Healthcare Information Systems (HCIS) Curriculum

There is a reawakening of enthusiasm for Healthcare topics at AMCIS, witnessed, too, by the formation of a Healthcare SIG. At the same time, numerous AMCIS attendees lamented the challenges of developing an effective and contemporary undergraduate and graduate curriculum for Healthcare MIS. The field is growing rapidly, and includes diverse healthoriented topics and sub-specialties like bioinformatics, nursing informatics, home healthcare technologies, telemedicine, privacy and security, e-Health, and a wide range of patient-, clinical- and managerial-decision support systems. For this panel we have assembled a well-seasoned group of speakers and educators to advance our collective ability to teach “state of the art” courses in this critically important area

Quality of Service (QoS) in Healthcare Applications: Colored Petri Net Simulation for Design of Heterogeneous, Multi-Vendor, Integrated, Life-Critical Wireless (802.x) Patient Care Device Networks

The ability to deploy wireless patient monitors using industry-standard IEEE 802.x technologies allows patient mobility and clinical flexibly. However, interconnecting multiple life-critical medical devices from multiple vendors can introduce unintended life-threatening risks unless delivery of critical patient alarms to central monitoring systems and/or clinical personnel is assured. Petri net tools allow automated testing of all possible states and transitions between devices and/or systems to detect potential failure modes in advance. Colored Petri Net (CPN) tools allow tracking and controlling each message in a network based on pre-selected criteria. This paper describes a research project using CPN to simulate and validate alarm integrity in a small multi-modality wireless patient monitoring system. Free research CPN software, CPNTool, is used to simulate two, 20-monitor wireless patient monitoring networks. One network simulated standard nonprioritized 802.x IP protocols and simulated Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities similar to 802.11e, allowing message priority management. In the standard 802.x network, dangerous heart arrhythmia and pulse oximetry alarms were missed, but QoS priority management reduced that risk significantly

Sun Tzu and The Art of Healing: Executive Dashboards and Data Mining for Business Intelligence in Integrated, Lean Military Medical Supply Logistics for the 21st Century

The combined Air Force, Army, and Navy Surgeons General are now achieving integrated oversight of their medical supplies and resources. This allows a Business Intelligence approach to decisions which is now being enhanced with real-time interactive data-mining tools and executive dashboards. Resources can be efficiently reallocated to military, veteran, family, or civilian purposes, inventories can be maintained at lean levels, and peak demands can be managed with executive dashboards to reduce overload and errors

Quality of Service (QoS) in Healthcare Applications: Colored Petri Net Simulation for Design of Heterogeneous, Multi-Vendor, Integrated, Life-Critical Wireless (802.x) Patient Care Device Networks

ABSTRACT The ability to deploy wireless patient monitors using industry-standard IEEE 802.x technologies allows patient mobility and clinical flexibly. However, interconnecting multiple life-critical medical devices from multiple vendors can introduce unintended life-threatening risks unless delivery of critical patient alarms to central monitoring systems and/or clinical personnel is assured. Petri net tools allow automated testing of all possible states and transitions between devices and/or systems to detect potential failure modes in advance. Colored Petri Net (CPN) tools allow tracking and controlling each message in a network based on pre-selected criteria. This paper describes a research project using CPN to simulate and validate alarm integrity in a small multi-modality wireless patient monitoring system. Free research CPN software, CPNTool, is used to simulate two, 20-monitor wireless patient monitoring networks. One network simulated standard nonprioritized 802.x IP protocols and simulated Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities similar to 802.11e, allowing message priority management. In the standard 802.x network, dangerous heart arrhythmia and pulse oximetry alarms were missed, but QoS priority management reduced that risk significantly

A case for an international consortium on system-of-systems engineering

A system-of-systems (SoS) conceptualization is essential in resolving issues involving heterogeneous independently operable systems to achieve a unique purpose. Successful operation as an SoS requires communication among appropriate individuals and groups across enterprises through an effective protocol. This paper presents a position on the creation of a consortium of concerned system engineers and scientists worldwide to examine the problems and solutions strategies associated with SoS. The consortium could lead efforts in clarifying ambiguities and in seeking remedies to numerous open questions with respect to SoS analysis, SoS engineering (SoSE), as well as differences between systems engineering (SE) and SoSE. The mission of this consortium is envisioned to: 1) act as a neutral party; 2) provide a forum to put forth Calls to Action; and 3) establish a community of interest to recommend a set of solutions. <br /

Immunochemical analysis of cathepsin B in lung tumours: an independent prognostic factor for squamous cell carcinoma patients

In order to evaluate the possible role of the proteolytic enzyme cathepsin B (cath B) in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) we examined cath B concentrations (cath Bc) and activities (cath BA) in homogenates of 127 pairs of lung tumour tissues and corresponding non-tumourous lung parenchyma. Total cath B activity (cath BAT) and enzymatic activity of the fraction of cath B, which is stable and active at pH 7.5 (cath BA7.5) were determined by a fluorogenic assay using synthetic substrate Z-Arg-Arg-AMC. The immunostaining pattern of cath B was determined in 239 lung tumour tissue sections, showing the presence of the enzyme in tumour cells (cath BT-I) and in tumour-associated histiocytes (cath BH-I). The median levels of cath BAT, cath BA7.5 and cath BC were 5.6-, 3.2- and 9.1-fold higher (P < 0.001), respectively, in tumour tissue than in non-tumourous lung parenchyma. Out of 131 tissue sections from patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 59.5% immunostained positively for cath B, while among the 108 adenocarcinoma (AC) patients 48.2% of tumours showed a positive reaction. There was a strong relationship between the levels of cath BAT, cath BA7.5, cath BC and cath BT-I in the primary tumours and the presence of lymph node metastases. Significant correlation with overall survival was observed for cath BT-I and cath BA7.5 (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) in patients suffering from SCC. In these patients positive cath B in tumour cells (cath BT-I) and negative cath B in histiocytes (cath BH-I) indicated significantly shorter survival rate compared with patients with negative cath BT-I and positive cath BH-I (P < 0.0001). In contrast, in AC patients, both, positive cath BT-I and positive cath BH-I, indicated poor survival probability (P < 0.014). From these results we conclude that the proteolytic enzyme cath B is an independent prognostic factor for overall survival of patients suffering from SCC of the lung. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig