A SWOT Analysis of the Various Backup Scenarios Used in Electronic Medical Record Systems

Objectives: Electronic medical records (EMRs) are increasingly being used by health care services. Currently, if an EMR shutdown occurs, even for a moment, patient safety and care can be seriously impacted. Our goal was to determine the methodology needed to develop an effective and reliable EMR backup system. Methods: Our "independent backup system by medical organizations " paradigm implies that individual medical organizations develop their own EMR backup systems within their organizations. A "personal independent backup system " is defined as an individual privately managing his/her own medical records, whereas in a "central backup system by the government " the government controls all the data. A "central backup system by private enterprises " implies that individual companies retain control over their own data. A "cooperative backup system among medical organizations " refers to a networked system established through mutual agreement. The "backup system based on mutual trust between an individual and an organization " means that the medical information backup system at the organizational level is established through mutual trust. Results: Through the use of SWOT analysis it can be shown that cooperative backup among medical organizations is possible to be established through a network composed of various medical agencies and that it can be managed systematically. An owner of medical information only grants data access to the specific person who gave the authorization for backup based on the mutual trust between an individual and an organization. Conclusions: By employing SWOT analysis, we concluded that a linkage among medical organizations or between a

Voices from Varick: Detainee Grievances at New York City's Only Federal Immigration Detention Facility

Analyzes one year of grievances filed by immigration detainees housed in the Varick Federal Detention Facility. It documents detainee stories of inadequate medical care and mistreatment by the facility's staff. It adds to the growing chorus of voices that have concluded that the federal government has failed in its responsibilities to provide adequate care to detainees housed in immigration facilities

An investigation of grammar design in natural-language speech-recognition.

With the growing interest and demand for human-machine interaction, much work concerning speech-recognition has been carried out over the past three decades. Although a variety of approaches have been proposed to address speech-recognition issues, such as stochastic (statistical) techniques, grammar-based techniques, techniques integrated with linguistic features, and other approaches, recognition accuracy and robustness remain among the major problems that need to be addressed. At the state of the art, most commercial speech products are constructed using grammar-based speech-recognition technology. In this thesis, we investigate a number of features involved in grammar design in natural-language speech-recognition technology. We hypothesize that: with the same domain, a semantic grammar, which directly encodes some semantic constraints into the recognition grammar, achieves better accuracy, but less robustness; a syntactic grammar defines a language with a larger size, thereby it has better robustness, but less accuracy; a word-sequence grammar, which includes neither semantics nor syntax, defines the largest language, therefore, is the most robust, but has very poor recognition accuracy. In this Master\u27s thesis, we claim that proper grammar design can achieve the appropriate compromise between recognition accuracy and robustness. The thesis has been proven by experiments using the IBM Voice-Server SDK, which consists of a VoiceXML browser, IBM ViaVoice Speech Recognition and Text-To-Speech (TTS) engines, sample applications, and other tools for developing and testing VoiceXML applications. The experimental grammars are written in the Java Speech Grammar Format (JSGF), and the testing applications are written in VoiceXML. The tentative experimental results suggest that grammar design is a good area for further study. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2003 .S555. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-01, page: 0244. Adviser: Richard A. Frost. Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2004

An investigation of the electrolytic plasma oxidation process for corrosion protection of pure magnesium and magnesium alloy AM50.

In this study, silicate and phosphate EPO coatings were produced on pure magnesium using an AC power source. It was found that the silicate coatings possess good wear resistance, while the phosphate coatings provide better corrosion protection. A Design of Experiment (DOE) technique, the Taguchi method, was used to systematically investigate the effect of the EPO process parameters on the corrosion protection properties of a coated magnesium alloy AM50 using a DC power. The experimental design consisted of four factors (treatment time, current density, and KOH and NaAlO2 concentrations), with three levels of each factor. Potentiodynamic polarization measurements were conducted to determine the corrosion resistance of the coated samples. The optimized processing parameters are 12 minutes, 12 mA/cm2 current density, 0.9 g/l KOH, 15.0 g/l NaAlO2. The results of the percentage contribution of each factor determined by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) imply that the KOH concentration is the most significant factor affecting the corrosion resistance of the coatings, while treatment time is a major factor affecting the thickness of the coatings. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .M323. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1479. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005

SPEECH TO CHART: SPEECH RECOGNITION AND NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING FOR DENTAL CHARTING

Typically, when using practice management systems (PMS), dentists perform data entry by utilizing an assistant as a transcriptionist. This prevents dentists from interacting directly with the PMSs. Speech recognition interfaces can provide the solution to this problem. Existing speech interfaces of PMSs are cumbersome and poorly designed. In dentistry, there is a desire and need for a usable natural language interface for clinical data entry. Objectives. (1) evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction of the speech interfaces of four dental PMSs, (2) develop and evaluate a speech-to-chart prototype for charting naturally spoken dental exams. Methods. We evaluated the speech interfaces of four leading PMSs. We manually reviewed the capabilities of each system and then had 18 dental students chart 18 findings via speech in each of the systems. We measured time, errors, and user satisfaction. Next, we developed and evaluated a speech-to-chart prototype which contained the following components: speech recognizer; post-processor for error correction; NLP application (ONYX) and; graphical chart generator. We evaluated the accuracy of the speech recognizer and the post-processor. We then performed a summative evaluation on the entire system. Our prototype charted 12 hard tissue exams. We compared the charted exams to reference standard exams charted by two dentists. Results. Of the four systems, only two allowed both hard tissue and periodontal charting via speech. All interfaces required using specific commands directly comparable to using a mouse. The average time to chart the nine hard tissue findings was 2:48 and the nine periodontal findings was 2:06. There was an average of 7.5 errors per exam. We created a speech-to-chart prototype that supports natural dictation with no structured commands. On manually transcribed exams, the system performed with an average 80% accuracy. The average time to chart a single hard tissue finding with the prototype was 7.3 seconds. An improved discourse processor will greatly enhance the prototype's accuracy. Conclusions. The speech interfaces of existing PMSs are cumbersome, require using specific speech commands, and make several errors per exam. We successfully created a speech-to-chart prototype that charts hard tissue findings from naturally spoken dental exams

Proceedings: Voice Technology for Interactive Real-Time Command/Control Systems Application

Speech understanding among researchers and managers, current developments in voice technology, and an exchange of information concerning government voice technology efforts are discussed