Setting priorities for EU healthcare workforce IT skills competence improvement

A major challenge for healthcare quality improvement is the lack of IT skills and knowledge of healthcare workforce as well as their ambivalent attitudes towards IT. This paper identifies and prioritises actions needed to improve the IT skills of healthcare workforce across the EU. 46 experts, representing different fields of expertise in healthcare and geolocations systematically list and scored actions that would improve IT skills among healthcare workforce. The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was used for research priority-setting. The participants evaluated the actions using the following criteria: feasibility, effectiveness, deliverability, and maximum impact on IT skills improvement. The leading priority actions were related to appropriate training, integrating eHealth in curricula, involving healthcare workforce in the eHealth solution development, improving awareness of eHealth and learning arrangement. As the different professionals’ needs are prioritised, healthcare workforce should be actively and continuously included in the development of eHealth solutions

The Next Frontier in Communication and the ECLIPPSE Study: Bridging the Linguistic Divide in Secure Messaging

abstract: Health systems are heavily promoting patient portals. However, limited health literacy (HL) can restrict online communication via secure messaging (SM) because patients’ literacy skills must be sufficient to convey and comprehend content while clinicians must encourage and elicit communication from patients and match patients’ literacy level. This paper describes the Employing Computational Linguistics to Improve Patient-Provider Secure Email (ECLIPPSE) study, an interdisciplinary effort bringing together scientists in communication, computational linguistics, and health services to employ computational linguistic methods to (1) create a novel Linguistic Complexity Profile (LCP) to characterize communications of patients and clinicians and demonstrate its validity and (2) examine whether providers accommodate communication needs of patients with limited HL by tailoring their SM responses. We will study >5 million SMs generated by >150,000 ethnically diverse type 2 diabetes patients and >9000 clinicians from two settings: an integrated delivery system and a public (safety net) system. Finally, we will then create an LCP-based automated aid that delivers real-time feedback to clinicians to reduce the linguistic complexity of their SMs. This research will support health systems’ journeys to become health literate healthcare organizations and reduce HL-related disparities in diabetes care.The article is published at https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2017/1348242

New Trends in Development of Services in the Modern Economy

The services sector strategic development unites a multitude of economic and managerial aspects and is one of the most important problems of economic management. Many researches devoted to this industry study are available. Most of them are performed in the traditional aspect of the voluminous calendar approach to strategic management, characteristic of the national scientific school. Such an approach seems archaic, forming false strategic benchmarks. The services sector is of special scientific interest in this context due to the fact that the social production structure to the services development model attraction in many countries suggests transition to postindustrial economy type where the services sector is a system-supporting sector of the economy. Actively influencing the economy, the services sector in the developed countries dominates in the GDP formation, primary capital accumulation, labor, households final consumption and, finally, citizens comfort of living. However, a clear understanding of the services sector as a hyper-sector permeating all spheres of human activity has not yet been fully developed, although interest in this issue continues to grow among many authors. Target of strategic management of the industry development setting requires substantive content and the services sector target value assessment

Digital health and universal health coverage: opportunities and policy considerations for Pacific Island health authorities

The emergence of digital health tools offer opportunities to complement and support the health system in the delivery of health services, especially in resource-constrained settings. Low- and middle-income countries have implemented various digital health interventions to support a range of health functions including patient information collection, diagnostics, supply-chain management, and remote clinical monitoring. The use of digital health in Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) is increasing. Effective implementation is hampered by misalignment between system design and contextual realities among other factors. Health service delivery in PICTs are highly resource sensitive, digital health must add demonstrable benefit to justify the expenditure of resources that could otherwise be allocated to facilities, equipment, staff, medicines and other commodities. This policy brief aims to identify health system challenges in the region which digital health interventions may address for decision-makers. It aims to identify policy and implementation factors to increase the likelihood of sustainable and scalable adoption of DHIs, and identify health resources to best capitalize on opportunities that digital health solutions offer. Recommendations suggest the need for each country or territory in the region to assess and determine their own priorities and opportunities, and devise digital health strategies in response. Recommendations outlined in the brief suggest the need to develop national-level digital health strategies to identify timelines and priorities, support mechanisms to strengthen digital health governance, human resource and institutional capacity. The brief aims to provide recommendations to aid relevant stakeholders to strengthen and support the use of ICTs to deliver equitable and integrated person-centered health care in the region

Moving Forward as a Family: Crafting a 2-Generation Strategy for Central Texas, PRP 192

