Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Toward Improving Physician/Patient Communication Regarding Invisible Chronic Illness (Ici): The Potential Of Mhealth Technology In Instructional Communication, Jami Leigh Warren, Karen Clancy, Christy Brady, Kendall Rump, Tayla New-Oglesby

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Patients that suffer from invisible chronic illness (ICI) such as autoimmune conditions, neurological conditions, and gastrointestinal problems often struggle to obtain a proper medical diagnosis due to a lack of objective indicators to help health-care providers diagnose patients with ICIs. Thus, researchers conducted interviews with 21 participants with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) to determine what messages they received from health-care providers as they pursued a diagnosis, how they interpreted those messages, and what role mHealth technology may play in improving patient/provider communication and effective diagnosis/treatment of ICIs. Several themes regarding potential instructional communication intervention content emerged from the interview …

A Preliminary Evaluation Of The Behavioral Gerontology Staff Training Protocols, Minyoung Kim

Masters Theses

Staff training in aging settings is integral to ensuring quality services, and such training has traditionally been conducted in person. With the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a need for innovative approaches to training that reduce exposure for trainers and staff. However, the efficacy of such an approach has not yet been demonstrated. To prevent the waste of staff resources at long-term care facilities, this study evaluates the efficacy of behavioral gerontology staff training protocols as a form of telehealth by utilizing graduate and undergraduate students as pilot participants. We use an additive concurrent multiple-probe design across participants to evaluate the …

Evaluation Of Telehealth Training To Teach The Stimulus Identification Questionnaire And Multiple Stimulus Without Replacement, Andrea Perez

Dissertations

The field of behavioral gerontology has seen a paucity in literature within the past 15 years focused on updating training technology and teaching best practice skills to staff. Specifically, there is a need to expand the breadth of training research focus areas could more broadly the elderly population (e.g., increasing engagement), to ensure that trainings are designed to equip caregivers with the skills to be independent, and finally, given the frequent staffing challenges experienced by aging settings (Harrington et al., 2020), to explore effective and efficient training techniques that are alternatives to lengthy, in-person training modalities. Given the personnel challenges, …

Towards Development Of A Remote Charting System For Connected Healthcare, Alex Bodurka

Masters Theses

Health Care Providers play a crucial role in a patients well-being. While their primary role is to treat the patient, it is also vital to ensure that they can spend adequate time with the patient to create a unique treatment plan and build a personal relationship with their patients to help them feel comfortable during their treatment. Health Care Providers are frequently required to manually record patient data to track their healthcare progress during their hospital stay. However, with hospitals continuously trying to optimize their workflows, this crucial one-on-one time with the patient is often not practical.

As a solution, …

Radical Technological Innovation And Perception: A Non-Physician Practitioners’ Perspective, Mercedes Maarup, Michael Dohan, Wenyao Zhao, Shikui Wu

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Radical technological innovations, such as chatbots, fundamentally alter many aspects of healthcare organizations. For example, they transform how clinicians care for their patients. Despite the potential benefits, they cannot be integrated into practice without the support of the clinicians whose jobs are affected. While previous research shed important light on physicians’ perceptions, little is known on nonphysician practitioners view said innovations. This paper reports on a qualitative study, involving 10 nonphysician clinicians from Ontario, Canada, conducted to determine the perceptions and cognitions of clinicians regarding radical innovation and their previous experiences with technological change. Results indicate that clinicians as semi-autonomous …

Implications Of Vital Sign Monitor And Electronic Medical Record Integration On Identification Of Patients In Deteriorating Condition, Brandon Buxton, Jefton Knight, Utkarsh Shrivastava

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The manual transcription of patients’ vital signs often delays entry of critical information to Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems. This documentation delay within inpatient settings results in a lack of recent information on patient condition, decreased ability for providers to make clinical decisions, and an increased risk of data error. To alleviate these concerns, hospitals are adopting device interface systems which digitally integrate medical devices and EMRs. Prior studies have found that this type of system integration can potentially reduce the time spent on manual entry of information in the EMR and support other value-added activities in the hospital. However, …

Business Process Redesign In The Perioperative Process: A Case Perspective For Digital Transformation, Jim Ryan, Barbara Doster, Sandra Daily, Carmen Lewis

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

This case study investigates business process redesign within the perioperative process as a method to achieve digital transformation. Specific perioperative sub-processes are targeted for re-design and digitalization, which yield improvement. Based on a 184-month longitudinal study of a large 1,157 registered-bed academic medical center, the observed effects are viewed through a lens of information technology (IT) impact on core capabilities and core strategy to yield a digital transformation framework that supports patient-centric improvement across perioperative sub-processes. This research identifies existing limitations, potential capabilities, and subsequent contextual understanding to minimize perioperative process complexity, target opportunity for improvement, and ultimately yield improved …

Patient Trust And Resistance Towards Patient Portals, Ashley Spivak, Michael Dohan, Shikui Wu, Wenyao Zhao

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Health information technologies (HITs) as facilitators of chronic disease self-management remains an ongoing topic for information system researchers. This research addresses a gap in knowledge surrounding patient trust and resistance towards using these technologies, specifically patient portals. The method used to accomplish this study is through the dispersion of a quantitative survey to participants in Ontario, Canada. This survey focused on questions related to the four variables that have been identified through the literature to be important in determining patient resistance of HITs. The results indicate the importance of patient trust in mitigating their resistance to using these technologies.

