[The characteristics of medical technologies in emergency medical care hospital].

Science.gov (United States)

Murakhovskiĭ, A G; Babenko, A I; Bravve, Iu I; Tataurova, E A

2013-01-01

The article analyzes the implementation of major 12 diagnostic and 17 treatment technologies applied during medical care of patients with 12 key nosology forms of diseases in departments of the emergency medical care hospital No 2 of Omsk. It is established that key groups of technologies in the implementation of diagnostic process are the laboratory clinical diagnostic analyses and common diagnostic activities at reception into hospital and corresponding departments. The percentage of this kind of activities is about 78.3% of all diagnostic technologies. During the realization of treatment process the priority technologies are common curative and rehabilitation activities, intensive therapy activities and clinical diagnostic monitoring activities. All of them consist 80.1% of all curative technologies.

The Impact of Bar Code Medication Administration Technology on Reported Medication Errors

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Holecek, Andrea

2011-01-01

The use of bar-code medication administration technology is on the rise in acute care facilities in the United States. The technology is purported to decrease medication errors that occur at the point of administration. How significantly this technology affects actual rate and severity of error is unknown. This descriptive, longitudinal research…

Will Medical Technology Deskill Doctors?

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jingyan

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the impact of medical technology on health care in light of the fact that doctors are becoming more reliant on technology for obtaining patient information, making diagnoses and in carrying out treatments. Evidence has shown that technology can negatively affect doctor-patient communications, physical examination skills, and…

Emergency Medical Service (EMS): Rotorcraft Technology Workshop

Science.gov (United States)

Bauchspies, J. S.; Adams, R. J.

1981-01-01

A lead organization on the national level should be designated to establish concepts, locations, and the number of shock trauma air medical services. Medical specialists desire a vehicle which incorporates advances in medical technology trends in health care. Key technology needs for the emergency medical services helicopter of the future include the riding quality of fixed wing aircraft (reduced noise and vibration), no tail rotor, small rotor, small rotor diameter, improved visibility, crashworthy vehicle, IFR capability, more affordability high reliability, fuel efficient, and specialized cabins to hold medical/diagnostic and communications equipment. Approaches to a national emergency medical service are discussed.

Medical technologies: flows, frictions and new socialities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hardon, A.; Moyer, E.

2014-01-01

While social scientists often highlight the way medical technologies mediate biomedical hegemony, this special issue focuses on the creative and often unexpected ways in which medical technologies are appropriated by diverse actors in homes, clinics and communities. The authors highlight key

Establishment of a Quantitative Medical Technology Evaluation System and Indicators within Medical Institutions.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Suo-Wei; Chen, Tong; Pan, Qi; Wei, Liang-Yu; Wang, Qin; Li, Chao; Song, Jing-Chen; Luo, Ji

2018-06-05

The development and application of medical technologies reflect the medical quality and clinical capacity of a hospital. It is also an effective approach in upgrading medical service and core competitiveness among medical institutions. This study aimed to build a quantitative medical technology evaluation system through questionnaire survey within medical institutions to perform an assessment to medical technologies more objectively and accurately, and promote the management of medical quality technologies and ensure the medical safety of various operations among the hospitals. A two-leveled quantitative medical technology evaluation system was built through a two-round questionnaire survey of chosen experts. The Delphi method was applied in identifying the structure of evaluation system and indicators. The judgment of the experts on the indicators was adopted in building the matrix so that the weight coefficient and maximum eigenvalue (λ max), consistency index (CI), and random consistency ratio (CR) could be obtained and collected. The results were verified through consistency tests, and the index weight coefficient of each indicator was conducted and calculated through analytical hierarchy process. Twenty-six experts of different medical fields were involved in the questionnaire survey, 25 of whom successfully responded to the two-round research. Altogether, 4 primary indicators (safety, effectiveness, innovativeness, and benefits), as well as 13 secondary indicators, were included in the evaluation system. The matrix is built to conduct the λ max, CI, and CR of each expert in the survey, and the index weight coefficients of primary indicators were 0.33, 0.28, 0.27, and 0.12, respectively, and the index weight coefficients of secondary indicators were conducted and calculated accordingly. As the two-round questionnaire survey of experts and statistical analysis were performed and credibility of the results was verified through consistency evaluation test, the

Mobile technologies in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 105.

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Masters, Ken; Ellaway, Rachel H; Topps, David; Archibald, Douglas; Hogue, Rebecca J

2016-06-01

Mobile technologies (including handheld and wearable devices) have the potential to enhance learning activities from basic medical undergraduate education through residency and beyond. In order to use these technologies successfully, medical educators need to be aware of the underpinning socio-theoretical concepts that influence their usage, the pre-clinical and clinical educational environment in which the educational activities occur, and the practical possibilities and limitations of their usage. This Guide builds upon the previous AMEE Guide to e-Learning in medical education by providing medical teachers with conceptual frameworks and practical examples of using mobile technologies in medical education. The goal is to help medical teachers to use these concepts and technologies at all levels of medical education to improve the education of medical and healthcare personnel, and ultimately contribute to improved patient healthcare. This Guide begins by reviewing some of the technological changes that have occurred in recent years, and then examines the theoretical basis (both social and educational) for understanding mobile technology usage. From there, the Guide progresses through a hierarchy of institutional, teacher and learner needs, identifying issues, problems and solutions for the effective use of mobile technology in medical education. This Guide ends with a brief look to the future.

Medical education and information and communication technology.

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Houshyari, Asefeh Badiey; Bahadorani, Mahnaz; Tootoonchi, Mina; Gardiner, John Jacob Zucker; Peña, Roberto A; Adibi, Peyman

2012-01-01

Information and communication technology (ICT) has brought many changes in medical education and practice in the last couple of decades. Teaching and learning medicine particularly has gone under profound changes due to computer technologies, and medical schools around the world have invested heavily either in new computer technologies or in the process of adapting to this technological revolution. In order to catch up with the rest of the world, developing countries need to research their options in adapting to new computer technologies. This descriptive survey study was designed to assess medical students' computer and Internet skills and their attitude toward ICT. Research findings showed that the mean score of self-perceived computer knowledge for male students in general was greater than for female students. Also, students who had participated in various prior computer workshops, had access to computer, Internet, and e-mail, and frequently checked their e-mail had higher mean of self-perceived knowledge and skill score. Finally, students with positive attitude toward ICT scored their computer knowledge higher than those who had no opinion. The results have confirmed that the medical schools, particularly in developing countries, need to bring fundamental changes such as curriculum modification in order to integrate ICT into medical education, creating essential infrastructure for ICT use in medical education and practice, and structured computer training for faculty and students.

78 FR 29390 - Applications; SHINE Medical Technologies, Inc.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-20

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [Proj-0792; NRC-2013-0053] Applications; SHINE Medical Technologies... (ADAMS) Accession No. ML13088A192), SHINE Medical Technologies (SHINE) filed with the U.S. Nuclear... for a medical radioisotope production facility in Janesville, Wisconsin. An exemption from certain...

Application of stereo-imaging technology to medical field.

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Nam, Kyoung Won; Park, Jeongyun; Kim, In Young; Kim, Kwang Gi

2012-09-01

There has been continuous development in the area of stereoscopic medical imaging devices, and many stereoscopic imaging devices have been realized and applied in the medical field. In this article, we review past and current trends pertaining to the application stereo-imaging technologies in the medical field. We describe the basic principles of stereo vision and visual issues related to it, including visual discomfort, binocular disparities, vergence-accommodation mismatch, and visual fatigue. We also present a brief history of medical applications of stereo-imaging techniques, examples of recently developed stereoscopic medical devices, and patent application trends as they pertain to stereo-imaging medical devices. Three-dimensional (3D) stereo-imaging technology can provide more realistic depth perception to the viewer than conventional two-dimensional imaging technology. Therefore, it allows for a more accurate understanding and analysis of the morphology of an object. Based on these advantages, the significance of stereoscopic imaging in the medical field increases in accordance with the increase in the number of laparoscopic surgeries, and stereo-imaging technology plays a key role in the diagnoses of the detailed morphologies of small biological specimens. The application of 3D stereo-imaging technology to the medical field will help improve surgical accuracy, reduce operation times, and enhance patient safety. Therefore, it is important to develop more enhanced stereoscopic medical devices.

Educational technology in medical education.

