Volop fouten met medische apparatuur

“Elk jaar overlijden in Nederlandse ziekenhuizen tientallen mensen doordat artsen en verpleegkundigen fouten maken met medische apparaten. Ze gebruiken die vaak slordig en oefenen er ook te weinig mee.”
Article (Dutch)
NRC Handelsblad, 31 October 2008

Hospital rooms of the future smarter

“The hospital room of the future is more interactive, integrated and efficient.
An example of such a room, developed by Cerner Corp., a health-care information technology company, was showcased at the University of Utah’s School of Medicine on Monday.”
Article
Lynne Wilde II, Deseret News, 14 October 2008

AMIA Launches DPRC ™ - Digital Patient Record Certification Examination and Study Guide

“AMIA announced today the forthcoming launch of DPRC ™ - Digital Patient Record Certification
exam and study guide tailored specifically for healthcare workers and novice clinicians who must input, retrieve, and understand digital patient records that are contained in a health information system (HIS).”
Article
PRNewsWire, 14 October 2008

Healthcare IT leaders kick off government’s e-prescribing drive

“With the first phase of Medicare’s mandate for e-prescribing rolling out in January, healthcare IT leaders, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, gathered Tuesday in Boston to jumpstart the initiative.
“One of the beauties of the system is that it will reduce the number of medical mistakes … and tragic results,” Leavitt said at the National E-prescribing Conference.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 7 October 2008

NHS Number Safer Practice Notice issued

“The National Patient Safety Agency has urged all NHS organisations in England and Wales to use the NHS Number as a national, unique patient identifier to reduce errors caused by local numbering systems.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 22 september 2008

New world of medical treatment

“Student nurse Chris Chapman got ready to give her next patient his medications Wednesday morning at Parkview Hospital. She logged onto a laptop computer on a rolling cart and checked Jeff Enyeart’s chart for the drugs and dosages he needed.
From the pocket in her scrubs, she pulled out a Palm Pilot and brought up information on the medications in a drug reference guide, one of five nursing textbooks on her PDA.”
Article
Jennifer L. Boen, The News-Sentinel, 18 September 2008

What’s Taking So Long?

“It is a widely accepted notion that a more streamlined health care system can reduce medical errors and save providers, payers and patients frustration, time and money. Even more widely accepted is that information technology is critical to improving the delivery, quality and efficiency of health care. So, with all this agreement, why aren’t we getting there faster?”
Article
Robin Thomashauer, iHealthBeat, 1 September 2008

National Quality Forum Endorses National Consensus Standards for Health Information Technology

“To improve quality and efficiency and reduce errors and unnecessary treatments across the healthcare system, the National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed nine new national voluntary consensus standards for health information technology (HIT) in the areas of electronic prescribing, electronic health record (EHR) interoperability, care management, quality registries, and the medical home. These HIT structural measures are intended to help providers assess the efficiency and standardization of current HIT systems and identify areas where additional HIT tools can be used.”
Article
PRNewswire, 29 August 2008

Give Marylanders benefits of health information technology

“Health care reform is a divisive issue in Washington, but there is wide agreement on one solution to lower costs and improve care: health information technology, or health IT. Health IT replaces paper medical records with electronic records. This is how I run my Baltimore-based wire basket and hook company; shouldn’t my doctor do the same?”
Article
Drew Greenblatt, Baltimore Sun, 18 August 2008

Plugged In: Health Records In Area Facilities Go Digital

“Patients at Yankton’s Avera Sacred Heart Hospital shouldn’t be surprised to see their nurses documenting patient information on tablets — tablet PC’s, that is.
The hardware is one of the new technological tools that nurses, doctors and all ASHH staff are using since they made their final conversion to the use of electronic medical records (EMR) on July 1.”
Article
Loretta Sorensen, Yankton.com, 20 July 2008

E-Prescription Networks to Merge

“The nation’s two electronic prescription networks plan to announce today that they are merging in an effort to encourage the adoption of their technology by doctors and patients.
Alexandria-based SureScripts and St. Paul, Minn.-based RxHub are extensions of different parts of the pharmaceutical industry. SureScripts is owned by retail and independent pharmacies; RxHub is owned by three major drug benefit managers, which are also mail-order pharmacies. The companies say they hope the broader use of the technology will cut down on costs and medical mistakes.”
Article
Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post, 1 July 2008

Improving access to information can improve health care

“Families across South Dakota and the nation are well aware of the cost of health care today, and it is rightly an issue that should concern leaders in Congress and other levels of government. While partisan politics often overshadows some of the common-sense steps we can take to improve access to affordable, high-quality care, expanding access to effective health care technologies has been one area of agreement.”
Article
Sen. John Thune, Meade County Times-Tribune, 17 June 2008

Online medical records offer convenience, may limit privacy

“When Mary Adams had a mammogram in October, she didn’t have to wait for a call from her doctor — or even a note in the mail — to get her results.
Instead, she got a message from her Cleveland Clinic doctor that her online health record had been updated. She logged onto MyChart, one of the nation’s first online sites for personal health records, and voilà, there were the results: Everything was normal.”
Article
Janet Kornblum, USA Today, 12 June 2008

