Health Information Technology Commons^™

Hidden Surveillance On Consumer Health Information Websites, Jacquelyn A. Burkell, Alexandre Fortier

FIMS Publications

Behavioural tracking presents a significant privacy risk to Canadians, particularly when their online behaviours reveal sensitive information that could be used to discriminate against them. This concern is particularly relevant in the context of online health information seeking, since searches can reveal details about health conditions and concerns that the individual may wish to keep private. The privacy threats are exacerbated because behavioural tracking mechanisms are large invisible to users, and many are unaware of the strategies and mechanisms available to track online behaviour. In this project, we seek to document the behavioural tracking practices of consumer health websites, and …

Online Survey System For Image-Based Clinical Guideline Studies Using The Delphi Method, Todd Martin Harper

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing use of health information technology (HIT) is due to a rising interest in improving the quality of health care. HIT has the potential to reduce cost and transform services. Proper clinical support systems will contribute to the meaningful use of HIT systems by providing a wide array of data to clinicians for the diagnosis and treatments. Clinical guidelines, created by a consensus of experts, can be put in place to assist physicians in making clinical decisions. Delphi methods are commonly used to create consensus from surveys completed by a team of experts. Image-based studies could create guidelines that …

Rfid Technology Selection And Economic Justification For Healthcare Asset Tracking, Tyler Robert Peabody, Tali Freed

Master's Theses

Although Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Real-Time Location System (RTLS) technologies for inventory tracking have been growing in popularity, the healthcare industry has been reluctant to adopt these technologies. One of the primary reasons for this lack of enthusiasm has been the risk associated with electromagnetic interference between RFID/RTLS systems and medical equipment functionality. The other reason has been the substantial cost and complexity of implementing RFID/RTLS in healthcare organizations. In this study, we show that there are several ways to safely install RFID/RTLS systems to improve the inventory management processes of hospitals and clinics. We then analyze the inventory …

Importance Of New Technologies For Diabetes Monitoring, David P. Paul Iii, Joey Preast, Zach Garrett, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

Diabetes and its ramifications and treatments are presented, followed by discussion of the importance of communication between patient and clinician. Improved communication approaches, including telephone consultations, blood glucose communications to a provider with feedback, and active electronic diaries on smartphones for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, are reviewed.

Icd-10 In The United States: Better Late Than Never, Holly Johns, Cara Havens, Danielle Robinson, Bala S. Pothakamuri, David P. Paul Iii, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

The United States faces a revolution in the healthcare system soon, when the present coding system (ICD-9) will be replaced with what has for some years been the international standard: ICD-10. ICD-10 will provide a tremendous opportunity for better capturing the information in the increasingly complex delivery of healthcare. Although the transition to ICD-10 will undoubtedly result in substantial short-term costs, the long term benefits make the transition imperative.

Data Mining The Functional Characterizations Of Proteins To Predict Their Cancer-Relatedness, Peter Revesz, Christopher Assi

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper considers two types of protein data. First, data about protein function described in a number of ways, such as, GO terms and PFAM families. Second, data about whether individual proteins are experimentally associated with cancer by an anomalous elevation or lowering of their expressions within cancerous cells. We combine these two types of protein data and test whether the first type of data, that is, the functional descriptors, can predict the second type of data, that is, cancer-relatedness. By using data mining and machine learning, we derive a classifier algorithm that using only GO term and PFAM family …

A Review Of Radio Frequency Identification Technologies And Impacts On The Hospital Supply Chain: 2002–2012, Alberto Coustasse, Shane Tomblin, Chelsea Slack

Management Faculty Research

Supply costs are the second largest expenditure in hospitals, accounting for more than one third of the average operating budget. RFID technology can reduce these costs, improve patient safety, and supply chain management by increasing the ability to track and locate equipment, as well as monitoring theft prevention, distribution management, and patient billing. Findings of this study have shown that the application of RFID on medical equipment and supplies have resulted in efficiency increase in healthcare with lower costs and increased quality services. Even though the cost of RFID implementation is decreasing, the total expenditures are still significant and the …

