families to record text and multimedia vignettes describing some aspect of their illness, coping strategies, or care that might be useful to others. These contributions will be available for browsing at a secure World-Wide-Web site. However, economic realities preclude reliance on a professional site administrator to organize and monitor what we hope to be a rapidly growing Web site with a large, distributed authorship. The need to make the Web site fully accessible to users who have varying familiarity with computers and Web browsing imposes further constraints. We are therefore developing software to automate the process of managing and organizing an easily accessed Web site that contains an “Experience Journal.” We describe this software, the rationale for its development, and our plans for its use in the coming year.
A Multi-Agent Softbot to Retrieve Medical Information on Internet
Authors: Baujard Olivier  , Baujard Vincent  , Aurel Sandrine  , Boyer Celia  , Appel Ron D.
Published: February 2025

World-Wide Web is a media where information is unstructured, distributed, multimedia and multilingual Many tools have been developed to help users search for information: subject hierarchies, general search engines, browsers and search assistants. Although helpful, they show serious limitations, mainly in terms of precision, multilingual indexing and distribution. The M.A.R.V.I.N project (Multi Agent Retrieval Vagabond on Information Networks) proposes solutions with a distribution of the indexing task in agents specialized in a given domain. M.A.R.V.I.N has been successfully applied to the medical domain. The medical index and its associated search engine MedHunt (Medical Hunter) demonstrate the interest of such an approach with currently 50,000 indexed medical sites and more than 100,000 accesses each month.
Home Telecare System Integrated with Periodic Health Reminder and Medical Record & Multimedia Health Information
Authors: Yoo Taiwoo  , Huh Bong Yul  , Jeon Hyoyee  , Yun Young Ho
Published: February 2025

The necessity of home telecare system is growing due to increase in desire for health promotion owing to increase in chronic diseases, aged population and medical expenses.
Acquisition of Lexical Resources from SNOMED for Medical Language Processing
Authors: Zweigenbaum Pierre  , Courtois Patrick
Published: February 2025

Medical language processing depends on large-coverage, finegrained specialized lexicons. The vast majority of existing electronic lexicons concern the English language; for other languages such as French, resources are scarce. In contrast, large medical thesauri exist in numerous languages, including French. Our goal was to study what kind of linguistic information could be extracted from thesauri into a lexicon, in which places human intervention is necessary, and what kind of issues arise in this process. We designed in this purpose a method to build a semantic lexicon from a subset of the SNOMED axes in their French translation.
Telematic Evolution of Day-Hospital in Oncology
Authors: Maceratini Riccardo  , Ricci Fabrizio L  , Rafanelli Maurizio
Published: February 2025

The telematic evolution of the Day-Hospital can be considered as the virtual hospitalization, implementing the integration between hospital care and home care and predefining an hospital system which “goes to the patient home”. In this paper the authors describe tools, characteristics, and advantages of this proposal, as well as the interaction model. Then the medical problem is illustrated: the first model implemented in oncology involves the liver tumors, which are the more frequent malignant neoplasms, and, in particular, the hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC),. The Organization Model, the Information System, the Tools and the Modalities of Telemonitoring for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in telematic day-hospital are still illustrated and a brief conclusion is given.
Patient Information Exchange Guideline MERIT-9 using Medical Markup Language MML
Authors: Kimura Michio  , Ohe Kazuhiko  , Yoshihara Hiroyuki  , Ando Yutaka  , Kawamata Fumiaki  , Hishiki Teruyoshi  , Ohashi Katsunori  , Sakusabe Takaya  , Tani Shigeki  , Akiyama Masanori
Published: February 2025

To realize clinical data exchange between healthcare providers, there must be many standards in many layers. Terms and codes should be standardized, syntax to wrap the data must be mutually parsable, then transfer protocol or exchange media should be agreed.
Modelling Computerised Clinical Pathways
Authors: Chu Stephen  , Cesnik Branko
Published: February 2025

Since the mid 1980s, paper clinical pathways have been used in defining the road map of patient care. They have been used with varying degree of success for providing more cost-effective healthcare and helped to establish quality improvement models for healthcare delivery. Many attempts have been made to produce electronic versions of the paper clinical pathways in order to maximise benefits of the paper based systems. However, all paper systems are designed based on linear sequential model with little decision support capability. Current electronic versions of the paper systems produce only minimal improvements on the functionality of their paper counterparts. A state-transition information model (STIM) grounded in the Object Oriented system design paradigm is used to reconceptualise a computerised clinical pathways design. A computerised clinical pathways prototype is currently being developed based on this STIM model. The prototype will demonstrate improved functionality: better information management and decision support capabilities.
Integrating Sources for a Clinical Reference Terminology: Experience Linking SNOMED to LOINC and Drug Vocabularies
Authors: Spackman Kent A.
Published: February 2025