United Way for Greater Austin commissioned this policy research project to guide their focus on helping low socioeconomic families achieve greater financial stability through the development of a Two-Generation (2-Gen) strategy for the Central Texas region. Two-Gen programs emphasize the importance of education as a means for better economic outcomes. High-quality early childhood education programs allow children to make critical neural connections during a period of substantial growth and development, ultimately better preparing them for pre-kindergarten programs and academic success in subsequent years. Adults working low-paying jobs encounter barriers to career advancement due to lacking credentials or relevant education. It is not uncommon for parents working long hours for low wages to have at least one child in need of high-quality early childhood education, yet they are unable to enroll their child in such programs due to issues such as cost, transportation, and time away from work. Two-Gen programs seek to resolve the issues complicating this problem of financial instability by providing high-quality educational and training programs for both parents and children, which are even more effective when intentionally coordinated so that the family develops as a single unit in a positive direction. The research consisted of a literature review; a program scan at the local, state, and federal levels; and site visits within Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio, as well as Boston and Miami. Data collected specific to the Central Texas region include a labor market analysis, a needs assessment, and a mapping of current organizational assets. Obtaining and analyzing this data allowed the team to better understand 2-Gen program development, outcomes, impact measurements, and areas for improvement. The research team developed practical applications for the information collected, ultimately contributing to the proposed anti-poverty strategy through the intentional coordination of 2-Gen services by leveraging existing organizational assets to best address the area’s most salient needs. In addition, the team proposed an evaluation strategy involving cost-benefit equations, program evaluation metrics, and a screening tool to predict the likelihood of a program achieving successful outcomes. The report concludes with policy recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels, as well as a summary of the populations affected by financial instability and future directions for this field.United Way for Greater AustinPublic Affair

Emerging Insights of Health Informatics Research: A Literature Analysis for Outlining New Themes

This paper presents a contemporary literature review to provide insights into the current health informatics literature. The objective of this study is to identify emerging directions of current health informatics research from the latest and existing studies in the health informatics domain. We analyse existing health informatics studies using a thematic analysis, so that justified sets of research agenda can be outlined on the basis of these findings. We selected articles that are published in the Science Direct online database. The selected 73 sample articles (published from 2014 to 2018 in premier health informatics journals) are considered as representative samples of health informatics studies. The analysis revealed ten topic areas and themes that would be of paramount importance for researchers and practitioners to follow. The findings provide an important foundational understanding for new health informatics studies

Applied Public Health Informatics: An eHealth Discipline Focused on Populations

The discipline of public health informatics, part of the broader eHealth field, brings methods, knowledge, and theories from computer science and information science to support population health and well-being. This branch of informatics is most often found in governmental public health agencies that focus on population-level activities, including surveillance of disease as well as disease prevention. There are several specialised public health information systems used to prevent or mitigate disease, including syndromic surveillance, electronic laboratory reporting, and population health dashboards. This article defines and describes public health informatics and its role in eHealth. The article further discusses the role of public health information systems and challenges they face for the future. Strengthening public health will require greater investment in interoperability as well as analytics and the workforce. Disease outbreaks like COVID-19, Ebola, and H1N1 demonstrate the need for robust public health informatics applications and methods. Yet there is much work to be done to evolve existing tools and methods to strengthen the public health infrastructure for the next pandemic

Health information technology and digital innovation for national learning health and care systems

Health information technology can support the development of national learning health and care systems, which can be defined as health and care systems that continuously use data-enabled infrastructure to support policy and planning, public health, and personalisation of care. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered an opportunity to assess how well equipped the UK is to leverage health information technology and apply the principles of a national learning health and care system in response to a major public health shock. With the experience acquired during the pandemic, each country within the UK should now re-evaluate their digital health and care strategies. After leaving the EU, UK countries now need to decide to what extent they wish to engage with European efforts to promote interoperability between electronic health records. Major priorities for strengthening health information technology in the UK include achieving the optimal balance between top-down and bottom-up implementation, improving usability and interoperability, developing capacity for handling, processing, and analysing data, addressing privacy and security concerns, and encouraging digital inclusivity. Current and future opportunities include integrating electronic health records across health and care providers, investing in health data science research, generating real-world data, developing artificial intelligence and robotics, and facilitating public–private partnerships. Many ethical challenges and unintended consequences of implementation of health information technology exist. To address these, there is a need to develop regulatory frameworks for the development, management, and procurement of artificial intelligence and health information technology systems, create public–private partnerships, and ethically and safely apply artificial intelligence in the National Health Service