The Future Of Hipaa In The Cloud, Frank Pasquale, Tara Adams Ragone

Faculty Scholarship

This white paper examines how cloud computing generates new privacy challenges for both healthcare providers and patients, and how American health privacy laws may be interpreted or amended to address these challenges. Given the current implementation of Meaningful Use rules for health information technology and the Omnibus HIPAA Rule in health care generally, the stage is now set for a distinctive law of “health information” to emerge. HIPAA has come of age of late, with more aggressive enforcement efforts targeting wayward healthcare providers and entities. Nevertheless, more needs to be done to assure that health privacy and all the values …

Impacts Of Social Networking Sites On Patient Care In The Emergency Department, Anne Bennett, Ali Pourmand, Robert Shesser, Jesus Sanchez, Joseph Joyce

Emergency Medicine Faculty Publications

The use of Facebook is ubiquitous among both patients and physicians. Often Facebook intrudes into medical practice, thereby highlighting its potential to be either a positive or negative factor in a patient's medical care. Despite being a “hot topic” in the medical literature, very few real world examples exist of physicians actually using information obtained from Facebook to reach a diagnosis or otherwise affect patient care. We present a case involving a 13-year-old girl who posted photographs and captions on Facebook demonstrating suicidal ideation. The patient's parents were alerted to the girl's statements in her Facebook profile and brought her …

The Effect Of A Simulation Experience On Student Perception Of Self Confidence, Ginny N. Little

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The aim is to determine if participation in a high-fidelity simulation increases student levels of self-confidence. Thirty-eight first year associate degree nursing students enrolled in a medical-surgical course in a southeastern community college participated in a diabetes simulation as part of their course. Students then voluntarily completed a survey indicating self-confidence following the simulation. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the overall mean of student responses to each question on the National League for Nursing (NLN) Student Satisfaction and Self Confidence in Learning Tool. Students rated the teaching helpful and effective with a mean score of 4.47 (sd = .951). …

Use Of A Subcutaneous Insulin Computerized Glucostabilizer™ Program On Glycemic Control In The Intensive Care Setting: A Retrospective Data Analysis., Sarah A. Nisly, Serena Harris, Laura Aykroyd, Joni Carrol, Brian Ulmer, Michael Waddell, Samuel Flanders, Rattan Juneja

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Background: Despite guidelines that recommend strongly against Sliding Scale Insulin (SSI) it continues to be the most commonly insulin regimen used in hospitals to treat hyperglycemia. In addition to being reactionary to a glucose that has already increased, SSI offers practical challenges in the randomness of the doses of insulin prescribed and often a disconnect with glucose testing that should be occurring in congruence to the insulin dosing. While many clinical trials have shown improved glycemic control in critical care patients receiving intravenous insulin; few studies have demonstrated the efficacy of subcutaneous (SQ) insulin in this setting. In this study, …

Information Sources In Relation To Information Quality, Information-Seeking, And Uncertainty In The Context Of Healthcare Reform, Jennifer L. Bevan

Communication Faculty Books and Book Chapters

This exploratory study examines information-seeking about the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e. healthcare reform) in relation to the potential barriers of uncertainty,uncertainty discrepancy, and low health self-efficacy. Adult United States participants completed an anonymous online survey about their perceptions and understanding of healthcare reform. Results confirmed recent literature, suggesting a complex relationship between information-seeking and uncertainty. Specifically, for this sample, significant positive relationships were observed between information-seeking about healthcare reform and uncertainty, uncertainty discrepancy, health self-efficacy. Further, uncertainty discrepancy was the potential barrier that accounted for the most variance in predicting information-seeking.Implications of these findings for improving …

The Role Of Is Infrastructure And Organizational Context On Implementation Of Electronic Health Records Systems, Pilar Pazos, Anjee Gorkhali, Rolando Delaguila

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This research explores the role that Information System (IS) infrastructure and organizational context play on the implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) Systems. A number of indicators can be used as a proxy for IS infrastructure such as: Information System (IS) Department Budget allocation, percentage of full time IS staff and the number of technical trainings provided by the IS department to the clinical staff. Data was obtained from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) database, a non-for profit organization that evaluates the use of information technology in the health care industry. This paper reports on the development …