Modeling Big Medical Survival Data Using Decision Tree Analysis With Apache Spark, Abdalrahman Alsaedi, Alvis Fong, Ikhlas Abdelqader, Mohammed Niaz Delano, Khulud Altaie

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

In many medical studies, an outcome of interest is not only whether an event occurred, but when an event occurred; and an example of this is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Identifying patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) who are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is highly important for AD treatment. Previous studies suggest that not all MCI patients will convert to AD. Massive amounts of data from longitudinal and extensive studies on thousands of Alzheimer’s patients have been generated. Building a computational model that can predict conversion form MCI to AD can be highly beneficial for early intervention and treatment …

The Effects Of Outdoor Air Pollutants On The Costs Of Stroke Hospitalizations In China, Siyu Zeng, Luo Li, Fang Chen

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Stroke, the most frequent cause of severe disability and the second cause of death among adults in the world, brings tremendous mental and economic burden to patients and their families. Emerging evidence indicates that the air pollution mixture contributes to strokes. Knowing the relationship between the air pollution and the hospital costs of stroke can help us predict the costs due to air pollution, provide grounds for the allocation of medical insurance funds, and provide better working arrangements for CDC. However, few studies have examined this connection. We used time series analysis with a generalized additive model to estimate the …

Hsp: A Tool For Heat Stress Prevention For Farm Workers, Juan C. Lavariega-Jarquín, Marc Schenker, Alfonso Ávila, Lorena G. Gomez

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

We present the initial development of an integrated application for heat stress and heat related illness prevention in farm workers. In developing the application we have follow the OSHA guidelines and an extended project includes the social, cultural and economic factors of farm workers. Even though, our development focus is on workers in the California fields, we believe our project will be useful in multiple situations where individuals are exposed to extreme heat working conditions. This paper describes the motivation for our development, the overall approach we are following, and the first version of our application.

Pressure Injury And Restraint Prevalence Surveys: Saving Time And Dollars For Patient Care By Automating Manual Chart Abstraction, Jefton Knight, Melinda Gevaart, Stephanie Wagner, Shellie Bush, Jeanann Miller

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Bronson Healthcare Group performs quarterly pressure injury and restraint audits as part of the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). The chart abstraction portion of the audit previously required nurses to manually abstract 31 data points. To save time and cost, we used Lean and PDSA process improvement tools to automate the chart abstraction portion of the audit, reducing the number of data points requiring manual abstraction to 2. We validated the automated abstraction by comparing it to abstractions done manually by the audit nurses. We found that an automated process has the potential to reduce the impact of …

“Real World” Research Using Practice Based Research Networks (Pbrn): A Systematic Review, Elmon Oliver Iii, Robert Brown

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Objective: While the randomized control clinical trial (RCT) has long been viewed as the “gold standard” for evidence based medicine, researchers and clinicians have also recognized limitations of RCTs when applied to clinical practice. These limitations arise from the fact that the results of interventions and procedures of RCTs conducted in controlled institutional settings often differ significantly from results obtained when the same interventions are applied in clinical practice. Consequently, there are increasing calls for more research to be carried out in the “real world” setting of clinical practices treating heterogeneous groups of patients. Studies conducted in clinical practices are …

Impact Of Ehr Usability On Provider Efficiency And Patient Safety In Non-Hospital Settings, Guenter Tusch, Raymond J. Higbea, Marie Vanderkooi, Larry Warkoczeski, Wanda Sankey, Jamie Cole

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Healthcare organizations may reap benefits transitioning to electronic health records (EHRs), such as decreased healthcare costs and better care. However, severe unintended consequences from implementation and design of these systems have emerged. Poorly implemented EHR systems may endanger the integrity of clinical or administrative data. That, in turn, can lead to errors jeopardizing patient safety or quality of care. A literature review of 40 sources identified how EHR implementation and design can impact provider centric, patient centric, and outcomes. These categories provided the basis for a comprehensive EHR impact model that was evaluated in non-hospital settings through focus groups interviews.

The Dynamics Of Real-Time Online Information And Disease Progression: Understanding Spatial Heterogeneity In The Relationship, Blake Tindol, Utkarsh Shrivastava, Kuanchin Chen

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The re-emergence of infectious diseases such as measles and polio is creating logistics challenges for the state authorities to curb their spread and contain them. (CL, 2015) Real-time surveillance of infectious diseases is important to detect possible epidemics in advance to prevent shortages of medications (FDA, 2018). The outbreak of an infectious disease creates panic in the community and is accompanied by a sudden increase in the online interest in knowing more about the disease and its symptoms. Prior studies have found a strong relationship between web-based information and disease outbreak but the influence of dynamics of web-based information in …

It-Based Patient Interventions For Opioid Abuse: Evaluation Using Analytical Model, Neetu Singh, Upkar Varshney

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The number of people in the US with opioid abuse exceeds 2 million and the total cost is approximately $100B per year. In this study, we focus on patient-level interventions and present three IT-based interventions: (a) mobile reminders, (b) electronic monitoring, and (c) composite intervention. We have developed an analytical model for evaluating interventions using Return-on-Investment (ROI). The interventions are cost-effective for higher values of intervention effectiveness, hospital, and emergency room cost. However, with QoL improvement, cost-effectiveness improves significantly. We also explored the use of financial incentives for increasing the adoption of interventions. These results will help patients, healthcare professionals, …

Does It Spending Matter On Hospital Financial Performance And Quality?, C. Christopher Lee, Christopher Chagnon, Robert Marfia

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

This research explored impacts of IT spending on hospital financial performance and hospital quality. We developed two research hypotheses accordingly. The first hypothesis was that IT spending would be positively related to the hospital financial performance, and the second hypothesis was that hospitals with higher IT spending would have better quality metrics. We used the 2017 American Hospital Association Survey data and the HCAHPS dataset from Medicare website. We tested three hospital financials and three quality measures. We employed T-Tests and ANOVA models to test the hypotheses. Results were inconclusive for both hypotheses. Evidence showed statistical significance on two out …

Communication Style In Medical Crowdfunding: Effect Of Emotional Framing And Updates Frequency On Funding And Emotional Support, Onochie Fan-Osuala

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Despite the rise of medical crowdfunding and its benefits to patients including reducing financial hardships and providing emotional social support, limited attention has been paid to how a campaign organizer can drive performance. In this study, we investigate how the communication style used in a medical crowdfunding campaign can affect both the funding performance and emotional support received. We find that emotional framing and frequent updates have a positive effect on funding and emotional support and discuss the implications.

Transactions Of 2019 International Conference On Health Information Technology Advancement Vol. 4 No. 1, Center For Health Information Technology Advancement

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The Fourth International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement Kalamazoo, Michigan, October 31 - Nov. 1, 2019.

Conference Co-Chairs Bernard T. Han and Muhammad Razi, Department of Business Information Systems, Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI 49008

Transaction Editor Dr. Huei Lee, Professor, Department of Computer Information Systems, Eastern Michigan University Ypsilanti, MI 48197

Volume 4, No. 1

Hosted by The Center for Health Information Technology Advancement, WMU

Technology And College Student Mental Health, Glinda Rawls

Academic Leadership Academy

College counseling centers have observed increases in the prevalence and severity of mental health issues that student experience. One strategy is to address the increased demand for services is the use of online therapy. Online therapy can be accessed through the internet. Online therapy provides people with a platform to seek help with their mental health issues. There are many different forms of online therapy or counseling. They include video chat, messaging, video conferencing and chat rooms.

Multifaceted Contents And Techniques For Designing Health Communication Courses, Maria Brann, Laura Russell

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Health communication courses explore health phenomena from various angles. Whether focusing on interpersonal and organizational relationships or addressing community and national campaigns, instructors may choose from various contents to design these courses. This essay highlights critical questions, contents, and activities useful for instructors seeking information for designing health communication courses. Moreover, the authors reflect on sensitive issues unique to these courses that instructors should take into consideration when teaching.

Awareness And Use Of Electronic Health Records In Entry-Level Occupational Therapy And Occupational Therapy Assistant Curricula, Louis F. Dmytryk, Tina M. Deangelis

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) requires programs to instruct entry-level occupational therapy (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students in technology that may include electronic documentation systems, distance communication, virtual environments, and telehealth (standard B1.8). At this time, there are no publications describing if and how electronic health record (EHR) instruction is implemented in entry-level OT and OTA programs. The purpose of this study is to investigate awareness and use of EHRs in entry-level OT and OTA curricula. Respondents from 76 nationally accredited entry-level programs (two OT doctoral, 24 OT masters, two OT combined bachelors/masters, and 48 …

4th Ichita And 13th It Forum Call For Papers, Western Michigan University

International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement Brochures

Conference held November 2-3, 2017 at the Fetzer Center at Western Michigan University with the theme "Exploring Health IT Innovation and Cyver Security in the Digital Era."