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Han, Heeyoung; Resch, David S; Kovach, Regina A

2013-01-01

This article aims to review the past practices of educational technology and envision future directions for medical education. The discussion starts with a historical review of definitions and perspectives of educational technology, in which the authors propose that educators adopt a broader process-oriented understanding of educational technology. Future directions of e-learning, simulation, and health information technology are discussed based on a systems view of the technological process. As new technologies continue to arise, this process-oriented understanding and outcome-based expectations of educational technology should be embraced. With this view, educational technology should be valued in terms of how well the technological process informs and facilitates learning, and the acquisition and maintenance of clinical expertise.

Technology Acceptance of Electronic Medical Records by Nurses

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Stocker, Gary

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Technology Acceptance Model's (TAM) relevance of the intention of nurses to use electronic medical records in acute health care settings. The basic technology acceptance research of Davis (1989) was applied to the specific technology tool of electronic medical records (EMR) in a specific setting…

Web-Based Medical Service: Technology Attractiveness, Medical Creditability, Information Source, and Behavior Intention.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shan Huei

2017-08-02

Web-based medical service (WBMS), a cooperative relationship between medical service and Internet technology, has been called one of the most innovative services of the 21st century. However, its business promotion and implementation in the medical industry have neither been expected nor executed. Few studies have explored this phenomenon from the viewpoint of inexperienced patients. The primary goal of this study was to explore whether technology attractiveness, medical creditability, and diversified medical information sources could increase users' behavior intention. This study explored the effectiveness of web-based medical service by using three situations to manipulate sources of medical information. A total of 150 questionnaires were collected from people who had never used WBMS before. Hierarchical regression was used to examine the mediation and moderated-mediation effects. Perceived ease of use (P=.002) and perceived usefulness (P=.001) significantly enhance behavior intentions. Medical credibility is a mediator (P=.03), but the relationship does not significantly differ under diverse manipulative information channels (P=.39). Medical credibility could explain the extra variation between technology attractiveness and behavior intention, but not significant under different moderating effect of medical information sources. ©Shan Huei Wang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 02.08.2017.

Introducing information technologies into medical education: activities of the AAMC.

Science.gov (United States)

Salas, A A; Anderson, M B

1997-03-01

Previous articles in this column have discussed how new information technologies are revolutionizing medical education. In this article, two staff members from the Association of American Medical College's Division of Medical Education discuss how the Association (the AAMC) is working both to support the introduction of new technologies into medical education and to facilitate dialogue on information technology and curriculum issues among AAMC constituents and staff. The authors describe six AAMC initiatives related to computing in medical education: the Medical School Objectives Project, the National Curriculum Database Project, the Information Technology and Medical Education Project, a professional development program for chief information officers, the AAMC ACCESS Data Collection and Dissemination System, and the internal Staff Interest Group on Medical Informatics and Medical Education.

Medical Information & Technology: Rapidly Expanding Vast Horizons

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Sahni, Anil K.

2012-12-01

During ÑMedical Council Of India?, Platinum Jubilee Year (1933-2008) Celebrations, In Year 2008, Several Scientific Meeting/Seminar/Symposium, On Various Topics Of Contemporary Importance And Relevance In The Field Of ÑMedical Education And Ethics?, Were Organized, By Different Medical Colleges At Various Local, State, National Levels. The Present Discussion, Is An Comprehensive Summary Of Various Different Aspects of ìMedical Information Communication Technologyî, Especially UseFul For The Audience Stratum Group Of Those Amateur Medical & Paramedical Staff, With No Previous Work Experience Knowledge Of Computronics Applications. Outlining The, i.Administration Applications: Medical Records Etc, ii. Clinical Applications: Pros pective Scope Of TeleMedicine Applicabilities Etc iii. Other Applications: Efforts To Augment Improvement Of Medical Education, Medical Presentations, Medical Education And Research Etc. ÑMedical Trancription? & Related Recent Study Fields e.g ÑModern Pharmaceuticals?,ÑBio-Engineering?, ÑBio-Mechanics?, ÑBio-Technology? Etc., Along With Important Aspects Of Computers-General Considerations, Computer Ergonomics Assembled To Summarize, The AwareNess Regarding Basic Fundamentals Of Medical Computronics & Its Practically SuccessFul Utilities.

Endogenous Technology Adoption and Medical Costs.

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Lamiraud, Karine; Lhuillery, Stephane

2016-09-01

Despite the claim that technology has been one of the most important drivers of healthcare spending growth over the past decades, technology variables are rarely introduced explicitly in cost equations. Furthermore, technology is often considered exogenous. Using 1996-2007 panel data on Swiss geographical areas, we assessed the impact of technology availability on per capita healthcare spending covered by basic health insurance whilst controlling for the endogeneity of health technology availability variables. Our results suggest that medical research, patent intensity and the density of employees working in the medical device industry are influential factors for the adoption of technology and can be used as instruments for technology availability variables in the cost equation. These results are similar to previous findings: CT and PET scanner adoption is associated with increased healthcare spending, whilst increased availability of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty facilities is associated with reductions in per capita spending. However, our results suggest that the magnitude of these relationships is much greater in absolute value than that suggested by previous studies that did not control for the possible endogeneity of the availability of technologies. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The application of wiki technology in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, Andrew; Lewis, Melanie; White, Jonathan

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND, AIMS AND METHODS: Recent years have seen the introduction of web-based technologies such as the 'wiki', which is a webpage whose content can be edited in real time using a web browser. This article reviews the current state of knowledge about the use of wikis in education, and considers whether wiki technology has features that might prove useful in medical education. Advantages and challenges of the technology are discussed, and recommendations for use are provided. We believe that wiki technology offers a number of potential benefits for administrators, students and instructors, including the ability to share information online, to construct knowledge together, to facilitate collaboration and to enable social learning and peer feedback. We believe that with proper planning and instructional design, wiki technology can be usefully employed in medical education. We intend to continue to study the impact of wiki technology in our own programme, and we encourage others to evaluate the application of wiki technology in other areas of medical education.

Information Technologies (ITs) in Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Masic, Izet; Pandza, Haris; Toromanovic, Selim; Masic, Fedja; Sivic, Suad; Zunic, Lejla; Masic, Zlatan

2011-09-01

Advances in medicine in recent decades are in significant correlation with the advances in the information technology. Modern information technologies (IT) have enabled faster, more reliable and comprehensive data collection. These technologies have started to create a large number of irrelevant information, which represents a limiting factor and a real growing gap, between the medical knowledge on one hand, and the ability of doctors to follow its growth on the other. Furthermore, in our environment, the term technology is generally reserved for its technical component. Education means, learning, teaching, or the process of acquiring skills or behavior modification through various exercises. Traditionally, medical education meant the oral, practical and more passive transferring of knowledge and skills from the educators to students and health professionals. For the clinical disciplines, of special importance are the principles, such as, "learning at bedside," aided by the medical literature. In doing so, these techniques enable students to contact with their teachers, and to refer to the appropriate literature. The disadvantage of these educational methods is in the fact, that teachers often do not have enough time. Additionally they are not very convenient to the horizontal and vertical integration of teaching, create weak or almost no self education, as well as, low skill levels and poor integration of education with a real social environment. In this paper authors describe application of modern IT in medical education - their advantages and disadvantages comparing with traditional ways of education.

Perception of medical students for utility of mobile technology use in medical education

OpenAIRE

Sushama Subhash Thakre; Subhash Bapurao Thakre

2015-01-01

Introduction: Mobile technology is changing the way we live, and it is beginning to change the way we learn. Current literature reviews have shown that research on mobile technology in medical education primarily focused on efficacy, of mobile devices as an educational tool and resource, infrastructure to support m-learning, benefits, challenges, and appropriate use. Objectives: To assess the perception of medical student for the utility of mobile technology in their learning experience and t...

Medical technology advances from space research

Science.gov (United States)

Pool, S. L.

1972-01-01

Details of medical research and development programs, particularly an integrated medical laboratory, as derived from space technology are given. The program covers digital biotelemetry systems, automatic visual field mapping equipment, sponge electrode caps for clinical electroencephalograms, and advanced respiratory analysis equipment. The possibility of using the medical laboratory in ground based remote areas and regional health care facilities, as well as long duration space missions is discussed.

Technology-related medication errors in a tertiary hospital: a 5-year analysis of reported medication incidents.