Implementation Lessons On The Use Of Innovation In Information Technology In The Developing World, Salim Hasham, Saleem Sayani

Section of Ophthalmology

Information Technology (IT) innovation and its impact on health care is of particular relevance to the developing world, which spends a fraction of what health systems spend in OECD countries. Given the issues of accessibility, affordability and quality health services in the developing world, IT can play an important role by bringing marginalized communities closer to health care systems. Aga Khan University (AKU) and the eHealth Resource Center (eHRC), which are part of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), are active in the developing regions of east africa, Central Asia and South East Asia and are currently initiating new changes in …

A Single-Parameter Model Of The Immune Response To Bacterial Invasion, Lester Caudill

Department of Math & Statistics Faculty Publications

The human immune response to bacterial pathogens is a remarkably complex process, involving many different cell types, chemical signals, and extensive lines of communication. Mathematical models of this system have become increasingly high-dimensional and complicated, as researchers seek to capture many of the major dynamics. In this paper, we argue that, in some important instances, preference should be given to low-dimensional models of immune response, as opposed to their high-dimensional counterparts. One such model is analyzed and shown to reflect many of the key phenomenological properties of the immune response in humans. Notably, this model includes a single parameter values, …

Legal Issues With The Electronic Health Record, Hannah Jackson

Applied Research Projects

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to make readers aware of the legal issues in the electronic health record (EHR) and the risks involved so they can be prepared. It is also to help provide solution to those who are already dealing with the risks. The goal of this Project is to reach out to health care facilities who are about to embark on a new chapter in health care that we call, the EHR. Everyone should know the risks of a product before purchasing and that is what my research will show.

Method

I used The Journal of …

Electronic Health Record Incentive Program Demonstrates Adoption Association With Improved Care, Keith Rosenbaum

Applied Research Projects

This study used Meaningful Use (MU) payment information as a proxy for electronic health record (EHR) adoption linked to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) data indicating quality to demonstrate the association of EHR adoption with improved care. The CMS quality indicators used were comprised of data from the value-based purchasing (VBP) program, readmission reduction program, and hospital compare mortality data. Results showed a positive association of EHR adoption with the VBP data, which most closely aligns the MU achievement period with the quality measure period. Readmission and mortality data showed negative and neutral associations, respectively, with a less aligned …

Anesthesia Information Management Systems: A Review Of The History, The Products, And The Adoption Of These Systems, Emily G. Hoffner

Applied Research Projects

Anesthesia Information Management Systems (AIMS) have been growing in popularity and use over the past decade, but widespread adoption of these systems by anesthesia groups and hospitals across the country is yet to occur. The promise of AIMS reaches beyond basic anesthesia recordkeeping into a realm of complex, integrated systems with enhanced billing, improved regulatory requirements, improved communication amongst caregivers, and reduced medical-legal exposure. In fact, AIMS have been shown to improve patient care and can increase the financial performance of a group. Despite the documented benefits of AIMS, adoption of these systems is low. This paper will review the …

Correctional Telemedicine And Its Benefits For Female Inmates, Chelsea Oliver

Applied Research Projects

The purpose of this study is to identify health issues that are specific to the female population of correctional institutions and how telemedicine would be beneficial in providing healthcare to same. A questionnaire was developed using information from literature on the topics obtained from a variety of places. Once the questionnaire was completed, a randomly selected group of telemedicine providers received the questionnaire, along with an introduction and information on the study that was being conducted.

The barriers of this study came from telemedicine providers either not responding to the questionnaire entirely or the providers only being able to answer …

Closing The Meaningful Use Gap Between Small And Large Practices, Crystal L. Jones

Applied Research Projects

The Lack of Meaningful Use Awareness in small practices is very prevalent. One may ask why there is such a gap in MU Awareness amongst small and large practices. The answer is quite the same across the board for small practices, “Cost”. This misfortune has resulted in many small practice physicians and staff being objective to the adoption of an electronic health record system. They are indifferent about the penalties that will be enforced soon, if they do not follow suite with the guidelines mandated by the ARRA. Essentially, this thesis will provide statistical data on the adoption rate of …