Achieving the promise of higher quality, lower cost and more available health care through electronic medical records requires the support of a comprehensive clinical reference terminology. In a previous paper we described SNOMED RT (reference terminology), and the data structures and logic syntax that support the transformation of the SNOMED III nomenclature into the SNOMED RT reference terminology. In this paper, we describe an approach to linking SNOMED RT to existing nomenclatures in the area of laboratory test names (LOINC™) and therapeutic drugs (Multum’s MediSource™Drug Lexicon), in order to achieve an integrated whole that solves the problem of a clinical reference terminology.
Automatic Prediction of Trauma Registry Procedure Codes from Emergency Room Dictations
Authors: Hersh William R.  , Leen Todd K.  , Malveau Susan
Published: February 2025

Current natural language processing techniques for recognition of concepts in the electronic medical record have been insufficient to allow their broad use for coding information automatically. We have undertaken a preliminary investigation into the use of machine learning methods to recognize procedure codes from emergency room dictations for a trauma registry. Our preliminary results indicate moderate success, and we believe future enhancements with additional learning techniques and selected natural language processing approaches will be fruitful.
Impact of the TOP-FORUM Hypermedia System in a Pediatric Oncology Care Unit
Authors: Soula Gerard  , Puccia Jean  , Fieschi Dominique  , Bernard Jean-Louis  , Le Boeuf Claude  , Fieschi Marius
Published: February 2025

This paper describes our approach in analyzing the impact of the TOP-FORUM hypermedia in a pediatric oncology care unit. The impact of this technology is realized through the study of accommodation and assimilation adoption. Accommodation refers to the technological adoption and Assimilation refers to the professional adoption. Results show that accommodation depends on information and formation of the users. Assimilation is more difficult to evaluate because it depends on human, social and organizational problems.
Devices for Structured Data Entry in Electronic Patient Record
Authors: Matsumura Yasushi  , Takeda Hiroshi  , Okada Takeo  , Kuwata Shigeki  , Nakazawa Hiroaki  , Hazumi Norihiro  , Inoue Michitoshi
Published: February 2025

Electronic patient record is expected to have edit, data analysis, and decision supporting functions. To realize these functions, the entered data should be structured. We made a template based data entry system with some devices. We defined a template for each describing unit, i.e., symptom, physical finding and examination report. Template is composed of several describing elements (a pair of property and value), which form tree structure in general. When a template is selected, the top layers of the elements are displayed at once allowing data entry. When the data qualified by other elements is entered then system presents the second layer about this data at once. This enables users to skip entering some unnecessary items. Users can constitute a form by combining some templates frequently used in a situation. Furthermore, at the second patient visit, the system can present the templates used in the former patient visit to check the different point. These templates and forms can be made easily by editing the master data using template master maintenance program. The entered patient data are presented in progress note and flow sheet. In progress note, the entered data are translated into natural language. In the flow sheet, representative data of each template are present in the cell of the matrix whose line indicates the describing unit and column indicates date. If the cell is clicked, then the details are presented. Using this system, we made templates and forms for cardiovascular field and entered the data about an actual patient with angina pectoris. The time taken by inputting data is shorter than that by handwriting and the content is enough for a patient record. This system is practical for structured data entry in electrical patient record.
The Multi-Item Univariate Delta Check Method: A New Approach
Authors: Rheem Insoo  , Lee Kap No
Published: February 2025

The delta check methods are methods for detection of random errors in clinical laboratory tests including specimen abnormalities, specimen mix-up, problems in analysis processes, and clerical errors. Methodologically, it is known that the multivariate delta check methods are more superior to the univariate delta check methods. However, due to some problems in reality including technical difficulties, it is hard to put the multivariate delta check methods into practice. Since the univariate delta check methods are methods at hand, there has been a need for an efficient and effective univariate delta check method In order to meet such a need, we propose “the multi-item univariate delta check (MIUDC) method”. By the multi-item univariate delta check (MIUDC) method, we mean a method in which univariate delta checks are performed on multiple items and specimens with the positive univariate delta check in at least k items are put under a detailed investigation. Our research objectives are the determination of an appropriate value of such k and identification of test items deserving of more interest. Through real data and simulation studies, we concluded that an appropriate value of k is 4 because, with k=4, we can have light checking-out volumes and high efficiency. Also, we identified total cholesterol, albumin, and total protein as items deserving ofmore interest because the false positive rate associated with them in the MIUDC was zero in a simulation study. We present the MIUDC method as a quality control method that is easy-toimplement and efficient.
Hospital Information System: Resuability, Designing, Modelling, Recommendations for Implenting
Authors: Huet B.
Published: February 2025

The aims of this paper are to precise some essential conditions for building reuse models for hospital information systems (HIS) and to present on application for hospital clinical laboratories. Reusability is a general trend in software. however reuse can involve a more or less part of design, classes, programs; consequently, a project involving reusability must be precisely defined. In the introduction it is seen trends in software, the stakes of reuse models for HIS and the special use case constituted with a HIS. The main three parts of this paper are: 1) Designing a reuse model (which objects are common to several information systems?) 2) A reuse model for hospital clinical laboratories (a genspec object model is presented for all loboratories: biochemistry, bacteriology, parasitology, pharmacology, ...) 3) Recommendations for generating plug-compatible software components (a reuse model can be implemented as a framework, concrete factors that increase reusability are presented). In conclusion reusability is a subtle exercise of which project must be previously am carefully defined.
TELEMATICS APPLICATIONS
Authors: Richonnier Michel
Published: February 2025

The research and development TELEMATICS APPLICATIONS Programme (TAP) is one of the 19 specific R&D programmes which are supported under the European Union’s RTD Fourth Framework Programme (1994-1998). Its budget of some 900 million ECU, represents approximately 7% of the total budget of the RTD Fourth Framework Programme. The activities of TAP cover several application areas of general interest such as Health Care, Integration of Disabled and Elderly, Transport, Environment and Education and Training. For more information see www2.echo.lu/telematics or http://europa.eu.int.
Development of a Contextual Computer-Based Nursing Simulation
Authors: Reece Jones Peter  , Maguire Bryan T.
Published: February 2025

This paper will present a brief review of the use of simulations in clinical reasoning research and education, followed by a case-study describing the development of a research tool which attempted to elicit the decision-making strategies of novice and competent hospital nurses. The central feature of this simulation was the degree of flexibility and control it gave to the nurse participants over their information seeking strategies. The ability of this interactive multimedia simulation to mimic a real ward environment has a great potential in the teaching of clinical reasoning skills to health professionals.
GALEN-IN-USE: Application in Greek and Influences on Education
Authors: Konstantikaki Vaya  , Mantas John
Published: February 2025

GALEN-IN-USE is a European project that aims to promote greater European harmonisation and to overcome the problems encountered in using traditional coding and classification systems. This paper presents the work done by the Greek Centre of Medical Informatics and Terminology, as a collaborating centre of GALEN-IN-USE(GIU), in order to apply GIU's tools to Greek Health Care System as well as the affect of this application in education.
M.Sc. course in Health Informatics-An Inter-University cooperation success story in Greece
Authors: Mantas John
Published: February 2025

Health informatics is a recently established and important multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary field that not only involves informatics but also medicine, nursing, engineering, biology and other- related subjects. A co-ordination of this field at a postgraduate level becomes important now in Europe where other European Community programs such as the Telematics for Health Care will require at the Fourth Framework Programme (1994-1999) and the Fifth Framework Programme (2000-2006) adequate human resources of higher potential and knowledge. A European M.Sc. course met all the above objectives. The curriculum was developed according to previous experiences in similar programmes. Recently the course has been organised on the basis of an Inter-University nature with the participation of 5 Greek Universities. The paper aims at providing a description of the new academic programme and a brief evaluation of the implementation phase.
Three-Dimensional Per-Operative Opto-Electronic Analysis Of Cotrel-Dubousset Surgery
Authors: Lecire C.  , Skalli W.  , Zeller R.  , Dubousset J.  , Lavaste F.
Published: February 2025

To study the three-dimensional (3D) corrective mechanisms of the Cotrel- Dubousset Instrumentation (CDI), we used the VICON system with 5 cameras and developed specific tools. Thus, following a previous study [4], assessments of vertebral motion for 7 scoliotic patients who underwent CDI were performed within a controlled accuracy (1,5° for rotations & 1 mm for translations). Results show that the CDI provides 3D vertebral motions and the measurement method allows the surgeons to objectively analyze the intermediate steps of the surgery, and permits the constitution of a data base for finite elements model validation.
Back Pain in Individuals with Osteogenesis Imperfecta
Authors: Keeler K.A.  , Filho F.A.M.  , Kruse R.W.
Published: February 2025

