891 research outputs found

    Medical Informatics

    Get PDF
    Information technology has been revolutionizing the everyday life of the common man, while medical science has been making rapid strides in understanding disease mechanisms, developing diagnostic techniques and effecting successful treatment regimen, even for those cases which would have been classified as a poor prognosis a decade earlier. The confluence of information technology and biomedicine has brought into its ambit additional dimensions of computerized databases for patient conditions, revolutionizing the way health care and patient information is recorded, processed, interpreted and utilized for improving the quality of life. This book consists of seven chapters dealing with the three primary issues of medical information acquisition from a patient's and health care professional's perspective, translational approaches from a researcher's point of view, and finally the application potential as required by the clinicians/physician. The book covers modern issues in Information Technology, Bioinformatics Methods and Clinical Applications. The chapters describe the basic process of acquisition of information in a health system, recent technological developments in biomedicine and the realistic evaluation of medical informatics

    Semantic web system for differential diagnosis recommendations

    Get PDF
    There is a growing realization that healthcare is a knowledge-intensive field. The ability to capture and leverage semantics via inference or query processing is crucial for supporting the various required processes in both primary (e.g. disease diagnosis) and long term care (e.g. predictive and preventive diagnosis). Given the wide canvas and the relatively frequent knowledge changes that occur in this area, we need to take advantage of the new trends in Semantic Web technologies. In particular, the power of ontologies allows us to share medical research and provide suitable support to physician's practices. There is also a need to integrate these technologies within the currently used healthcare practices. In particular the use of semantic web technologies is highly demanded within the clinicians' differential diagnosis process and the clinical pathways disease management procedures as well as to aid the predictive/preventative measures used by healthcare professionals

    Front-Line Physicians' Satisfaction with Information Systems in Hospitals

    Get PDF
    Day-to-day operations management in hospital units is difficult due to continuously varying situations, several actors involved and a vast number of information systems in use. The aim of this study was to describe front-line physicians' satisfaction with existing information systems needed to support the day-to-day operations management in hospitals. A cross-sectional survey was used and data chosen with stratified random sampling were collected in nine hospitals. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods. The response rate was 65 % (n = 111). The physicians reported that information systems support their decision making to some extent, but they do not improve access to information nor are they tailored for physicians. The respondents also reported that they need to use several information systems to support decision making and that they would prefer one information system to access important information. Improved information access would better support physicians' decision making and has the potential to improve the quality of decisions and speed up the decision making process.Peer reviewe

    Preface

    Get PDF

    Intelligent decision support systems for optimised diabetes

    Get PDF
    Computers now pervade the field of medicine extensively; one recent innovation is the development of intelligent decision support systems for inexperienced or non-specialist pbysicians, or in some cases for use by patients. In this thesis a critical review of computer systems in medicine, with special reference to decision support systems, is followed by a detailed description of the development and evaluation of two new, interacting, intelligent decision support systems in the domain of diabetes. Since the discovery of insulin in 1922, insulin replacement therapy for the treatment of diabetes mellitus bas evolved into a complex process; there are many different formulations of insulin and much more information about the factors which affect patient management (e.g. diet, exercise and progression of complications) are recognised. Physicians have to decide on the most appropriate anti-diabetic therapy to prescribe to their patients. Insulin-treated patients also have to monitor their blood glucose and decide how much insulin to inject and when to inject it. In order to help patients determine the most appropriate dose of insulin to take, a simple-to-use, hand-held decision support system has been developed. Algorithms for insulin adjustment have been elicited and combined with general rules of therapy to offer advice for every dose. The utility of the system has been evaluated by clinical trials and simulation studies. In order to aid physician management, a clinic-based decision support system has also been developed. The system provides wide-ranging advice on all aspects of diabetes care and advises an appropriate therapy regimen according to individual patient circumstances. Decisions advised by the pbysician-related system have been evaluated by a panel of expert physicians and the system has undergone informal primary evaluation within the clinic setting. An interesting aspect of both systems is their ability to provide advice even in cases where information is lacking or uncertain

    Systems biology of degenerative diseases

    Get PDF
    • …
    corecore