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Samaranayake, N R; Cheung, S T D; Chui, W C M; Cheung, B M Y

2012-12-01

Healthcare technology is meant to reduce medication errors. The objective of this study was to assess unintended errors related to technologies in the medication use process. Medication incidents reported from 2006 to 2010 in a main tertiary care hospital were analysed by a pharmacist and technology-related errors were identified. Technology-related errors were further classified as socio-technical errors and device errors. This analysis was conducted using data from medication incident reports which may represent only a small proportion of medication errors that actually takes place in a hospital. Hence, interpretation of results must be tentative. 1538 medication incidents were reported. 17.1% of all incidents were technology-related, of which only 1.9% were device errors, whereas most were socio-technical errors (98.1%). Of these, 61.2% were linked to computerised prescription order entry, 23.2% to bar-coded patient identification labels, 7.2% to infusion pumps, 6.8% to computer-aided dispensing label generation and 1.5% to other technologies. The immediate causes for technology-related errors included, poor interface between user and computer (68.1%), improper procedures or rule violations (22.1%), poor interface between user and infusion pump (4.9%), technical defects (1.9%) and others (3.0%). In 11.4% of the technology-related incidents, the error was detected after the drug had been administered. A considerable proportion of all incidents were technology-related. Most errors were due to socio-technical issues. Unintended and unanticipated errors may happen when using technologies. Therefore, when using technologies, system improvement, awareness, training and monitoring are needed to minimise medication errors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unmet needs: relevance to medical technology innovation?

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Avril D; Sproson, Lise; Wells, Oliver; Tindale, Wendy

2014-01-01

This paper describes and discusses the role of unmet needs in the innovation of new medical technologies using the National Institute for Health Research Devices for Dignity (D4D) Healthcare Technology Co-operative as a case study. It defines an unmet need, providing a spectrum of classification and discusses the benefits and the challenges of identifying unmet need and its influence on the innovation process. The process by which D4D has captured and utilized unmet needs to drive technology innovation is discussed and examples given. It concludes by arguing that, despite the challenges, defining and reviewing unmet need is a fundamental factor in the success of medical technology innovation.

Bar Code Medication Administration Technology: Characterization of High-Alert Medication Triggers and Clinician Workarounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Daniel F; Fortier, Christopher R; Garrison, Kelli L

2011-02-01

Bar code medication administration (BCMA) technology is gaining acceptance for its ability to prevent medication administration errors. However, studies suggest that improper use of BCMA technology can yield unsatisfactory error prevention and introduction of new potential medication errors. To evaluate the incidence of high-alert medication BCMA triggers and alert types and discuss the type of nursing and pharmacy workarounds occurring with the use of BCMA technology and the electronic medication administration record (eMAR). Medication scanning and override reports from January 1, 2008, through November 30, 2008, for all adult medical/surgical units were retrospectively evaluated for high-alert medication system triggers, alert types, and override reason documentation. An observational study of nursing workarounds on an adult medicine step-down unit was performed and an analysis of potential pharmacy workarounds affecting BCMA and the eMAR was also conducted. Seventeen percent of scanned medications triggered an error alert of which 55% were for high-alert medications. Insulin aspart, NPH insulin, hydromorphone, potassium chloride, and morphine were the top 5 high-alert medications that generated alert messages. Clinician override reasons for alerts were documented in only 23% of administrations. Observational studies assessing for nursing workarounds revealed a median of 3 clinician workarounds per administration. Specific nursing workarounds included a failure to scan medications/patient armband and scanning the bar code once the dosage has been removed from the unit-dose packaging. Analysis of pharmacy order entry process workarounds revealed the potential for missed doses, duplicate doses, and doses being scheduled at the wrong time. BCMA has the potential to prevent high-alert medication errors by alerting clinicians through alert messages. Nursing and pharmacy workarounds can limit the recognition of optimal safety outcomes and therefore workflow processes

Medical student attitudes toward video games and related new media technologies in medical education

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Background Studies in K-12 and college students show that their learning preferences have been strongly shaped by new media technologies like video games, virtual reality environments, the Internet, and social networks. However, there is no known research on medical students' game experiences or attitudes towards new media technologies in medical education. This investigation seeks to elucidate medical student experiences and attitudes, to see whether they warrant the development of new media teaching methods in medicine. Methods Medical students from two American universities participated. An anonymous, 30-item, cross-sectional survey addressed demographics, game play experience and attitudes on using new media technologies in medical education. Statistical analysis identified: 1) demographic characteristics; 2) differences between the two universities; 3) how video game play differs across gender, age, degree program and familiarity with computers; and 4) characteristics of students who play most frequently. Results 217 medical students participated. About half were female (53%). Respondents liked the idea of using technology to enhance healthcare education (98%), felt that education should make better use of new media technologies (96%), and believed that video games can have educational value (80%). A majority (77%) would use a multiplayer online healthcare simulation on their own time, provided that it helped them to accomplish an important goal. Men and women agreed that they were most inclined to use multiplayer simulations if they were fun (97%), and if they helped to develop skill in patient interactions (90%). However, there was significant gender dissonance over types of favorite games, the educational value of video games, and the desire to participate in games that realistically replicated the experience of clinical practice. Conclusions Overall, medical student respondents, including many who do not play video games, held highly favorable views about

Medical student attitudes toward video games and related new media technologies in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Kron, Frederick W; Gjerde, Craig L; Sen, Ananda; Fetters, Michael D

2010-06-24

Studies in K-12 and college students show that their learning preferences have been strongly shaped by new media technologies like video games, virtual reality environments, the Internet, and social networks. However, there is no known research on medical students' game experiences or attitudes towards new media technologies in medical education. This investigation seeks to elucidate medical student experiences and attitudes, to see whether they warrant the development of new media teaching methods in medicine. Medical students from two American universities participated. An anonymous, 30-item, cross-sectional survey addressed demographics, game play experience and attitudes on using new media technologies in medical education. Statistical analysis identified: 1) demographic characteristics; 2) differences between the two universities; 3) how video game play differs across gender, age, degree program and familiarity with computers; and 4) characteristics of students who play most frequently. 217 medical students participated. About half were female (53%). Respondents liked the idea of using technology to enhance healthcare education (98%), felt that education should make better use of new media technologies (96%), and believed that video games can have educational value (80%). A majority (77%) would use a multiplayer online healthcare simulation on their own time, provided that it helped them to accomplish an important goal. Men and women agreed that they were most inclined to use multiplayer simulations if they were fun (97%), and if they helped to develop skill in patient interactions (90%). However, there was significant gender dissonance over types of favorite games, the educational value of video games, and the desire to participate in games that realistically replicated the experience of clinical practice. Overall, medical student respondents, including many who do not play video games, held highly favorable views about the use of video games and related new

Implications of WWW technologies for exchanging medical records

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maurice Dixon

1999-09-01

Full Text Available This article addresses some of the implications for medical record exchange of very recent developments in technology and tools that support the World Wide Web. It argues that XML (Extensible Mark-up Language is a very good enabling technology for medical record exchange. XML provides a much cheaper way of executing the exchange of medical information that circumvents the need for proprietary software. Use of XML can also simplify solutions to the problems associated with coping with the evolution of medical systems in time. However XML on its own does not resolve all the semantic heterogeneities.

Adaptive and perceptual learning technologies in medical education and training.

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Kellman, Philip J

2013-10-01

Recent advances in the learning sciences offer remarkable potential to improve medical education and maximize the benefits of emerging medical technologies. This article describes 2 major innovation areas in the learning sciences that apply to simulation and other aspects of medical learning: Perceptual learning (PL) and adaptive learning technologies. PL technology offers, for the first time, systematic, computer-based methods for teaching pattern recognition, structural intuition, transfer, and fluency. Synergistic with PL are new adaptive learning technologies that optimize learning for each individual, embed objective assessment, and implement mastery criteria. The author describes the Adaptive Response-Time-based Sequencing (ARTS) system, which uses each learner's accuracy and speed in interactive learning to guide spacing, sequencing, and mastery. In recent efforts, these new technologies have been applied in medical learning contexts, including adaptive learning modules for initial medical diagnosis and perceptual/adaptive learning modules (PALMs) in dermatology, histology, and radiology. Results of all these efforts indicate the remarkable potential of perceptual and adaptive learning technologies, individually and in combination, to improve learning in a variety of medical domains. Reprint & Copyright © 2013 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Production Situation and Technology Prospect of Medical Isotopes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GAO Feng;LIN Li;LIU Yu-hao;MA Xing-jun

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The isotope production technology was overviewed, including traditional and newest technology. The current situation of medical isotope production was introduced. The problems faced by isotope supply and demand were analyzed. The future development trend of medical isotopes and technology prospect were put forward. As the most populous country, nuclear medicine develops rapidly, however, domestic isotope mainly relies on imports. The highly productive and relatively safe MIPR is expected to be an effective way to breakthrough the bottleneck of the development of nuclear medicine. Traditional isotope production technologies with reactor can be improved. It's urgent to research and promote new isotope production technologies with reactor. Those technologies which do not depend on reactor will have a bright market prospects.

Medical Device Plug-and-Play Interoperability Standards and Technology Leadership

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-01

Award Number: W81XWH-09-1-0705 TITLE: “Medical Device Plug-and-Play Interoperability Standards and Technology Leadership” PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR...Sept 2016 – 20 Sept 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE “Medical Device Plug-and-Play Interoperability 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Standards and Technology ...efficiency through interoperable medical technologies . We played a leadership role on interoperability safety standards (AAMI, AAMI/UL Joint

Medical technology management: from planning to application.

Science.gov (United States)

David, Y; Jahnke, E

2005-01-01

Appropriate deployment of technological innovation contributes to improvement in the quality of healthcare delivered, the containment of cost, and access to the healthcare system. Hospitals have been allocating a significant portion of their resources to procuring and managing capital assets; they are continuously faced with demands for new medical equipment and are asked to manage existing inventory for which they are not well prepared. To objectively manage their investment, hospitals are developing medical technology management programs that need pertinent information and planning methodology for integrating new equipment into existing operations as well as for optimizing costs of ownership of all equipment. Clinical engineers can identify technological solutions based on the matching of new medical equipment with hospital's objectives. They can review their institution's overall technological position, determine strengths and weaknesses, develop equipment-selection criteria, supervise installations, train users and monitor post procurement performance to assure meeting of goals. This program, together with cost accounting analysis, will objectively guide the capital assets decision-making process. Cost accounting analysis is a multivariate function that includes determining the amount, based upon a strategic plan and financial resources, of funding to be allocated annually for medical equipment acquisition and replacement. Often this function works closely with clinical engineering to establish equipment useful life and prioritization of acquisition, upgrade, and replacement of inventory within budget confines and without conducting time consuming, individual financial capital project evaluations.

Medical student attitudes toward video games and related new media technologies in medical education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kron Frederick W

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Studies in K-12 and college students show that their learning preferences have been strongly shaped by new media technologies like video games, virtual reality environments, the Internet, and social networks. However, there is no known research on medical students' game experiences or attitudes towards new media technologies in medical education. This investigation seeks to elucidate medical student experiences and attitudes, to see whether they warrant the development of new media teaching methods in medicine. Methods Medical students from two American universities participated. An anonymous, 30-item, cross-sectional survey addressed demographics, game play experience and attitudes on using new media technologies in medical education. Statistical analysis identified: 1 demographic characteristics; 2 differences between the two universities; 3 how video game play differs across gender, age, degree program and familiarity with computers; and 4 characteristics of students who play most frequently. Results 217 medical students participated. About half were female (53%. Respondents liked the idea of using technology to enhance healthcare education (98%, felt that education should make better use of new media technologies (96%, and believed that video games can have educational value (80%. A majority (77% would use a multiplayer online healthcare simulation on their own time, provided that it helped them to accomplish an important goal. Men and women agreed that they were most inclined to use multiplayer simulations if they were fun (97%, and if they helped to develop skill in patient interactions (90%. However, there was significant gender dissonance over types of favorite games, the educational value of video games, and the desire to participate in games that realistically replicated the experience of clinical practice. Conclusions Overall, medical student respondents, including many who do not play video games, held highly

Ethics, Deafness, and New Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Hintermair, Manfred; Albertini, John A.

2005-01-01

In the last 50 years, several new technologies have become enormously important within the Deaf community and have helped significantly to improve deaf people's lives in a hearing world. Current public attention and admiration, however, seems unduly focused on medical technologies that promise to solve "the problem" of being deaf. One reason for…

Patient safety and technology-driven medication - A qualitative study on how graduate nursing students navigate through complex medication administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Orbæk, Janne; Gaard, Mette; Fabricius, Pia; Lefevre, Rikke S; Møller, Tom

2015-05-01

The technology-driven medication process is complex, involving advanced technologies, patient participation and increased safety measures. Medication administration errors are frequently reported, with nurses implicated in 26-38% of in-hospital cases. This points to the need for new ways of educating nursing students in today's medication administration. To explore nursing students' experiences and competences with the technology-driven medication administration process. 16 pre-graduate nursing students were included in two focus group interviews which were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using the systematic horizontal phenomenological-hermeneutic template methodology. The interviews uncovered that understanding the technologies; professionalism and patient safety are three crucial elements in the medication process. The students expressed positivity and confidence in using technology, but were fearful of committing serious medication errors. From the nursing students' perspective, experienced nurses deviate from existing guidelines, leaving them feeling isolated in practical learning situations. Having an unclear nursing role model for the technology-driven medication process, nursing students face difficulties in identifying and adopting best practices. The impact of using technology on the frequency, type and severity of medication errors; the technologies implications on nursing professionalism and the nurses ability to secure patient adherence to the medication process, still remains to be studied. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preparing for the changing role of instructional technologies in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Robin, Bernard R; McNeil, Sara G; Cook, David A; Agarwal, Kathryn L; Singhal, Geeta R

2011-04-01

As part of an international faculty development conference in February 2010, a working group of medical educators and physicians discussed the changing role of instructional technologies and made recommendations for supporting faculty in using these technologies in medical education. The resulting discussion highlighted ways technology is transforming the entire process of medical education and identified several converging trends that have implications for how medical educators might prepare for the next decade. These trends include the explosion of new information; all information, including both health knowledge and medical records, becoming digital; a new generation of learners; the emergence of new instructional technologies; and the accelerating rate of change, especially related to technology. The working group developed five recommendations that academic health leaders and policy makers may use as a starting point for dealing with the instructional technology challenges facing medical education over the next decade. These recommendations are (1) using technology to provide/support experiences for learners that are not otherwise possible-not as a replacement for, but as a supplement to, face-to-face experiences, (2) focusing on fundamental principles of teaching and learning rather than learning specific technologies in isolation, (3) allocating a variety of resources to support the appropriate use of instructional technologies, (4) supporting faculty members as they adopt new technologies, and (5) providing funding and leadership to enhance electronic infrastructure to facilitate sharing of resources and instructional ideas. © by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Globalization and the trends of medical technology trade in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Semin, Semih; Güldal, Dilek; Demiral, Yücel

2007-05-01

Medical technology trade is one of the most affected health areas by global regulations in the developing countries. The aim of the study is to examine recent changes in medical technology import and export and their results in Turkey. Data show that the total medical technology imports (MTI) increased from $ 34.6 million to $ 3427.9 million between 1970 and 2003. While MTI constituted 3.6% of total imports in 1970 and 1.3% in 1980, this ratio raised up to 4.9% in 2003. The ratio of MTI in total health expenditures were also increased from 7.6% in 1970 to 31.5% in 2003. Medical technology exports (MTE) have been increased from $ 0.9 million in 1970 to $ 303.2 million in 2003. The ratio of MTE to MTI increased from 2.7% to 13.9% between 1970 and 1990 and decreased after 1990, to 8.8%. Our study implied that the medical technology trade in Turkey has been negatively affected and in some respects differs from some other important industries in the globalization era. Nevertheless, detailed comparative studies in different developing countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico and India, are needed to explore the real state of medical technology trade, use and the effects of globalization on these topics.

The user's view of commercially available medical technology

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, D. C.

1975-01-01

The potential user of new medical equipment for imaging the cardiovascular system is often faced with the problem of deciding whether or not to accept a new piece of equipment or a new technological concept into the practice of cardiology. Considerations for acquiring new medical technology are discussed in some detail. Acquisition of new technology should depend on whether the equipment provides more and relevant clinical data, is for research or for limited use, is properly engineered for patient use, presents information in easily storable and retrievable form, is tested and validated clinically, is fabricated by a reliable manufacturer, is cost effective, and may be readily replaced by a new technology.

A needs assessment for mobile technology use in medical education

OpenAIRE

Shahrzad Vafa; Diane E. Chico

2013-01-01

Objectives: This study investigated how medical students perceived mobile technology as a component of their learning experience and identified barriers to the use of mobile technology in education. Methods: An anonymous survey developed by EDUCAUSE was distributed to 1000 first year medical students (M1s) at two separate medical schools during three consecutive academic years, 2010 to 2013. The 25-item questionnaire assessed student use of mobile devices, student interest in mobile technolog...