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is a rare, genetically heterogeneous connective tissue disorder that involves primarily the bone. Association with spine is usually related to the presence of pathologic fractures and deformities. Only scattered reports of back pain are noted in the literature. There is a limited amount of available information regarding the prevalence of back pain in patients with OI. In addition no study has related severity of OI or presence of spinal deformities with back pain. Therefore the purpose of this study is to find the prevalence of back pain in individuals with OI and determine the relationship between back pain and OI type.
The Progression Action Short Brace (P.A.S.B.): A Different Approach to the Conservative Treatment of Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Idiopathic Scoliotic Curves
Authors: Lupparelli S.  , Tamburrelli F.  , Padua R.  , Marrocco R.  , Aulisa L.
Published: February 2025

The conservative approach to treatment of idiopathic scoliosis is generally based on orthoses exerting external forces which, when imparted to viscoelastic structures, are bound to be dissipated. The Progressive Action Short Brace (P.A.S.B.) is a brace of new design employed for the treatment of thoracolumbar and lumbar curves. The P.A.S.B. geometry is designed so as to constrain the spine dynamics by permitting only those movements whose direction aims at correcting the deformity. Forces being continuously generated during the spine dynamics, no dissipation occurs and corrective actions are generated.
Social Effects of Boston Bracing
Authors: Andersen M.Ø.  , Andersen G.R.  , Lind M.  , Thomsen K.  , Christensen S.B.
Published: February 2025

One hundred and thirty-six patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treated with Boston brace, received a questionnaireapproximately 3 years after the termination of treatment. The aim was to identify the strenuous factors of bracing and to examine the social impact of this treatment. Bracing does affect the patients social life even after weaning. Girls seems to be more vulnerable than boys. The social debilitating effects of bracing are less pronounced in adolescents less than 16 years at weaning
A New Tool by which to Visualise Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis as a Continuous Process
Authors: Bagnall K.M.  , Thomas B.  , Moreau M.  , Raso V. J.  , Mahood J.  , Hill D.  , Zhao J.  , Kautz J.
Published: February 2025

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a continuous process that produces a three-dimensional deformity. Observation of radiographs taken at irregular intervals fails to provide a continuous view of curve development. Morphing is a computer technique by which a ‘start’ image can be blended into an ‘end’ image. The application of this technique to sequential pairs of images collected from a patient during visits to the clinic produces movies in which die continuous development of scoliosis can be seen. Such movies can be created from radiographs, cosmesis images, or combined images where the radiographs have been superimposed on the cosmesis images. Real-time movies can also be created showing appropriate patient data to accompany the curve development. The movies have been found to be especially useful in patient education but are also expected to provide improvements in clinical management as well as information relating to the aetiology of AIS. It must always be remembered that the interpolated images are computer generated but there are few limitations of Uie technique in relation to validity.
Evaluation of Vertebral Rotation by Ultrasound for the Early Detection of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis
Authors: Burwell R G  , Kirby A S  , Aujla R K  , Kirk E L  , Pratt R K  , Bailey M A  , Webb J K  , Moulton A  , Gallimoreo S J
Published: February 2025

This paper reports a new real-time ultrasound method for measuring vertebral rotation to detect lateral spinal curves of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) in 50 adolescents referred consecutively to hospital from the scoliosis school screening service in Nottingham, England (girls 39, boys 11, median age 15 years). Radiographically the curve types were thoracic 21, thoracolumbar 14 and lumbar 15 with a mean Cobb angle of 17° (range 2-40°). Ultrasound laminal rotation was measured in the prone position from Tl-Sl by one of three observers. The ability of ultrasound laminal rotation to predict the scoliosis curve (Cobb) angle was compared with surface back shape angles calculated at 18 levels from angles of trunk inclinations (ATIs) measured by a Scoliometer in the standing forward bending position. The findings show that ultrasound laminal rotation (and Scoliometer ATI) each with a threshold of 8° predicted Cobb angles of 20° or more with a sensitivity of 95% (79%), specificity of 68% (35%) and positive predictive value of 64% (43%). Overall, the ultrasound method is significantly better than the Scoliometer method for discriminating curves with Cobb angles of 20° (p=0.003, McNemar test). The findings suggest that in school screening for scoliosis ultrasound laminal rotation measured in the community may reduce the number of false positives who are referred to hospital and x-rayed.
Contribution of Catecholamines, Angiotensin and Vasopressin to the Low-Frequency Fluctuations of Blood Pressure In Rats
Authors: Elghozi Jean-Luc  , Ponchon Pascal
Published: February 2025

