Antibiotic resistance information exchanges : interim guidance

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is a major clinical and public health threat with potential to unravel more than half a century of human health advances offered by modern medical care. Unfortunately, modern healthcare delivery is notably contributory to the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms, as patients who have become colonized with resistant organisms often receive care across multiple healthcare settings (e.g., ambulatory care, acute care hospitals (ACHs), and various long-term care (LTC) settings, including long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs)).Although the threat of antibiotic-resistant organism transmission from a colonized patient to physically proximate patients remains for the duration of colonization, the lack of information sharing between healthcare facilities often results in the colonized status of a patient being unknown to a receiving or admitting facility. When this occurs, the appropriate infection control precautions are less likely to be used from the start of patient care, which increases the likelihood that resistant organisms will spread to other patients.The need for improved AR situational awareness is a major challenge to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC\u2019s) strategy to contain the most threatening forms of resistance and the genes responsible for such phenotypes. To fulfill their central role in implementing the CDC\u2019s containment strategy, some state health departments have developed systems (Multidrug-Resistant Organism (MDRO) Registries or MDRO Alert Systems, referred to herein as AR Information Exchanges (ARIEs)) that track patients previously colonized or infected with specific MDROs and then alert healthcare providers when these patients are admitted to a facility. The term AR Information Exchange emphasizes the importance of multidirectional information flow amongst healthcare facilities and public health authorities, as opposed to unidirectional data collection and storage.This interim guidance is intended for operational use by individuals and organizations responsible for developing or enhancing an ARIE; however, it does not constitute legal advice. Public health agencies should follow applicable laws, statues, and/or regulations when developing ARIEs with questions about directed to the entity\u2019s legal counsel.CS 324851-AARIE-Interim-Guidance-508.pdf20211158

eHealth Conversations : using information management, dialogue, and knowledge exchange to move toward universal

The publication of eHealth Conversations, developed with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), represents a major step forward for the PAHO/WHO Strategy, since it explores ways of implementing regional mechanisms with free and equitable access to information and knowledge sharing. These initiatives aim to advance the goals of more informed, equitable, competitive, and democratic societies, where access to health information is considered a basic right. This publication is one of the instruments used by PAHO/WHO to develop the initiatives outlined in the Strategy, which coincides with the global eHealth strategy. One of the fundamental needs for the improvement of eHealth is the dissemination of information, and PAHO/WHO is assuming a leading role in this effort. The development of this new electronic publication is a key step in disseminating information that will be useful for decision makers on applying these technologies for the health of the Americas. This electronic book is one of the products of PAHO/WHO’s project: “eHealth Conversations: Using Information Management, Dialogue, and Knowledge Exchange to Move Toward Universal Access to Health.” Participants in these conversations included experts on electronic health and other specialties. Through virtual dialogues, the experts contributed with knowledge and reflections on the present and the future of eHealth in the Americas, analyzed the situation, and made recommendations for the implementation of electronic health initiatives. These recommendations are not only intended for PAHO/ WHO, but also for governments and the private sector. The aim of the project is to guarantee the convergence of local, national, and regional initiatives regarding the adoption and application of ICTs for public health, with special attention on critical issues in this field. It also intends to strengthen individual and collective capacities of health workers and institutions, connecting them in a network of on-line health networks, as well as to reinforce the PAHO/WHO eHealth program.Acknowledge the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) for its financial support in preparing this publication and developing the project titled “eHealth Conversations: Using Information Management, Dialogue, and Knowledge Exchange to Move Toward Universal Access to Health;

Incorporating business process management, business ontology and business architecture in medication management quality

Managers and care providers in the health sector are expected to deliver safe, efficient and effective services within a resource constrained, complex system. Services are provided through execution of multiple processes. Healthcare organizations tend to be structured in functional based silos with process improvement efforts often focused on individual processes within the discrete silos. This silo based improvement approach fails to take into account upstream and downstream processes executed and managed in other silos. A patient’s journey will typically include processes from multiple silos and therefore, improvement efforts need to focus on end-to-end processes if the goal is to deliver a positive patient experience. In order to optimize processes in a complex adaptive system like healthcare and to effect meaningful change a combination of management disciplines is required. This research explored the use of Business Process Management (BPM), Business Architecture (BA) and Business Process Management Ontology (BPMO) as a comprehensive, integrated approach to design, redesign, evaluate, improve and monitor the safety, efficiency and effectiveness of medication management processes in a multi-site healthcare organization. The contribution of the research was threefold. First, identified benefits of applying BPM, BPMO and BA to increase organization capacity and improve the end-to-end process of medication management; second, demonstrated the application of an ontology and the business layer of enterprise architecture used in other sectors could be successfully utilized in the healthcare sector; and third, developed a process reference model for medication management processes in acute care and long term care facilities.Business Process ManagementBusiness ArchitectureBusiness Ontologymedication managementquality improvemen

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse