A Novel Visualization Tool for Evaluating Medication Side-Effects in Multi-drug Regimens

The evaluation and management of medication side-effects is a common and complex task for physicians. Information visualization has the potential to increase the efficiency and reduce the cognitive load involved in this process. We describe the design and development of Rxplore, a novel tool for assessing medication side-effects. Rxplore supports simultaneous lookup of multiple medications and an intuitive visual representation of query results. In a pilot study of Rxplore’s usability and utility, physicians rated the system highly for efficiency, intuitiveness, and clinical value

Development, implementation, and pilot study of a sentinel network ("The Watchtowers") for monitoring emergency primary health care activity in Norway

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Norway there is a shortage of valid health activity statistics from the primary care out-of-hours services and the pre-hospital emergency health care system. There is little systematic information available because data registration is lacking or is only recorded periodically, and definitions of variables are not consistent.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A representative sample of Norwegian municipalities and out-of-hours districts was contracted to establish a sentinel network, "The Watchtowers", and procedures were developed for collecting continuous data from out-of-hours services. All contacts, either per telephone or direct attendance, are recorded during day and night. The variables are registered in a computer program developed by the National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, and sent by email in Excel-file format to the Centre on a monthly basis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The selection process yielded a group of 18 municipalities, with a fair degree of representativeness for Norwegian municipalities as a whole. The sample has 212,921 inhabitants, which constitutes 4.6% of the total Norwegian population. During a pilot period lasting three months the Watchtowers recorded all individual contacts. The procedures for registration, submitting and checking data worked satisfactorily. There was little data missing, and during the last three months of 2006 a total of 23,346 contacts were registered.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have been able to establish a sentinel network with a fair degree of representativeness for Norwegian out-of-hours districts and municipalities. The data collected reflect national activities from casualty clinics in Norway. Such data are useful for both research and system improvements.</p

Design of a graphical and interactive interface for facilitating access to drug contraindications, cautions for use, interactions and adverse effects

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Drug iatrogeny is important but could be decreased if contraindications, cautions for use, drug interactions and adverse effects of drugs described in drug monographs were taken into account. However, the physician's time is limited during consultations, and this information is often not consulted. We describe here the design of "Mister VCM", a graphical interface based on the VCM graphical language, facilitating access to drug monographs. We also provide an assessment of the usability of this interface.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The "Mister VCM" interface was designed by dividing the screen into two parts: a graphical interactive one including VCM icons and synthetizing drug properties, a textual one presenting on demand drug monograph excerpts. The interface was evaluated over 11 volunteer general practitioners, trained in the use of "Mister VCM". They were asked to answer clinical questions related to fictitious randomly generated drug monographs, using a textual interface or "Mister VCM". When answering the questions, correctness of the responses and response time were recorded.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>"Mister VCM" is an interactive interface that displays VCM icons organized around an anatomical diagram of the human body with additional mental, etiological and physiological areas. Textual excerpts of the drug monograph can be displayed by clicking on the VCM icons. The interface can explicitly represent information implicit in the drug monograph, such as the absence of a given contraindication. Physicians made fewer errors with "Mister VCM" than with text (factor of 1.7; <it>p </it>= 0.034) and responded to questions 2.2 times faster (<it>p </it>< 0.001). The time gain with "Mister VCM" was greater for long monographs and questions with implicit replies.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>"Mister VCM" seems to be a promising interface for accessing drug monographs. Similar interfaces could be developed for other medical domains, such as electronic patient records.</p

Interoperability Evaluation Case Study: An Obstetrics-Gynecology Department and Related Information Systems

The paper presents the steps and metrics for evaluating the interoperability of an Obstetrics-Gynecology Department Information System applied on Bega Clinic Timisoara regarding its readiness for interoperability in relation with similar systems. The developed OGD IS was modeled starting from the Generic Component Model and sends information to other medical units using the HL7 Clinical Document Architecture and Continuity of Care Document standards. The data for evaluation are real, collected between 2009 and 2010 from Bega Clinic Timisoara. The results were relatively good for the investigated data and structure

Models Supporting Development of Complex Information Systems in Healthcare. Case study - an Obstetrics-Gynecology Department

Objectives: The paper presents a framework and tools for developing models useful for implementing complex Information Systems. It presents a case study for an Obstetrics-Gynecology Department and connected departments. The advantages of using models for creating complex OGD Information Systems together with a standardized communication will lead to an advanced interoperability and also will have benefits in patient care and in time will reduce the medical errors. Methods: This paper presents the modeling process using the Generic Component Model (GCM) in four steps. The real OGD system is described based on the five RM-ODP (Reference Model of Open Distributed Processing) views. The paper presents the Obstetrics-Gynecology De- partment model based on the real workflow using Business Process Modeling and Notation and a specialized software - Bizagy. Communication between OGD and other medi- cal units is based on HL7 Clinical Document Architecture CDA. The Obstetrics-Gynecology Department Information System (OGD IS) is developed based on the model, in Vi- sual Studio.NET 2010, using ASP.NET pages and C] language, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Results: The paper presents a model represented with Business Process Modeling and Notation and its possibili- ties to offer support for software developers to create flexible and portable information systems. Based on the workflow in the OGD, including the communication between OGD and other medical units, was developed a model and consequently the OGD IS. Conclusions: For the future, the OGD IS will be extended with new functionalities: possibilities to introduce medication related to a Database in the cloud to receive suggested treatments. The advantages of using the OGD IS are reflected in a better patient care, and the treatments will be more documented which will determine less medical errors

Is there a Common Background to Support Better Healthcare in Central and South East Europe?

The workshop is proposed by the EFMI WG Health Informatics for Interregional Cooperation with the support of the Electronic Healthcare Records WG as a platform for finding common interests regarding improvement of healthcare services for the Central and East European geographical area. The goal is to assess conformance to international standards in healthcare and to find domains in which each country can provide best practices results of using ICT in support of healthcare