Mobile technology use in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Luanrattana, Rattiporn; Win, Khin Than; Fulcher, John; Iverson, Don

2012-02-01

This study was undertaken to determine the PDA functionalities for a problem-based learning (PBL) medical curriculum at the Graduate School of Medicine (GSM), the University of Wollongong (UOW). The study determines the factors/aspects of incorporating PDAs, and the attitudes of stakeholders regarding the use of PDAs in such a PBL-based medical curriculum. In-depth interviews were designed and conducted with medical faculty, the medical education technology team and honorary medical academics. Four major PDA functionalities were identified, these being: clinical-log, reference, communication, and general functions. Two major aspects for the incorporation of PDAs into the PBL-medical curriculum at the UOW were determined from the interviews, these being technical and practical aspects. There is a potential for PDAs to be incorporated into the PBL-medical curricula at the UOW. However, a clear strategy needs to be defined as to how best to incorporate PDAs into PBL-medical curricula with minimal impact on students, as well as financial and resource implications for the GSM.

Technology and medication errors: impact in nursing homes.

Science.gov (United States)

Baril, Chantal; Gascon, Viviane; St-Pierre, Liette; Lagacé, Denis

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to study a medication distribution technology's (MDT) impact on medication errors reported in public nursing homes in Québec Province. The work was carried out in six nursing homes (800 patients). Medication error data were collected from nursing staff through a voluntary reporting process before and after MDT was implemented. The errors were analysed using: totals errors; medication error type; severity and patient consequences. A statistical analysis verified whether there was a significant difference between the variables before and after introducing MDT. The results show that the MDT detected medication errors. The authors' analysis also indicates that errors are detected more rapidly resulting in less severe consequences for patients. MDT is a step towards safer and more efficient medication processes. Our findings should convince healthcare administrators to implement technology such as electronic prescriber or bar code medication administration systems to improve medication processes and to provide better healthcare to patients. Few studies have been carried out in long-term healthcare facilities such as nursing homes. The authors' study extends what is known about MDT's impact on medication errors in nursing homes.

Biological and medical sensor technologies

CERN Document Server

Iniewski, Krzysztof

2012-01-01

Biological and Medical Sensor Technologies presents contributions from top experts who explore the development and implementation of sensors for various applications used in medicine and biology. Edited by a pioneer in the area of advanced semiconductor materials, the book is divided into two sections. The first part covers sensors for biological applications. Topics include: Advanced sensing and communication in the biological world DNA-derivative architectures for long-wavelength bio-sensing Label-free silicon photonics Quartz crystal microbalance-based biosensors Lab-on-chip technologies fo

Using Technology to Meet the Challenges of Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Guze, Phyllis A

2015-01-01

Medical education is rapidly changing, influenced by many factors including the changing health care environment, the changing role of the physician, altered societal expectations, rapidly changing medical science, and the diversity of pedagogical techniques. Changes in societal expectations put patient safety in the forefront, and raises the ethical issues of learning interactions and procedures on live patients, with the long-standing teaching method of "see one, do one, teach one" no longer acceptable. The educational goals of using technology in medical education include facilitating basic knowledge acquisition, improving decision making, enhancement of perceptual variation, improving skill coordination, practicing for rare or critical events, learning team training, and improving psychomotor skills. Different technologies can address these goals. Technologies such as podcasts and videos with flipped classrooms, mobile devices with apps, video games, simulations (part-time trainers, integrated simulators, virtual reality), and wearable devices (google glass) are some of the techniques available to address the changing educational environment. This article presents how the use of technologies can provide the infrastructure and basis for addressing many of the challenges in providing medical education for the future.

Introducing technology into medical education: two pilot studies.

Science.gov (United States)

George, Paul; Dumenco, Luba; Dollase, Richard; Taylor, Julie Scott; Wald, Hedy S; Reis, Shmuel P

2013-12-01

Educators are integrating new technology into medical curriculum. The impact of newer technology on educational outcomes remains unclear. We aimed to determine if two pilot interventions, (1) introducing iPads into problem-based learning (PBL) sessions and (2) online tutoring would improve the educational experience of our learners. We voluntarily assigned 26 second-year medical students to iPad-based PBL sessions. Five students were assigned to Skype for exam remediation. We performed a mixed-method evaluation to determine efficacy. Pilot 1: Seventeen students completed a survey following their use of an iPad during the second-year PBL curriculum. Students noted the iPad allows for researching information in real time, annotating lecture notes, and viewing sharper images. Data indicate that iPads have value in medical education and are a positive addition to the curriculum. Pilot 2: Students agreed that online tutoring is at least or more effective than in-person tutoring. In our pilot studies, students experienced that iPads and Skype are beneficial in medical education and can be successfully employed in areas such as PBL and remediation. Educators should continue to further examine innovative opportunities for introducing technology into medical education. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mineral-PET Kimberlite sorting by nuclear-medical technology

CERN Document Server

Ballestrero, S; Cafferty, L; Caveney, R; Connell, SH; Cook, M; Dalton, M; Gopal, H; Ives, N; Lee, C A; Mampe, W; Phoku, M; Roodt, A; Sibande, W; Sellschop, J P F; Topkin, J; Unwucholaa, D A

2010-01-01

A revolutionary new technology for diamond bearing rock sorting which has its roots in medical-nuclear physics has been taken through a substantial part of the R&D phase. This has led to the construction of the technology demonstrator. Experiments using the technology demonstrator and experiments at a hospital have established the scientific and technological viability of the project.

Transferability of economic evaluations of medical technologies: a new technology for orthopedic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Steuten, Lotte; Vallejo-Torres, Laura; Young, Terry; Buxton, Martin

2008-05-01

Transferring results of economic evaluations across countries or jurisdictions can potentially save scarce evaluation resources while helping to make market access and reimbursement decisions in a timely fashion. This article points out why transferring results of economic evaluations is particularly important in the field of medical technologies. It then provides an overview of factors that are previously identified in the literature as affecting transferability of economic evaluations, as well as methods for transferring results in a scientifically sound way. As the current literature almost exclusively relates to transferability of pharmacoeconomic evaluations, this article highlights those factors and methodologies that are of particular relevance to transferring medical technology assessments. Considering the state-of-the-art literature and a worked, real life, example of transferring an economic evaluation of a product used in orthopedic surgery, we provide recommendations for future work in this important area of medical technology assessment.

St. Luke's Medical Center: technologizing health care

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tumanguil, S.S.

1994-01-01

The computerization of the St. Luke's Medical Center improved the hospital administration and management, particularly in nuclear medicine department. The use of computer-aided X-ray simulator machine and computerized linear accelerator machine in diagnosing and treating cancer are the most recent medical technological breakthroughs that benefited thousands of Filipino cancer patients. 4 photos

Medical simulation technology: educational overview, industry leaders, and what's missing.

Science.gov (United States)

Spooner, Nicholas; Hurst, Stephen; Khadra, Mohamed

2012-01-01

Modern medical simulation technology (MST) debuted in 1960 with the development of Resusci Annie (Laerdal 2007), which assisted students in the acquisition of proper ventilation and compression techniques used during basic life support. Following a steady stream of subsequent technological advances and innovations, MST manufacturers are now able to offer training aids capable of facilitating innovative learning in such diverse areas as human patient simulators, simulated clinical environments, virtual procedure stations, virtual medical environments, electronic tutors, and performance recording. The authors list a number of the most popular MSTs presently available while citing evaluative efforts undertaken to date regarding the efficacy of MST to the medical profession. They conclude by proposing a variety of simulation innovations of prospective interest to both medical and technology personnel while offering healthcare administrators a series of recommended considerations when planning to integrate MST into existing medical systems.

75 FR 52472 - Spectrum Requirements for Advanced Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-26

... medical devices. Under this framework, the rules for MedRadio service incorporates the MICS ``core'' band... Requirements for Advanced Medical Technologies AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission. ACTION: Final rule.... (Medtronic) regarding rules for the Medical Device Radiocommunication (MedRadio) service. The Commission...

Patient safety and technology-driven medication e A qualitative study on how graduate nursing students navigate through complex medication administration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Orbæk, Janne; Gaard, Mette; Fabricius, Pia

2014-01-01

ways of educating nursing students in today's medication administration. Aim: To explore nursing students' experiences and competences with the technology-driven medication administration process. Methods: 16 pre-graduate nursing students were included in two focus group interviews which were recorded...... for the technology-driven medication process, nursing students face difficulties in identifying and adopting best practices. The impact of using technology on the frequency, type and severity of medication errors; the technologies implications on nursing professionalism and the nurses ability to secure patient...

Diffusion of medical technology: the role of financing.

Science.gov (United States)

Cappellaro, Giulia; Ghislandi, Simone; Anessi-Pessina, Eugenio

2011-04-01

In the last decade the pace of innovation in medical technology has accelerated: hence the need to better identify and understand the real forces behind the adoption and diffusion of medical technology innovations in clinical practice. Among these forces, financial incentives may be expected to play a major role. The purpose of this paper was to assess the influence of financing mechanisms for new medical devices and correlated procedures on their diffusion. The analysis was carried out in the Italian inpatient cardiovascular area and applied to drug eluting stents over the period 2003-07. The paper's main hypothesis, that higher levels of reimbursement encourage technology diffusion, was rejected. So was the hypothesis that private hospitals may be more sensitive to tariff levels than public hospitals. A statistically significant difference was found only between hospitals that are funded on a Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs) basis and those that are not, with the former showing higher levels of technology diffusion. These results warn policy makers against excessive reliance on specific reimbursement fee changes as a way of steering provider behaviour. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Collaborative Affordances of Hybrid Patient Record Technologies in Medical Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Houben, Steven; Frost, Mads; Bardram, Jakob E

2015-01-01

explored the integration of paper and digital technology, there are still a wide range of open issues in the design of technologies that integrate digital and paper-based medical records. This paper studies the use of one such novel technology, called the Hybrid Patient Record (HyPR), that is designed......The medical record is a central artifact used to organize, communicate and coordinate information related to patient care. Despite recent deployments of electronic health records (EHR), paper medical records are still widely used because of the affordances of paper. Although a number of approaches...... to digitally augment a paper medical record. We report on two studies: a field study in which we describe the benefits and challenges of using a combination of electronic and paper-based medical records in a large university hospital and a deployment study in which we analyze how 8 clinicians used the Hy...

Towards the systematic development of medical networking technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Faust, Oliver; Shetty, Ravindra; Sree, S Vinitha; Acharya, Sripathi; Acharya U, Rajendra; Ng, E Y K; Poo, Chua Kok; Suri, Jasjit

2011-12-01

Currently, there is a disparity in the availability of doctors between urban and rural areas of developing countries. Most experienced doctors and specialists, as well as advanced diagnostic technologies, are available in urban areas. People living in rural areas have less or sometimes even no access to affordable healthcare facilities. Increasing the number of doctors and charitable medical hospitals or deploying advanced medical technologies in these areas might not be economically feasible, especially in developing countries. We need to mobilize science and technology to master this complex, large scale problem in an objective, logical, and professional way. This can only be achieved with a collaborative effort where a team of experts works on both technical and non-technical aspects of this health care divide. In this paper we use a systems engineering framework to discuss hospital networks which might be solution for the problem. We argue that with the advancement in communication and networking technologies, economically middle class people and even some rural poor have access to internet and mobile communication systems. Thus, Hospital Digital Networking Technologies (HDNT), such as telemedicine, can be developed to utilize internet, mobile and satellite communication systems to connect primitive rural healthcare centers to well advanced modern urban setups and thereby provide better consultation and diagnostic care to the needy people. This paper describes requirements and limitations of the HDNTs. It also presents the features of telemedicine, the implementation issues and the application of wireless technologies in the field of medical networking.

Does applying technology throughout the medication use process improve patient safety with antineoplastics?

Science.gov (United States)

Bubalo, Joseph; Warden, Bruce A; Wiegel, Joshua J; Nishida, Tess; Handel, Evelyn; Svoboda, Leanne M; Nguyen, Lam; Edillo, P Neil

2014-12-01

Medical errors, in particular medication errors, continue to be a troublesome factor in the delivery of safe and effective patient care. Antineoplastic agents represent a group of medications highly susceptible to medication errors due to their complex regimens and narrow therapeutic indices. As the majority of these medication errors are frequently associated with breakdowns in poorly defined systems, developing technologies and evolving workflows seem to be a logical approach to provide added safeguards against medication errors. This article will review both the pros and cons of today's technologies and their ability to simplify the medication use process, reduce medication errors, improve documentation, improve healthcare costs and increase provider efficiency as relates to the use of antineoplastic therapy throughout the medication use process. Several technologies, mainly computerized provider order entry (CPOE), barcode medication administration (BCMA), smart pumps, electronic medication administration record (eMAR), and telepharmacy, have been well described and proven to reduce medication errors, improve adherence to quality metrics, and/or improve healthcare costs in a broad scope of patients. The utilization of these technologies during antineoplastic therapy is weak at best and lacking for most. Specific to the antineoplastic medication use system, the only technology with data to adequately support a claim of reduced medication errors is CPOE. In addition to the benefits these technologies can provide, it is also important to recognize their potential to induce new types of errors and inefficiencies which can negatively impact patient care. The utilization of technology reduces but does not eliminate the potential for error. The evidence base to support technology in preventing medication errors is limited in general but even more deficient in the realm of antineoplastic therapy. Though CPOE has the best evidence to support its use in the

Implementing technology to improve medication safety in healthcare facilities: a literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Hidle, Unn

Medication errors remain one of the most common causes of patient injuries in the United States, with detrimental outcomes including adverse reactions and even death. By developing a better understanding of why and how medication errors occur, preventative measures may be implemented including technological advances. In this literature review, potential methods of reducing medication errors were explored. Furthermore, technology tools available for medication orders and administration are described, including advantages and disadvantages of each system. It was found that technology can be an excellent aid in improving safety of medication administration. However, computer technology cannot replace human intellect and intuition. Nurses should be involved when implementing any new computerized system in order to obtain the most appropriate and user-friendly structure.

42 CFR 412.88 - Additional payment for new medical service or technology.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... for new medical service or technology. (a) For discharges involving new medical services or... medical service or technology. [66 FR 46924, Sept. 7, 2001, as amended at 67 FR 50111, Aug. 1, 2002; 69 FR... 42 Public Health 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Additional payment for new medical service or...

Unnatural birth? : medical pain management technology and the naturalness of birth

OpenAIRE

Gihle, Marte

2008-01-01

The aim of this thesis is to explore how medical pain management technology affects the concept of natural birth.The relationship between medical pain management technology and natural birth is discussed in a structural framework in which medicalization, risk, and identity are acknowledged as important issues within the current childbirth paradigm. The analysis is based on thirteen in-depth interviews with Norwegian midwives and mothers on their perceptions of medical pain management technolo...

78 FR 30331 - Importer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration; Meridian Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2013-05-22

... Registration; Meridian Medical Technologies By Notice dated March 7, 2012, and published in the Federal Register on March 13, 2013, 78 FR 15974, Meridian Medical Technologies, 2555 Hermelin Drive, St. Louis... that the registration of Meridian Medical Technologies to import the basic class of controlled...

Impact of Mobile Dose-Tracking Technology on Medication Distribution at an Academic Medical Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelm, Matthew; Campbell, Udobi

2016-05-01

Medication dose-tracking technologies have the potential to improve efficiency and reduce costs associated with re-dispensing doses reported as missing. Data describing this technology and its impact on the medication use process are limited. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of dose-tracking technology on pharmacy workload and drug expense at an academic, acute care medical center. Dose-tracking technology was implemented in June 2014. Pre-implementation data were collected from February to April 2014. Post-implementation data were collected from July to September 2014. The primary endpoint was the percent of re-dispensed oral syringe and compounded sterile product (CSP) doses within the pre- and post-implementation periods per 1,000 discharges. Secondary endpoints included pharmaceutical expense generated from re-dispensing doses, labor costs, and staff satisfaction with the medication distribution process. We observed an average 6% decrease in re-dispensing of oral syringe and CSP doses from pre- to post-implementation (15,440 vs 14,547 doses; p = .047). However, when values were adjusted per 1,000 discharges, this trend did not reach statistical significance (p = .074). Pharmaceutical expense generated from re-dispensing doses was significantly reduced from pre- to post-implementation ($834,830 vs $746,466 [savings of $88,364]; p = .047). We estimated that $2,563 worth of technician labor was avoided in re-dispensing missing doses. We also saw significant improvement in staff perception of technology assisting in reducing missing doses (p = .0003), as well as improvement in effectiveness of resolving or minimizing missing doses (p = .01). The use of mobile dose-tracking technology demonstrated meaningful reductions in both the number of doses re-dispensed and cost of pharmaceuticals dispensed.

[Undergraduate education of medical technologists to promote scientific and technological literacy].

