29 research outputs found
The National Coordinated Citrien eHealth Program to Scale Up Telemonitoring:Protocol for a Before-and-After Evaluation Study
Background: Sustainable implementation of telemonitoring in health care is challenging, especially if one aims to scale up telemonitoring initiatives nationwide. The National collaborative eHealth program in the Netherlands is supporting the nationwide upscaling of telemonitoring in 3 clinical domains by implementing telemonitoring in all Dutch university medical centers (UMCs). The chosen telemonitoring concepts are (1) telemonitoring solutions in the domain of cardiology, (2) telemonitoring solutions providing care from a distance in obstetrics, and (3) telemonitoring solutions monitoring vital functions in hospital wards.Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the upscaling of telemonitoring in Dutch university hospitals in order to gain a better knowledge of the process, methods, and outcomes of nationwide upscaling strategies. Our hypothesis is that by the completion of the Citrien program’s scale-up, telemonitoring will be operational in all UMCs but not normalized in routine care.Methods: A before-and-after study will be conducted to assess upscaling. The theoretical frameworks used are the framework for nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability; the Normalization Process Theory; and a project management tool Project Canvas. The primary outcome of the study is the degree of normalization to which health care providers at UMCs consider telemonitoring a part of their routine practice, measured using the Normalization MeAsurement Development tool (NoMAD). Our secondary outcome is the uptake of telemonitoring at the Dutch UMCs, using management data from UMCs’ business intelligence systems query.Results: Data will be collected between May 2020 and December 2022. Results were retrieved in June 2023. UMCs’ business intelligence systems are queried for data for the secondary outcome measures. There is a risk that the UMCs will not be able to provide this management information. The laws and regulations governing telemonitoring in the Netherlands are changing, with the Electronic Data Exchange in Health Care Act (Wet elektronische gegevensuitwisseling in de zorg) and the European Health Data Space Act expected to positively influence implementation and upscaling.Conclusions: The Citrien program is a nationally coordinated change management program that is scaling up telemonitoring across contexts and settings. This study will produce original data on the uptake and upscaling of telemonitoring at Dutch UMCs. Future initiatives to implement eHealth in the health care sector may be guided by the wide range of success factors, obstacles, and experiences collected through this program. The network itself may be of great value impacting future acceleration of eHealth initiatives.</p
Does Online Search Behavior Coincide with Candida auris Cases? An Exploratory Study
Candida auris is an emerging multidrug resistant infectious yeast which is challenging to eradicate and despite available laboratory methods is still difficult to identify especially in less developed countries. To limit the rapid spread of C. auris, quick and accurate detection is essential. From the perspective of disease surveillance, additional methods of tracking this yeast are needed. In order to increase global preparedness, we explored the use of online search behavior to monitor the recent global spread of C. auris. We used Google Trends to assess online search behavior on C. auris from January 2016 until August 2018. Weekly Google Trends results were counted as hits and compared to confirmed C. auris cases obtained via publications and a global expert network of key opinion leaders. A total of 44 countries generated a hit, of which 30% (13/44) were confirmed known cases, 34% (15/44) were missed known cases, 34% (15/44) were hits for unknown cases, and 2% (1/44) were confirmed unknown cases. Conclusions: Google Trends searches is rapidly able to provide information on countries with an increased search interest in C. auris. However, Google Trends search results do not generally coincide with C. auris cases or clusters. This study did show that using Google Trends provides both insight into the known and highlights the unknown, providing potential for surveillance and tracking and hence aid in taking timely precautionary measures
Social media posts and online search behaviour as early-warning system for MRSA outbreaks
Background: Despite many preventive measures, outbreaks with multi-drug resistant micro-organisms (MDROs) still
occur. Moreover, current alert systems from healthcare organizations have shortcomings due to delayed or
incomplete notifications, which may amplify the spread of MDROs by introducing infected patients into a new
healthcare setting and institutions. Additional sources of information about upcoming and current outbreaks, may
help to prevent further spread of MDROs.
The study objective was to evaluate whether methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreaks could be
detected via social media posts or online search behaviour; if so, this might allow earlier detection than the official
notifications by healthcare organizations.
Methods: We conducted an exploratory study in which we compared information about MRSA outbreaks in the
Netherlands derived from two online sources, Coosto for Social Media, and Google Trends for search behaviour, to
the mandatory Dutch outbreak notification system (SO-ZI/AMR). The latter provides information on MDRO
outbreaks including the date of the outbreak, micro-organism involved, the region/location, and the type of health
care organization.