The aim of this study was to generate hemorrhage-triggered fluctuations in blood pressure (BP) at low-frequency (LF, below 0.2 Hz) in conscious rats, and to investigate with spectral analysis the relative roles of hemorrhage-activated catecholamines, the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) on the generation of these fluctuations. After severe hemorrhage (20 ml/kg), the spontaneous BP recovery was characterised by the occurrence of slow fluctuations of systolic and diastolic BP centered around 0.065 Hz. The occurrence of these LF fluctuations was prevented when α1-adrenergic activity was blocked by Prazosin. These oscillations were always present in spite of inhibition of angiotensin II and were increased after inhibition of the AVP activity. In conclusion, the present results show an association between the secretion of catecholamines resulting from a severe hemorrhage and the occurrence of slow fluctuations of BP. The buffering role of AVP suggest the establishment of a hierarchy between humoral Systems in the genesis of the LF oscillations of BP, with the slow oscillations being generated by the main catecholaminergic pressor system and being dampened by the other systems.
Presence as an Emotional Experience
Authors: Huang Milton P.  , Alessi Norman E.
Published: February 2025

Presence or the sense of “being there” has been discussed in the literature as an essential, defining aspect of Virtual Reality (VR). The VR literature includes definitions rooted in behavioral response, signal detection theory, and philosophy, but has generally ignored the emotional aspects of experience. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the concept of presence in terms of people’s emotional engagement with reality and their environment. Emotions are an essential part of how people experience the world. Any theory of presence must take emotional factors into account. This thesis has implications about how research should be conducted to further our understanding of presence. Validated psychological techniques for assessing emotions by subjective report, behavioral observations, and facial analysis can all be applied to increase our understanding of virtual presence. Further understanding of the interaction between presence and emotional state will improve our understanding of the construct of presence as well as better inform us about how virtual environments can be applied in creating emotional effects or treating emotional disorders.
“KnowWare$^{\™}$: VIRTUAL REALITY MAPS FOR BLIND PEOPLE”
Authors: Krueger Myron W.  , Gilden Deborah
Published: February 2025

Much has been done to give blind people access to text-based information through computers. Unfortunately, the recent development of Windows™operating systems and GUIs jeopardize these gains. Spatial information which is becoming more important to the sighted has never been widely available to blind people.
PC-based Telerehabilitation System with Force Feedback
Authors: Popescu V.  , Burdea G.  , Bouzit M.  , Girone M.  , Hentz V.
Published: February 2025

A PC-based orthopedic rehabilitation system was developed for use at home, while allowing for remote monitoring from the clinic. The home rehabilitation station has a Pentium II PC with graphics accelerator, Polhemus tracker, and a novel Multipurpose Haptic Control Interface with its own Pentium board. This interface is used to sample patient’s hand positions and to provide resistive forces using the Rutgers Master II (RMII) glove. A library of virtual rehabilitation routines was developed using WorldToolKit software. At the present time, it consists of two physical therapy exercises (DigiKey and Ball) and two functional rehabilitation exercises (Peg Board test and Ball game). All VR exercises allow automatic and transparent patient data collection into an Oracle database. A remote Pentium II PC is connected with the home-based PC over the Internet and an additional videoconferencing connection. The remote computer running Oracle server is used to maintain the patient database, monitor progress and change exercise level of difficulty. This allows for timely patient progress monitoring and repeat evaluations over time from the Clinic. The system will soon start clinical trails at Stanford Medical School, with progress being monitored remotely from Rutgers University. Other rehabilitation haptic interfaces under development include devices for elbow, and knee rehabilitation connected to the Multipurpose Haptic Control Interface.
Perfect DiViSy Technology for Video Network in Medicine (Moscow Information Network for Teleoncology)
Authors: Vorozhtcov George  , Chissov Valery  , Danilov Andrew  , Kazinov Vladimir  , Sokolov Victor  , Frank George
Published: February 2025

A large telemedicine project is now under development in Moscow. The general task of the project is to link oncology research centres and hospitals meeting the project profile, and to provide on-line (using real-time video conferences) and off-line (via distributed database of medical information) information exchange. There was no existing technology available for use at the project’s base which was ready to meet all requirements, so we are using specially created technology for video networks (DiViSy V.97). We suppose this technology to be more applicable for use in telemedicine networks than are business video conference technologies and classical Internet/Intranet technologies. We affirm in our conclusion that now is the time for developing special telemedicine standards, recommendations of compatibility, etc., and that we are ready to take part in this process.
Transformation of the Process of Administrative Patient Management
Authors: Črv Milan
Published: February 2025

The risks involved with performing a process tranformation project are significant. The success rate can be improved if a formal process with concrete guidance is used. This paper introduces an object-oriented approach to process transformation and information system development. The proposed approach affords adequate freedom, encourages innovative thinking and points the way to the desired goals. Its main aim is to combine different activities into a uniform process with the use of object-oriented modelling.
The bridge between administrative and clinical information system
Authors: Borst F.  , Bréant CI.  , Campi D.  , Momjian S.  , Rossier Ph.  , Thurler G.  , Revillard CI.  , Baud R.
Published: February 2025