Science.gov (United States)

Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki; Akizawa, Hirotsugu

2010-07-01

It is becoming increasingly important for today's medical technologists to receive proper training on the safety of medical treatment and healthcare in order to accommodate the rapid changes and advancement in medical technology. In particular, because of the increase of hospital-acquired infections, the role of medical technologists involved in infection control has become much more important. In addition, particularly in Japan, the career options available to students graduating with a degree in medical technology have become much more diverse, ranging from research laboratories to clinical services; however, undergraduate education for medical technologists is limited. It is therefore deemed necessary for undergraduate students to be provided with adequate training from their universities by offering a wider selection of classes in this subject area. In this paper, we summarize our preliminary findings on the trial lessons that are offered to medical technology students in their microbiology class. These lessons are designed to enhance students' academic potential and to engage their interest.

Medical technology assessment : the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process as a tool for multidisciplinary evaluation of medical devices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hummel, JM; Van Rossum, W; Verkerke, GJ; Rakhorst, G

2000-01-01

Most types of medical technology assessment are performed only after the technology has been developed. Consequently, they have only minor effects on changes in clinical practice. Our study introduces a new method of constructive medical technology assessment that can change the development and

Medical technology update - a Canadian perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.

2005-01-01

Major advances in medical equipment and the expanding utility of clinical applications have contributed to imaging procedures fast becoming an integral part of standard patient care in hospitals and clinics worldwide. The medical imaging market is based on the integration of at least three critical market segments using cutting-edge technologies: Image-generating equipment; contrast agents and imaging labels, including radionuclides; and associated hardware and software to process, evaluate, store, and transmit the images, which are either digitally generated or digitized from conventional film. (author)

77 FR 31388 - Importer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Registration; Meridian Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-25

... Registration; Meridian Medical Technologies By Notice dated March 23, 2012, and published in the Federal Register on April 2, 2012, 77 FR 19716, Meridian Medical Technologies, 2555 Hermelin Drive, St. Louis...) and 952(a), and determined that the registration of Meridian Medical Technologies to import the basic...

iMedEd: the role of mobile health technologies in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaglani, Shiv M; Topol, Eric J

2014-09-01

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have experienced a recent surge in attention because of their potential to transform the delivery of health care. This enthusiasm is partly due to the near ubiquity of smartphones and tablets among clinicians, as well as to the stream of mobile medical apps and devices being created. While much discussion has been devoted to how these tools will impact the practice of medicine, surprisingly little has been written on the role these technologies will play in medical education. In this commentary the authors describe the opportunities, applications, and challenges of mHealth apps and devices in medical education and argue that medical schools should make efforts to integrate these technologies into their curricula. By not doing so, medical educators risk producing a generation of clinicians underprepared for the changing realities of medical practice brought on by mHealth technologies.

How medical technologies shape the experience of illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Bjørn; Svenaeus, Fredrik

2018-02-03

In this article we explore how diagnostic and therapeutic technologies shape the lived experiences of illness for patients. By analysing a wide range of examples, we identify six ways that technology can (trans)form the experience of illness (and health). First, technology may create awareness of disease by revealing asymptomatic signs or markers (imaging techniques, blood tests). Second, the technology can reveal risk factors for developing diseases (e.g., high blood pressure or genetic tests that reveal risks of falling ill in the future). Third, the technology can affect and change an already present illness experience (e.g., the way blood sugar measurement affects the perceived symptoms of diabetes). Fourth, therapeutic technologies may redefine our experiences of a certain condition as diseased rather than unfortunate (e.g. assisted reproductive technologies or symptom based diagnoses in psychiatry). Fifth, technology influences illness experiences through altering social-cultural norms and values regarding various diagnoses. Sixth, technology influences and changes our experiences of being healthy in contrast and relation to being diseased and ill. This typology of how technology forms illness and related conditions calls for reflection regarding the phenomenology of technology and health. How are medical technologies and their outcomes perceived and understood by patients? The phenomenological way of approaching illness as a lived, bodily being-in-the-world is an important approach for better understanding and evaluating the effects that medical technologies may have on our health, not only in defining, diagnosing, or treating diseases, but also in making us feel more vulnerable and less healthy in different regards.

42 CFR 412.87 - Additional payment for new medical services and technologies: General provisions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... payment for new medical services and technologies: General provisions. (a) Basis. Sections 412.87 and 412... establish a mechanism to recognize the costs of new medical services and technologies under the hospital... that are new medical services and technologies, if the following conditions are met: (1) A new medical...

Adopting new medical technologies in Russian hospitals: what causes inefficiency? (qualitative study).

Science.gov (United States)

Shishkin, Sergey; Zasimova, Liudmila

2018-01-01

The adoption of new medical technologies often generates losses in efficiency associated with the excess or insufficient acquisition of new equipment, an inappropriate choice (in terms of economic and clinical parameters) of medical equipment, and its poor use. Russia is a good example for exploring the problem of the ineffective adoption of new medical technologies due to the massive public investment in new equipment for medical institutions in 2006-2013. This study examines the procurement of new technologies in Russian hospitals to find the main causes of inefficiency. The research strategy was based on in-depth semistructured interviews with representatives of prominent actors (regional health care authorities, hospital executives, senior physicians). The main result is that inefficiencies arise from the contradiction between hospitals' and authorities' motivation for acquiring new technologies: hospitals tend to adopt technologies which bring benefits to their department heads and physicians and minimize maintenance and servicing costs, while the authorities' main concern is the initial cost of the technology.

Incorporation of medical informatics and information technology as core components of undergraduate medical education - time for change!

Science.gov (United States)

Otto, Anthony; Kushniruk, Andre

2009-01-01

It is generally accepted that Information Technology (IT) is a highly desirable and a very necessary ingredient of modern health care. Review of available literature reveals a paucity of medical informatics and information technology courses in undergraduate medical curricula and a lack of research to assess the effectiveness of medical informatics in undergraduate medical education. The need for such initiatives is discussed and a pilot project is described that evaluated the effectiveness of education in the use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) applications. Educational activities, for example, could be medical students conducting virtual medical encounters or interacting with EMR applications. An EMR application, which was used in several related projects, has been adapted to the educational environment: standardized patient records can be created and cloned so that individual students can interact with a "standard" patient and alter the patient's data.

The ethics of an ordinary medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

van Manen, Michael A

2015-07-01

Some routinely applied hospital technologies may have unintended consequences for patients and their families. The neonatal cardiorespiratory monitor, a computer-like display used to show an infant's vital functions, is one such technology that may become part of a parent's day-to-day being with his or her hospitalized child. In this phenomenological study, I explored how the monitor may mediate parental sensibilities, reshaping the contact of parent and child. This exploration speaks to understanding the relational ethics of even the seemingly most ordinary of medical technologies in clinical contexts. © The Author(s) 2014.

DICOM standard in computer-aided medical technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Plotnikov, A.V.; Prilutskij, D.A.; Selishchev, S.V.

1997-01-01

The paper outlines one of the promising standards to transmit images in medicine, in radiology in particular. the essence of the standard DICOM is disclosed and promises of its introduction into computer-aided medical technologies

Development of Medical Technology for Contingency Response to Marrow Toxic Agents

Science.gov (United States)

2018-02-28

Program HHQ Health History Questionnaire National Marrow Donor Program® N00014-16-1-2020 Development of Medical Technology for Contingency Response to...Report 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) DEC 2015 -November 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Development of Medical Technology for Contingency Response to Marrow...immunobiologic and clinical research activities promote studies to advance the science and technology of HCT to improve outcomes and quality of life for

How Consumers and Physicians View New Medical Technology: Comparative Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Boeldt, Debra L; Wineinger, Nathan E; Waalen, Jill; Gollamudi, Shreya; Grossberg, Adam; Steinhubl, Steven R; McCollister-Slipp, Anna; Rogers, Marc A; Silvers, Carey; Topol, Eric J

2015-09-14

As a result of the digital revolution coming to medicine, a number of new tools are becoming available and are starting to be introduced in clinical practice. We aim to assess health care professional and consumer attitudes toward new medical technology including smartphones, genetic testing, privacy, and patient-accessible electronic health records. We performed a survey with 1406 health care providers and 1102 consumer responders. Consumers who completed the survey were more likely to prefer new technologies for a medical diagnosis (437/1102, 39.66%) compared with providers (194/1406, 13.80%; P<.001), with more providers (393/1406, 27.95%) than consumers (175/1102, 15.88%) reporting feeling uneasy about using technology for a diagnosis. Both providers and consumers supported genetic testing for various purposes, with providers (1234/1406, 87.77%) being significantly more likely than consumers (806/1102, 73.14%) to support genetic testing when planning to have a baby (P<.001). Similarly, 91.68% (1289/1406) of providers and 81.22% (895/1102) of consumers supported diagnosing problems in a fetus (P<.001). Among providers, 90.33% (1270/1406) were concerned that patients would experience anxiety after accessing health records, and 81.95% (1149/1406) felt it would lead to requests for unnecessary medical evaluations, but only 34.30% (378/1102; P<.001) and 24.59% (271/1102; P<.001) of consumers expressed the same concerns, respectively. Physicians (137/827, 16.6%) reported less concern about the use of technology for diagnosis compared to medical students (21/235, 8.9%; P=.03) and also more frequently felt that patients owned their medical record (323/827, 39.1%; and 30/235, 12.8%, respectively; P<.001). Consumers and health professionals differ significantly and broadly in their views of emerging medical technology, with more enthusiasm and support expressed by consumers.

