The Value of Integrated Information Systems for U.S. General Hospitals

Each year, huge investments into healthcare information systems (HIS) are being made all over the world. Despite the enormous cost for the hospitals, the overall benefits and costs of the healthcare information systems have not been deeply assessed. In recent years, much previous research has investigated the link between the implementation of Information Systems and the performance of organizations. Although the value of Healthcare Information System or Healthcare Information Technology (HIS/HIT) has been found in many studies, some questions remain unclear. Do HIS/HIT systems influence different hospitals the same way? How to understand and explain the mechanism that HIS/HIT improves the performance of hospitals? To address these questions, our research will: 1) Identify the bottlenecks of the current healthcare system which affects the operation efficiency (mismatch between demand and service provided); 2) Adopt the institutional theory to explain the process of implementing HIS/HIT and the possible outcomes; 3) Conduct an empirical study, to expose issues of current healthcare system and the value of the HIS/HIT, and to identify the factors that affect the performance of different hospitals; and 4) Design a decision support system for hospitals. Based on institutional theory, we explain the empirical findings from 2014 HIMSS database. To solve the mismatch between the patient needs and doctor’s schedule, we will propose a business model for a new integrated information management system. It gives the physicians and patients a comprehensive picture needed to understand the type of different patients. A classification schema will be designed to provide recommendations for scheduling decision, and it is supported by the interactive system

Towards Quality of Data Standards: Empirical Findings from XBRL

Certain data standards can help improve the quality of the data created according to the standards. But data standards do not always improve data quality. We introduce the notion of “quality of data standards” and argue that quality of data is affected by the quality of the standards used. We develop metrics for assessing quality of data standards. The metrics are evaluated empirically using company financial reports created using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) data standards. Our findings show the use frequency of standard data elements roughly follows a power law distribution. Tradeoffs exist between relevancy and completeness dimensions and between a single user perspective and user community perspective

Review of the Multi-Level Factors Contributing to Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in the U.S.

The consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V) has a significant protective effect in reducing various cardiometabolic diseases. In recent years, the U.S. government has made a lot of effort to promote F&V consumption through different projects and programs, including the MyPyramid food guidance system supported by the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, and the Fruits & Veggies More Matters program (previously called the 5-A-Day for Better Health program), supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public and private agencies. However, modest success has been achieved in promoting healthy diets among the American public. Only 40% of Americans eat five or more servings of F&V daily. Using a higher-level F&V consumption standard, less than 10% of American adults meet the MyPyramid recommendations. In order to understand the factors affecting F&V consumption and to summarize the factors from different perspectives into a coherent framework, we look at previous research regarding these various factors and their relationship to F&V consumption. The factors coalesce in three main levels: individual factors, household factors and environmental factors. Individual factors include demographics, dietary habits, lifestyle, health status and sensory appeal; household factors are marital status, number of family members, number of children in the family and parenting practices; and environmental factors consist of food prices, food accessibility and availability, social interaction and seasonal factors. All of these factors may positively or negatively affect F&V consumption among different population groups. Our study will help future researchers and policy makers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this complex issue and develop more effect ideas for addressing it

User Experiments of a Social, Faceted Multimedia Classification System

Internet document sharing systems such as Flickr store billions of user-contributed images. Many collections on the Web contain large numbers of multimedia objects such as images. While such systems are designed to encourage user contributions and sharing, they are not well-organized collections on any given subject and are not easy to browse for specific subject matters. We have built a system that systematically organizes a large multimedia collection into an evolving faceted classification. This paper discusses the evaluation of such a system through a number of usage studies in a university setting

DataSheet1_Understanding inter-individual variability in pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of aripiprazole in children with tic disorders: Individualized administration based on physiological development and CYP2D6 genotypes.docx

Objective: This study aims to develop a combined population pharmacokinetic (PPK) model for aripiprazole (ARI) and its main active metabolite dehydroaripiprazole (DARI) in pediatric patients with tic disorders (TD), to investigate the inter-individual variability caused by physiological and genetic factors in pharmacokinetics of ARI and optimize the dosing regimens for pediatric patients.Methods: A prospective PPK research was performed in Chinese children with TD. Totally 84 patients aged 4.83–17.33 years were obtained for the pharmacokinetic analysis. 27 CYP2D6 and ABCB1 gene alleles were detected. Moreover, the clinical efficacy was evaluated according to reduction rate of Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) score at the 12th week comparing with the baseline. Monte Carlo simulations were used to evaluate and optimize dosing regimens.Results: The PPK model was established to predict the concentrations of ARI and DARI. Body weight and CYP2D6 genotype were the significant covariates affecting the clearance of ARI. The DARI/ARI metabolic ratios (MRs) of AUC24h, Cmin and Cmax at the steady state of results were ultra-rapid metabolizers (UMs) > normal metabolizers (NMs) > intermediated metabolizers (IMs). MRs could be used to distinguish UMs or IMs from other patients. The best predictor of clinical efficacy for TD was the trough concentration of ARI and the cut-off point was 101.636 ng/ml.Conclusion: The pharmacokinetics of ARI and DARI in pediatric TD were significantly influenced by body weight and CYP2D6 genotype. Individualized dosing regimens were recommended for pediatric patients with TD to ensure clinical efficacy.</p