On one side, physicians are asked to record administrative information, such as activity measurement, case-mix of their specialty, billing, for statistical, legal or reimbursement purposes ; and on the other side, they need to gather detailed information about their own patients in terms of clinical evolution, for the day-to- day care of the patients or for clinical research purposes.
Success Factors of Hospital Information System Implementation: What must go right?
Authors: Prijatelj Vesna
Published: February 2025

Health care institutions are considering a variety of information technologies in the hope of increasing efficiency, reducing cost, re-engineering work processes, and improving quality of care. When we talk about any information system implementation, we need to keep in mind that there are actually three phases to such a project: pre-implementation, implementation and post-implementation. The aim of our contribution is to present the realities of successful implementation and our experience with such project.
Hospital Information Systems: Chances and Obstacles on the Way to Integration
Authors: Lenz Richard  , Blaser Rainer  , Kuhn Klaus A.
Published: February 2025

Today, most large hospital information systems (HIS) comprise many heterogeneous application systems, loosely coupled via interfaces. Integration could offer many advantages, like the support of interdepartmental workflows or a consistent patient record. This cannot be achieved, however, by simply interfacing originally unrelated component systems. In this paper, we present relevant concepts of integration, the autonomy/consistency tradeoff, and technical alternatives in some detail. Based on our recent experiences in analyzing an existing HIS and selecting adequate vendors for the needs of our 1250-bed hospital, we then discuss strategies and tradeoffs on the way to a HIS that utilizes state-of-the-art technology to fill the users’ needs.
Teledermatology - UK Experience of Setting up an Integrated Teledermatology Service
Authors: Clarke M  , Jones R W  , Lioupis D  , George S  , Cairns D
Published: February 2025

Telemedicine has traditionally been seen as an all or nothing solution to the problem of providing medical service to remote communities. In the UK, however, the majority of the population lives within easy travelling distance of medical service, and it is inappropriate to apply telemedicine for the same reasons and in the same way. We describe an alternative approach, where telemedicine is used to complement the existing clinical infrastructure of the outreach clinic and hospital visit, and the patient may opt to have any follow up appointments by video conference. We also describe the concept of the virtual consultation that we have developed to support our work.
The Case-based Internet Textbook ODITEB for Multi-modal Diagnosis of Tumors - Development, Features and First Experiences
Authors: Horsch Alexander  , Balbach Thomas  , Hogg Markus  , Sturm Fabian  , Minov Christo
Published: February 2025

Internet technologies offer the chance to build high-quality learning media for the education in medicine. In particular, the teaching of diagnostics with medical imaging can be supported by the excellent visualization and interaction capabilities. In cooperation with three radiological departments at German universities in Munich, Er- langen and Würzburg the distributed case-based Internet textbook ODITEB for tumor diagnosis of the Gl-tract, liver, pancreas and thorax has been developed. It offers a growing collection of didactically prepared cases located on servers at the provider sites Munich, Erlangen and Würzburg, functionality similar to a real CT console, original DICOM data, X-rays and endoscopic and endosonographic videos, and expert- guided tours through the cases. In a first evaluation in summer 1998, 32 medical students graded the application with 1.9 (’good’) on a scale from 1 (’very good’) to 5 (’very bad’).
From Bridges to Super-Highways: Transmitting Meaning Within and Between Professions, and Across Time and Space - Beginning the Process
Authors: Sheridan Ann J  , Rigby Michael J  , Draper Ronald J
Published: February 2025

As development of health informatics, including electronic patient records, proceeds apace there is an innate tendency to focus on acute and primary care, and upon bio-pathological data sets. This is where virtually all research and investment is being directed. However, the core purpose of health care (and mental health care in particular) is to improve and maintain the individual's functioning and sense of well-being, not simply to eliminate adverse pathology. It is therefore vital for health care records to contain subjective, descriptive, and self-expressed components if the record is to have true health meaning. This in turn raises challenges about meaning and context, terms and language. Most informatic systems run the risk of being Islands of Automation, linked at best by bridges conveying data sets rather than knowledge. If health informatics is really to serve people and their health, attention needs to be given to developing the recording, communication, and understanding of perception through shared meaning. Only then will informatics systems be full supporters of the people's health, and record system linkages become Super-Highways of Knowledge between patients and their supporting professionals.
Sharing Electronic Medical Record on the WWW using InterCare architecture and smart cards
Authors: Rotonen Mikko  , Ruotsalainen Pekka  , Kaskihalme Atte  , Aarnio Matti
Published: February 2025