Does Unlearning Impact Interaction Of Ehr End-Users?, Julee Hafner, Cherie Noteboom

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Organizations need to remain competitive in today’s marketplace. Technology change impacts knowledge competencies that require alteration quickly, to reduce operating costs, and eliminate human errors. Updating computer system documentation procedures require unlearning to maintain competency. Physician end-users possess specialized competencies, or knowledge base in documentation of patient data to the degree that these operations have become automatic. To change the knowledge base of practitioners, end-users must use intellectual capital to unlearn patient care EHR documentation. This study focused on competency change, with the perceptions and influencers of unlearning of old competencies during EHR updates.

Realizing The Value Of Ehr Systems: Critical Success Factors, Elizabeth A. Regan, Jumee Wang

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Now that a majority of hospitals and primary care physicians have made the transition to electronic health record (EHR) systems, realizing value from this investment has become a major issue. The issue raises two key questions: Why do so many EHR implementations continue to fall short of achieving intended healthcare outcome goals? What differentiates those that succeed from those that fall short? This article builds on prior research using a systems framework to analyze the EHR implementation process. It focuses on ten common themes (CSFs) that appear to differentiate institutions which achieve positive healthcare outcomes from those that do not. …

Understanding User Resistance To Information Technology In Healthcare: The Nature And Role Of Perceived Threats, Madison Ngafeeson

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Information technology (IT) in healthcare is here to stay. The United States government has made efforts in the past ten years to harness the power of information technologies in healthcare to improve legibility, lessen medical errors, keep costs low, and boost the overall quality of health care. However, IT user resistance in healthcare is continually cited as a major barrier to achieving desired outcomes. Understanding the nature and manifestation of resistance is clearly a key to successfully managing this industry-wide change, fostering adoption, and realizing positive outcomes. Earlier research had established perceived threats as a significant antecedent of user resistance; …

Eemi - An Electronic Health Record For Pediatricians: Adoption Barriers, Services And Use In Mexico, Juan Carlos L. Jarquin, Roberto Garza, Lorena G. Gomez Dr., Manuel J. Silva-Cavazos, Víctor J. Lara-Díaz

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The use of paper health records and handwritten prescriptions are prone to preset errors of misunderstanding instructions or interpretations that derive in affecting patients’ health. Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems are useful tools that among other functions can assists physicians’ tasks such as finding recommended medicines (and their contraindications) and dosage for a given diagnosis, filling prescriptions and support data sharing with other systems. By using an EHR many errors can be avoided. This paper presents EEMI (Expediente Electrónico Médico Infantil), a Children EHR focused on assisting pediatricians in their daily office practice. EEMI functionality keeps the relationships among diagnosis, …

Can Psychology Research Inform Health Information Data Collection?, A. Michelle Wright

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Conclusions drawn from electronic medical records (EMRs) are only as accurate as the data provided. Recent findings by psychologists and health researchers may help streamline health information data collection and subsequent data analysis. Specifically, four areas will be discussed: (1) Standardization of terms between the patient and the health professionals, (2) Impact of patient inattention and fatigue when responding to health measures, (3) Importance of source labeling within the medical record (e.g., self-administered questionnaire, responded via phone, etc.), (4) Cognitive load on patients when using mobile health technology (e.g., apps, tablets, online patient portal, etc.). Research suggests consideration of these …

Exploring Cloud Computing Implementation Issues In Healthcare Industry, Sadaf Ashtari, Ali Eydgahi, Huei Lee

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

Nowadays, cloud computing—as a flexible, collaborative, cost effective and scalable computational approach—is being applied within different public and private organizations. Furthermore, the use of cloud-based applications is becoming more widespread on both the organizational and individual level than it has been in the past. Healthcare is one discipline that could benefit from cloud-based applications; however, because of various privacy and security issues, it has been adopted more slowly than in many other disciplines. The purpose of this preliminary study is to investigate the related literature in order to explore the cloud computing implementation issues in the healthcare industry. Technological, Organizational, …

Socio-Economic Dimension Of Indoor Radon Gas In West Michigan - A Public Health Discourse And Merit To Use Hit In Shaping Health Behavior, Azizur Molla

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

This study focuses on indoor radon levels and socioeconomic data from West Michigan, MI. It was designed to: i) analyze the relationship between indoor radon levels and socioeconomic status of the participating households, and ii) assess the degree of public awareness about the danger of indoor radon gas. The study participants expressed that they knew that radon was negative, and a health risk, but were not equipped with the knowledge to test for or mitigate radon. With nearly half of the participants affected in some way by cancer, radon is a concern and a source for worry among many citizens. …