Results: During the research period of 15 months (455 days), 49 notifications of outbreaks were recorded in SO-ZI/
AMR. For Coosto, the number of unique potential outbreaks was 37 and for Google Trends 24. The use of social
media and online search behaviour missed many of the hospital outbreaks that were reported to SO-ZI/AMR, but
detected additional outbreaks in long-term care facilities.
Conclusions: Despite several limitations, using information from social media and online search behaviour allows
rapid identification of potential MRSA outbreaks, especially in healthcare settings with a low notification
compliance. When combined in an automated system with real-time updates, this approach might increase early
discovery and subsequent implementation of preventive measures.EPI-Net COMBACTE-MAGNET project 115737Unión Europea FP7/2007–201
Social media posts and online search behaviour as early-warning system for MRSA outbreaks
Despite many preventive measures, outbreaks with multi-drug resistant micro-organisms (MDROs) still occur. Moreover, current alert systems from healthcare organizations have shortcomings due to delayed or incomplete notifications, which may amplify the spread of MDROs by introducing infected patients into a new healthcare setting and institutions. Additional sources of information about upcoming and current outbreaks, may help to prevent further spread of MDROs.The study objective was to evaluate whether methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) outbreaks could be detected via social media posts or online search behaviour; if so, this might allow earlier detection than the official notifications by healthcare organizations
Social media and rating sites as tools to understanding quality of care: a scoping review
Background: Insight into the quality of health care is important for any stakeholder including patients, professionals, and governments. In light of a patient-centered approach, it is essential to assess the quality of health care from a patient’s perspective, which is commonly done with surveys or focus groups. Unfortunately, these “traditional” methods have significant limitations that include social desirability bias, a time lag between experience and measurement, and difficulty reaching large groups of people. Information on social media could be of value to overcoming these limitations, since these new media are easy to use and are used by the majority of the population. Furthermore, an increasing number of people share health care experiences online or rate the quality of their health care provider on physician rating sites. The question is whether this information is relevant to determining or predicting the quality of health care.Objective: The goal of our research was to systematically analyze the relation between information shared on social media and quality of care.Methods: We performed a scoping review with the following goals: (1) to map the literature on the association between social media and quality of care, (2) to identify different mechanisms of this relationship, and (3) to determine a more detailed agenda for this relatively new research area. A recognized scoping review methodology was used. We developed a search strategy based on four themes: social media, patient experience, quality, and health care. Four online scientific databases were searched, articles were screened, and data extracted. Results related to the research question were described and categorized according to type of social media. Furthermore, national and international stakeholders were consulted throughout the study, to discuss and interpret results.Results: Twenty-nine articles were included, of which 21 were concerned with health care rating sites. Several studies indicate a relationship between information on social media and quality of health care. However, some drawbacks exist, especially regarding the use of rating sites. For example, since rating is anonymous, rating values are not risk adjusted and therefore vulnerable to fraud. Also, ratings are often based on only a few reviews and are predominantly positive. Furthermore, people providing feedback on health care via social media are presumably not always representative for the patient population.Conclusions: Social media and particularly rating sites are an interesting new source of information about quality of care from the patient’s perspective. This new source should be used to complement traditional methods, since measuring quality of care via social media has other, but not less serious, limitations. Future research should explore whether social media are suitable in practice for patients, health insurers, and governments to help them judge the quality performance of professionals and organizations
Definition of Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0: a systematic review.
Contains fulltext :
88185.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: During the last decade, the Internet has become increasingly popular and is now an important part of our daily life. When new "Web 2.0" technologies are used in health care, the terms "Health 2.0" or "Medicine 2.0" may be used. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify unique definitions of Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0 and recurrent topics within the definitions. METHODS: A systematic literature review of electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL) and gray literature on the Internet using the search engines Google, Bing, and Yahoo was performed to find unique definitions of Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0. We assessed all literature, extracted unique definitions, and selected recurrent topics by using the constant comparison method. RESULTS: We found a total of 1937 articles, 533 in scientific databases and 1404 in the gray literature. We selected 46 unique definitions for further analysis and identified 7 main topics. CONCLUSIONS: Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0 are still developing areas. Many articles concerning this subject were found, primarily on the Internet. However, there is still no general consensus regarding the definition of Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0. We hope that this study will contribute to building the concept of Health 2.0/Medicine 2.0 and facilitate discussion and further research