Southern-Finland is a partner of the European Commission funded telematics project, InterCare, which is developing and demonstrating the www - based regional architecture and application integrated with smart cards. The InterCare project will combine the results from the most important EC funded healthcare telematics projects in their respective areas - Cardlink 2, Hector, Star, Synapses and TrustHealth. The primary objective is to achieve a convergence of results and to demonstrate & promote the synergy between projects from different areas of the healthcare telematics programme.
Implementing HISA Standard in the Middleware Layer of Our Applications
Authors: Planinc Nataša  , Berˇiˇ Boštjan  , Pikec Marjana
Published: February 2025

This article describes our experiences in implementation of the European standard for the architecture of healthcare information systems. The standard was a great help, but this article focuses more on some problems we have encountered.
NISPLAN - projecting hospital beds and hospital stays
Authors: Østerlund Petersen Stein
Published: February 2025

The paper describes a computer model for projections of hospital stays and hospital beds, developed by NIS Health Services Research in Norway. The model takes into account demographic changes, changes in medical technology, needs for hospital services, morbidity and hospital structure and population preferences as to choice of hospital. It has been used in several projects in Norway, both by central and local authorities.
An integration system to rapidly identify aquatic bacteria
Authors: Giacomini M.  , Bertone S.  , Ruggiero C.  , Caneva Soumetz F.  , Bisio A.  , Odino G.  , Calegari L.
Published: February 2025

An identification system for aquatic bacteria which would be useful for aspects ranging from pollution monitoring to health care, is described. It contains relevant information concerning the nature, taxonomy and activity of aquatic bacteria and allows to identify fresh isolates by means of their chemotaxonomic profiles. The system is simple and user friendly, so that it can be used by people not familiar with computers and has a modular interface that allows an easy interaction with laboratory instruments. The system is also connected with artificial neural network based programs to identify strains starting from the considered chemotaxonomic features.
A Diagnostic Advice System based on Pathophysiological Models of Diseases
Authors: ter Burg Willem Jan  , Lucas Peter  , ter Braak Edith
Published: February 2025

Medical decision-support systems in which uncertainty plays an essential role are increasingly based on the formalism of probabilistic networks. Although this formalism is very powerful, the construction of actual networks is not straightfor- ward, and requires the availability of clearly structured medical domain models as a starting point. In this paper it is argued that medical pathophysiological knowledge constitutes a good start for the development of such models, even though pathophysiological knowledge is semantically different from probabilistic knowledge. Two models concerning anaemia, which are part of a broad system covering the domain of anaemia, are discussed to illustrate the general approach.
Intelligent systems in medical diagnosis
Authors: Novak Bojan
Published: February 2025

From an intelligent system for a computer supported medical diagnosis it is expected to achieve high accuracy and ability to draw conclusions from a small data sets. Medical practice could takes many years to generate a large database. A new mathematical method that is able to learn on a small data set is presented.
Development of a reminder system for General Practitioners
Authors: Bindels R.  , Hasman A.  , Winkens R.A.G.
Published: February 2025

In this contribution we describe a prototype reminder system that has been developed to influence General Practitioners' (GP) test request behaviour. It is intended to substitute conventional written feedback by human experts. The system generates critical comments about the rationality of the test request at the moment the GP requests a test that is not in line with national or regional guidelines.
6 Demonstration Results for the Standard ENV 12924
Authors: Louwerse Kees
Published: February 2025

Within the working programme of CEN/TC251 (Health Informatics), a standard for Security Categorisation and Protection for Healthcare Information Systems has been developed. This document was formally adopted in 1997 by CEN as pre-standard CEN ENV 12924 [1]. A demonstration and implementation effort, which was to be effected in principle at one location, was planned and executed as part of the MEDSEC project.
2 Why we need Standardisation in Healthcare Security
Authors: Kokolakis Spyros  , Gritzalis Dimitris  , Katsikas Sokratis
Published: February 2025

This chapter presents the benefits resulting from standardisation in the field of Security in Healthcare Information Systems (HIS). Especially in the EU, standardisation appears as a key element for the effectiveness of the Single Market and the competitiveness of European industry.
Input and Output for Surgical Simulation: Devices to Measure Tissue Properties in vivo and a Haptic Interface for Laparoscopy Simulators
Authors: Ottensmeyer Mark P.  , Ben-Ur Ela
Published: February 2025

Current efforts in surgical simulation very often focus on creating realistic graphical feedback, but neglect some or all tactile and force (haptic) feedback that a surgeon would normally receive. Simulations that do include haptic feedback do not typically use real tissue compliance properties, favoring estimates and user feedback to determine realism. When tissue compliance data are used, there are virtually no in vivo property measurements to draw upon.
Texture Mapping Based Visualisation Methods for the Manipulation of CT Data: Interaction and Ergonomics
Authors: Pernozzoli A.  , Brief J.  , Haßfeld S.  , Raczkowsky J.  , Mühling J.  , Wörn H.
Published: February 2025