Your private health details may already be online

“Imagine my surprise when, in the course of doing research for this story, I stumbled upon my own personal health information online.
There it was in black, white, and hypertext blue. My annual mammograms; the visits to the podiatrist for the splinter in my foot; the kind of birth control I use — it was all on my health insurance company’s Web site. And that’s not all: The prescriptions drugs I use were listed on the Web site where I get my prescription drug insurance.”
Article
Elizabeth Cohen, CNN.com/Health, 5 June 2008

Health Care Embraces Mobility

“Enterprise mobility has emerged as a top strategic initiative among leading health care organizations. The ability of a health care organization to connect the right information with the right caregiver regardless of location or circumstance, enterprise mobility has the potential to increase patient safety and caregiver efficiency. To benchmark the current state of adoption, Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business conducted independent research among a representative sample of various decision-makers, the chief purchasers of mobility solutions and mobile workers within the health care industry.”
Article
Jeff Schou, HHNMostWired, 4 June 2008

EDITORIAL: Leadership has its rewards - Health info exchange is exhibit A

“Being the best isn’t everything, but it goes a long way when you’re trying to attract money and expertise.
That’s why it’s significant that the Indiana Health Information Exchange is taking its show on the road. As IBJ reporter J.K. Wall reported last week, those who oversee the platform for sharing patient records and test results electronically are preparing to make it available in other states. Hospitals and physicians in other cities are clamoring for the locally developed system, which can save time and money and reduce medical errors.”
Article
IBJ.com, 3 May 2008

What we have in health care today is a failure to communicate

“Communication in medicine grows worse by the day. What should be a pillar of quality health care is instead a resounding failure.
Patients are rushed through office visits and often leave without having their questions answered. Labyrinthine barriers have to be overcome before speaking with a physician. Reaching a medical provider via the Internet is an impossibly daunting task. Doctors rarely talk to each other to coordinate treatment plans.”
Article
Kevin Phon, Nashua Telegraph, 4 May 2008

Company launches ‘medical misdiagnosis’ social networking site

“Patients who have endured medical misdiagnoses have another social networking Web site where they can share their experiences.
Premerus, a Nashville, Tenn-based company that claims to be the nation’s only “diagnostic management” firm, has launched a Web portal - www.yourmisdiagnosis.com - as a way to help patients and their families address the impact of medical misdiagnosis.”
Article
Richard Pizzi, Healthcare IT News, 1 May 2008

Medical Advances—Through Your iPhone?

“Bioengineering professor Boris Rubinsky has what he hopes is the perfect antidote to bulky, expensive, hard-to-use medical machines: the mobile phone.
The University of California professor says that by reducing a complex electromagnetic imaging machine to a portable electromagnetic scanner that can work in tandem with a regular cell phone and a computer, he has essentially replicated a $10,000 piece of equipment for just hundreds of dollars. The mobile scanner plugs into the phone, which beams the data to the computer, generating an image that can be transmitted to a doctor or hospital far away.”
Article
Olga Kharif, Business Week, 30 April 2008

New Hampshire to Improve Health IT Infrastructure

“Governor John Lynch today directed the Citizens Health Initiative to develop a plan for improving the state’s health information infrastructure to improve health care quality and affordability for New Hampshire citizens.”
Article
Government Technology, 23 April 2008

Electronic Personal Health Records Raise Privacy Concerns

“A controversial issue has been raised by researchers writing in the International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management. The issue revolves around electronic personal health records (PHRs), which could be used, among other things, to reduce medical errors. But the advent of electronic PHRs raise questions about the ownership of patients’ medical test results and personal health information and how such ownership affects privacy, personal liberties and freedom of information.”
Article
NewsInferno.com, 18 April 2008

Saving lives and money

“Investments in health care technology can save money and save lives.
Imagine if you were unconscious because of a car accident and the doctors in the emergency room could know, with a few clicks of a computer mouse, that you have a heart condition and what medications you are taking, or if the new specialist you are seeing could easily look up your recent X-ray or blood test results and within seconds have them available to discuss with you, or just simply that you no longer had to fill out the same forms with the same information that you have done 100 times before.”
Article
Steve Maier, Patty O’Donnell, Rutland Herald, 17 April 2008

Electronic medication record to be presented to Dutch parliament

Dutch health minister Klink will present the electronic medication record for approval to parliament this month. Implementation target is next year. It’s a major step towards a full EHR.
Article (Dutch)
Huisarts Vandaag, 17 April 2008

Medicare pushing health-care providers to use electronic-records; some to be paid

“Kerry Weems believes physicians are the last bastion of professionals who do not use electronic records.
That is one reason Weems, acting administrator for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was in Tallahassee on Thursday to promote a five-year demonstration that would pay physicians and health-care providers to use electronic health records.
The program would pay 200 physicians primarily from small practices $58,000 for individuals or up to $290,000 for multi-physician groups if their community is selected for the program.”
Article
Will Brown, Tallahassee.com, 4 April 2008

Health IT: The Time Is Now

“Americans need and deserve health information technology (IT). As the chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. and the only business representative on a federal commission to develop a strategy for health care IT standards, I have spent considerable time over the past several years promoting this technological necessity.”
Article
Ivan Seidenberg, Health Affairs 2 April 008

Electronic Health Record System Could Save Maine $50M Annually

“Maine physicians, hospitals and public health officials on Wednesday unveiled a statewide electronic health record system, called HealthInfoNet, as part of an effort to improve health care quality, reduce medical errors and slow the growth of health care costs in the state, AP/Foster’s Daily Democrat reports. Advocates estimate that the system will save $50 million annually by eliminating duplicate and unnecessary tests, procedures, prescriptions and hospital admissions.”
Article
Medical News Today, 23 January 2008

Learning to Ask Tough Questions Of Your Surgeon

“While many Web savvy patients today can ask a doctor about minute details of their circulatory system or cancer treatment, when it comes to asking the really tough, personal questions, they often clam up. Even when going under the knife, patients are often too intimidated to ask how qualified a surgeon is, or what safety procedures are in place.”
Article
Laura Landro, The Wall Street Journal, 9 January 2008

The State of the Art in the Reduction of Medical Errors

Danny Kopec, Suzanne Tamang, Karen Levy, Ronald Eckhardt, Gene Shagas
The Graduate Center; Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, USA

Abstract

The IOM report, To Err is Human, Building a Better Health System, galvanized public and political attention to the prevalence of medical errors in the Unites States. The IOM set a clear goal, “given the current knowledge about the magnitude of the problem, the committee believes it would be irresponsible to expect anything less than a 50 percent reduction over five years.” As part of the IOM’s four-part strategy was a recommendation that error reporting systems be established. No one denies that errors that occur in medicine can not be reduced if they cannot be defined. To achieve this goal of reducing errors, we have established a definition of a “medical error”, described the current taxonomies that have been created over the last five years for their classification, and suggested a conceptual model for designing and testing a medical error reporting system. A system that facilitates identification, relies on health professionals and electronic repositories of clinical information to report events, and tracks and monitors medical errors, reliably, efficiently, and accurately is the objective of our design. Our next step is to implement, test, and evaluate this system based on our research.

Developing Health Surveillance Networks: An Adaptive Approach

Suzanne Tamang, Danny Kopec, Tony McCofie, Karen Leny
The Graduate Center; Brooklyn College, The City University of New York, USA

Abstract

The research literature on public health information and communication networks shows enormous promise and tremendous obstacles. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that when electronic health information systems are widely employed, and clinical information is easily shared, trained individuals can track and monitor health status, and avert acute events that can potentially effect an individual or a population. However, the research literature also leaves unresolved important questions about effectiveness vs. efficacy: that is, whether health information sharing can achieve compliance on a large scale, particularly across social, political, economic and geographic boundaries. For this reason, we propose adaptive health care information networks to collect, process and disseminate health information and reduce medical errors. This research assesses existing electronic health monitoring initiatives in the United States and worldwide, discusses their progress and limitations. We identify how health care information networks could be improved by the application of innovative theories and technologies, such as complex adaptive theory, expert systems, and grid technology.

Improving the Quality of Care at the End of Life: An Information Systems Approach

Tamang S., Kopec D., Shagas G., Levy K.
Brooklyn College; Albert Einstein Coll. of Medicine, USA

Abstract:

Chronic and terminally ill patients are disproportionately affected by medical errors. In addition, the elderly suffer more preventable adverse events than younger patients. Targeting system wide “error-reducing” reforms for vulnerable populations can significantly reduce the incidence and prevalence of human error in medical practice. Recent developments in medical informatics, particularly the application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques such as data mining, neural networks, and case-based reasoning (CBR), presents tremendous opportunities for mitigating error in disease diagnosis and patient management. Additionally, the ubiquity of the Internet creates the possibility of an almost ideal network for the dissemination of medical information. We explore the capacity and limitations of web-based palliative information systems (IS). These can be used to transform the delivery of care, streamline processes and improve the efficiency and validate the correctness of treatments. As a result, medical error(s) that occur when patients with severe, chronic illnesses and/or the frail elderly are treated, can be reduced.

The palliative care model grew out of the need for pain relief and comfort measures for patients diagnosed with cancer. Applied definitions of palliative care extend commonly used conventions, but there is no widely accepted definition. This research will discuss the development life cycle of the CONFER management information systems (MIS), currently used by a community-based palliative care program in Brooklyn, New York, and the CAREN CBR. CONFER is based on the idea of “eCare”, a process based application for care management. CONFER uses XML (extensible mark-up language), a W3C-endorced standard mark-up to define systems data. The CAREN system is a CBR prototype designed for palliative care patients in the cancer trajectory, which was developed by the first author in her research. CBR is a technique, which tries to exploit the similarities of two situations and match decision-making to the best-known precedent cases. The system uses the opensource CASPIAN shell developed by the University of Aberystwyth, Wales and is available by anonymous FTP. Our preliminary results suggest that these systems can be used to improve the quality of care and disseminate expert level ‘know how’ to palliative care clinicians.