Information Systems and Healthcare XXI: A Dynamic, Client-Centric, Point-Of-Care System for the Novice Nurse

Nurse clinicians need to make complex decisions on a continual basis, while delivering cost-effective treatments. The rapid proliferation of medical and nursing knowledge complicates the decision-making process, particularly for novice nurses. We describe a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) for the novice nurse that combines evidence-based nursing knowledge with specific patient information to create a real-time guide through the nursing diagnostic care process. The goal of the paper is to describe how an appropriately designed and evidence-based CDSS can aid the nursing practice. An off-the-shelf handheld computer is utilized to deliver clinical knowledge to the nurse, via wireless link to a central server and a data repository. In describing the software architecture of the system, particular emphasis is paid to the issue of appropriate design by discussing the steps taken to address system extensibility, performance, reliability, and security, which are important factors in the design of a CDSS

The Promise of Health Information Technology: Ensuring that Florida's Children Benefit

Substantial policy interest in supporting the adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) by the public and private sectors over the last 5 -- 7 years, was spurred in particular by the release of multiple Institute of Medicine reports documenting the widespread occurrence of medical errors and poor quality of care (Institute of Medicine, 1999 & 2001). However, efforts to focus on issues unique to children's health have been left out of many of initiatives. The purpose of this report is to identify strategies that can be taken by public and private entities to promote the use of HIT among providers who serve children in Florida

Computerization of workflows, guidelines and care pathways: a review of implementation challenges for process-oriented health information systems

There is a need to integrate the various theoretical frameworks and formalisms for modeling clinical guidelines, workflows, and pathways, in order to move beyond providing support for individual clinical decisions and toward the provision of process-oriented, patient-centered, health information systems (HIS). In this review, we analyze the challenges in developing process-oriented HIS that formally model guidelines, workflows, and care pathways. A qualitative meta-synthesis was performed on studies published in English between 1995 and 2010 that addressed the modeling process and reported the exposition of a new methodology, model, system implementation, or system architecture. Thematic analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and data visualisation techniques were used to identify and cluster the underlying implementation ‘challenge’ themes. One hundred and eight relevant studies were selected for review. Twenty-five underlying ‘challenge’ themes were identified. These were clustered into 10 distinct groups, from which a conceptual model of the implementation process was developed. We found that the development of systems supporting individual clinical decisions is evolving toward the implementation of adaptable care pathways on the semantic web, incorporating formal, clinical, and organizational ontologies, and the use of workflow management systems. These architectures now need to be implemented and evaluated on a wider scale within clinical settings

Data in Business Process Models. A Preliminary Empirical Study

Traditional activity-centric process modeling languages treat data as simple black boxes acting as input or output for activities. Many alternate and emerging process modeling paradigms, such as case handling and artifact-centric process modeling, give data a more central role. This is achieved by introducing lifecycles and states for data objects, which is beneficial when modeling data-or knowledge-intensive processes. We assume that traditional activity-centric process modeling languages lack the capabilities to adequately capture the complexity of such processes. To verify this assumption we conducted an online interview among BPM experts. The results not only allow us to identify various profiles of persons modeling business processes, but also the problems that exist in contemporary modeling languages w.r.t. The modeling of business data. Overall, this preliminary empirical study confirms the necessity of data-awareness in process modeling notations in general

Workflow Activity Task Controller: an Approach to Distribute Knowledge and Information in Collaborative Product Development

This paper presents a theoretical approach to workflow process management using well established PDM functions for controlling knowledge and information to support collaborative product development processes within the WWW. The new methodology is called Workflow Activity Task Controller (WATC) that can securely distribute design and manufacturing knowledge to support process planning with information exchange during the early stages of the product development phases. Most specifically, WATC uses the methods described herein to link the workflow management of a PDM system with a knowledge-based system and a process planning system. In addition, this framework is flexible and adaptive and can be extended to adapt to a specific company’s needs. The objective and the intention of the development are to improve information flows, promote sharing of design and manufacturing knowledge and subsequently to maximise effectiveness of product development activities and task efficiency