The manipulation of large CT datasets needs fast visualisation methods for a comfortable user interaction. Modern visualisation techniques make use texture hardware in graphics workstations extensively. In the following we will present an interactive tool for the positioning of anatomical landmarks in CT datasets of non-pathological children. The tool includes a fast visualisation of CT cross sections based on a texture mapping technique and an interactive three-dimensional view of the segmented CT dataset.
Interactive Simulation of Tooth Cleaning with an Interdental Brush
Authors: Salb Tobias  , Ghanai Sassan  , Burgert Oliver  , Dillmann Rüdiger
Published: February 2025

Proper cleaning of tooth interspaces is significant to sufficient caries prophylaxis. In this article we present a system for the simulation of this cleaning procedure using an interdental brush. Various application areas for the simulation are presented and the purpose of our work is explained. Simulation methods are shown, including data acquisition and preprocessing, an editor for the design of simulated interdental brushes and the mathematical methods on which the simulation of flexible parts of the brush is based. The presentation of the haptic user interface and a glance on the overall simulation system complete the chapter on methods. Afterwards we show first results of our work, and the article ends with a conclusion and a view on further work to be done in future.
A Virtual Environment for the Assessment and the Rehabilitation of the Visuo-Constructional Ability in Dementia Patients
Authors: Tarnanas Ioannis
Published: February 2025

This study proposes a VE that offers a reliable diagnosis of the stage of cognitive decline in dementia patients and assists the delay of this decline in terms of the visuo-constructional ability. The proposed VE, in the case of the assessment, presents a visuo-constructional completion task, which requires spatial perception, motor memory and the perception of the target object. In the case of the rehabilitation the VE uses sound as audio-feedback that, with the aid of the music perception, tends to develop an enhancement in the visuo-constructional ability of the dementia patients that can be generalized even outside of the VE. The study examined 30 subjects that were normal controls (N), 30 patients suffering from memory disorders (Age-Associated Memory Impairment – AAMI) and 30 suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the performance in the visuo-constructional task and the dementia diagnosis. It also seems that the visuo-constructional ability of the (AD) patients can be statistically improved by the audio experience in the VE. The empirical results of this study offer an alternative diagnosis and treatment of dementia patients and could share some light in the brain sub-systems that are responsible for the visuo-constructional ability. Further studies are required in order to investigate the nature of this phenomenon more.
Virtual Temporal Bone Dissection Simulation
Authors: Wiet Gregory J  , Bryan J  , Dodson E  , Sessanna D  , Stredney D  , Schmalbrock P  , Welling B
Published: February 2025

We have developed a working prototype system for the virtual simulation of temporal bone dissection. The system offers a paradigm from traditional practices by integrating technological advances to provide a safer and more cost effective way to learn fundamental techniques used in temporal bone surgeries. We present our methods to provide a real-time interactive volumetric system that obviates the need for physical materials in initial training, and provides a more accessible way for residents to practice and to increase exposure to pathological variance. Finally, we discuss ways to extend this work to more advanced resident training, presurgical planning, and surgical documentation.
Computer Aided Planning Device for Preoperative Bending of Osteosynthesis Plates
Authors: Burghart Catherina R.  , Neukirch Katharina  , Hassfeld Stefan  , Rembold Ulrich  , Woern Heinz
Published: February 2025

In craniofacial surgery bone fractures and repositioned bone segments often have to be fixed by titanium miniplates. In clinical routines the surgeon has to fit each miniplate to be used to the individual bone structure of the patient: bending and fitting of a miniplate must frequently be repeated several times. Often up to twenty minutes are required to achieve the best fit of a single osteosynthesis plate. As a patient usually receivd several miniplates for bone fixture, he will be exposed to long anaesthesia.
An Axial Skeleton Based Surface Deformation Algorithm for Patient Specific Anatomic Modeling
Authors: Cameron B.M.  , Robb R.A.
Published: February 2025

Traditionally, finite element analysis or mass-spring systems are used to calculate deformations of geometric surfaces. Patient-specific geometric models can be comprised of tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of polygons, making finite element analysis and mass-spring systems computationally demanding. Simulations using deformable patient specific models at real time rates are prohibitive under such a computational burden. This paper presents a method for simulating deformable surfaces by deforming a skeletal representation of the surface, rather than the surface itself, yielding an efficient method for interactive simulation with models.
Education and Training in Health Telematics
Authors: Niebergal Dennis
Published: February 2025

Train me, $\ldots$ but I have only 2 minutes!