The Integration of Children Dependent on Medical Technology into Public Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Raymond, Jill A.

2009-01-01

Advances in medicine have increased the survival rates of children with complex medical conditions, including those who are dependent on technology such as ventilators and tracheostomies. The process of integrating children dependent on medical technology into public schools requires the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team to ensure that…

Publications in academic medical centers: technology-facilitated culture clash.

Science.gov (United States)

Berner, Eta S

2014-05-01

Academic culture has a set of norms, expectations, and values that are sometimes tacit and sometimes very explicit. In medical school and other health professions educational settings, probably the most common norm includes placing a high value on peer-reviewed research publications, which are seen as the major evidence of scholarly productivity. Other features of academic culture include encouraging junior faculty and graduate students to share their research results at professional conferences and lecturing with slides as a major way to convey information. Major values that faculty share with journal editors include responsible conduct of research and proper attribution of others' words and ideas. Medical school faculty also value technology and are often quick to embrace technological advances that can assist them in their teaching and research. This article addresses the effects of technology on three aspects of academic culture: education, presentations at professional meetings, and research publications.The technologies discussed include online instruction, dissemination of conference proceedings on the Internet, plagiarism-detection software, and new technologies deployed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the home of PubMed. The author describes how the ease of deploying new technologies without faculty changing their norms and behavior in the areas of teaching and research can lead to conflicts of values among key stakeholders in the academic medical community, including faculty, journal editors, and professional associations. The implications of these conflicts and strategies for managing them are discussed.

How children and young people construct and negotiate living with medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirk, Susan

2010-11-01

Increasing numbers of children need the support of medical technology for their survival and wellbeing, yet little is known about their experiences of living technology-assisted lives. This study aimed to explore how this group of children experience and construct medical technology and its influence on their identity and social relationships. Using a Grounded Theory approach, 28 children/young people aged between 8 and 19 years old and using different types of medical devices were recruited via nursing services in England. Data were collected by in-depth interviews conducted in children's homes. The medical technology occupied an ambivalent position in children's lives being seen as having both an enabling and disabling presence. Children actively engaged in work to incorporate the technology into their lives and bodies by developing strategies to manage their condition, the technology and their identities. This body work appeared to be driven by a desire to 'normalise' their bodies and their lives. Technologies were shaped to integrate them into everyday life and children managed their self-presentation and controlled information about their condition. This work was ongoing, responding to changing social contexts and relationships. For these children the process of 'growing up' involves incorporating disability, illness and technology. This study contributes to knowledge by examining how medical technology is constructed by children whose lives are dependent on it and illuminating the resources and strategies they use to manage their identity and negotiate peer culture interactions and norms. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The importance of educational theories for facilitating learning when using technology in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandars, John; Patel, Rakesh S; Goh, Poh Sun; Kokatailo, Patricia K; Lafferty, Natalie

2015-01-01

There is an increasing use of technology for teaching and learning in medical education but often the use of educational theory to inform the design is not made explicit. The educational theories, both normative and descriptive, used by medical educators determine how the technology is intended to facilitate learning and may explain why some interventions with technology may be less effective compared with others. The aim of this study is to highlight the importance of medical educators making explicit the educational theories that inform their design of interventions using technology. The use of illustrative examples of the main educational theories to demonstrate the importance of theories informing the design of interventions using technology. Highlights the use of educational theories for theory-based and realistic evaluations of the use of technology in medical education. An explicit description of the educational theories used to inform the design of an intervention with technology can provide potentially useful insights into why some interventions with technology are more effective than others. An explicit description is also an important aspect of the scholarship of using technology in medical education.

Review of early assessment models of innovative medical technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fasterholdt, Iben; Krahn, Murray D; Kidholm, Kristian

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Hospitals increasingly make decisions regarding the early development of and investment in technologies, but a formal evaluation model for assisting hospitals early on in assessing the potential of innovative medical technologies is lacking. This article provides an overview of models...

A new concept for medical imaging centered on cellular phone technology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yair Granot

2008-04-01

Full Text Available According to World Health Organization reports, some three quarters of the world population does not have access to medical imaging. In addition, in developing countries over 50% of medical equipment that is available is not being used because it is too sophisticated or in disrepair or because the health personnel are not trained to use it. The goal of this study is to introduce and demonstrate the feasibility of a new concept in medical imaging that is centered on cellular phone technology and which may provide a solution to medical imaging in underserved areas. The new system replaces the conventional stand-alone medical imaging device with a new medical imaging system made of two independent components connected through cellular phone technology. The independent units are: a a data acquisition device (DAD at a remote patient site that is simple, with limited controls and no image display capability and b an advanced image reconstruction and hardware control multiserver unit at a central site. The cellular phone technology transmits unprocessed raw data from the patient site DAD and receives and displays the processed image from the central site. (This is different from conventional telemedicine where the image reconstruction and control is at the patient site and telecommunication is used to transmit processed images from the patient site. The primary goal of this study is to demonstrate that the cellular phone technology can function in the proposed mode. The feasibility of the concept is demonstrated using a new frequency division multiplexing electrical impedance tomography system, which we have developed for dynamic medical imaging, as the medical imaging modality. The system is used to image through a cellular phone a simulation of breast cancer tumors in a medical imaging diagnostic mode and to image minimally invasive tissue ablation with irreversible electroporation in a medical imaging interventional mode.

The application of radiation technology in the field of medical biomaterials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin Huanyu; An Yan; Yin Hua

2011-01-01

The radiation technology has been applied extensively in the fields of biological engineering, tissue engineering, medical industry and so on. It also plays an important role in the sterilization and modification of biomaterials. This work reviews the development of irradiation technology and absorbed doses for the sterilization and modification of medical biomaterials. (authors)

A survey of medical diagnostic imaging technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heese, V.; Gmuer, N.; Thomlinson, W.

1991-10-01

The fields of medical imaging and medical imaging instrumentation are increasingly important. The state-of-the-art continues to advance at a very rapid pace. In fact, various medical imaging modalities are under development at the National Synchrotron Light Source (such as MECT and Transvenous Angiography.) It is important to understand how these techniques compare with today`s more conventional imaging modalities. The purpose of this report is to provide some basic information about the various medical imaging technologies currently in use and their potential developments as a basis for this comparison. This report is by no means an in-depth study of the physics and instrumentation of the various imaging modalities; instead, it is an attempt to provide an explanation of the physical bases of these techniques and their principal clinical and research capabilities.

A survey of medical diagnostic imaging technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heese, V.; Gmuer, N.; Thomlinson, W.

1991-10-01

The fields of medical imaging and medical imaging instrumentation are increasingly important. The state-of-the-art continues to advance at a very rapid pace. In fact, various medical imaging modalities are under development at the National Synchrotron Light Source (such as MECT and Transvenous Angiography.) It is important to understand how these techniques compare with today's more conventional imaging modalities. The purpose of this report is to provide some basic information about the various medical imaging technologies currently in use and their potential developments as a basis for this comparison. This report is by no means an in-depth study of the physics and instrumentation of the various imaging modalities; instead, it is an attempt to provide an explanation of the physical bases of these techniques and their principal clinical and research capabilities

Managing medical equipment used by technology-dependent children: evaluation of an instructional tool for pediatric residents and medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Jennifer M; Radulovic, Andrea; Nageswaran, Savithri

2012-08-01

To evaluate the effectiveness of a workshop on managing medical devices used in technology-dependent children. Study participants included residents and medical students rotating in the pediatrics department at the time of the study. A workshop was conducted consisting of learning stations for common medical devices, including brief presentations and opportunities for hands-on practice with each device. Participants completed surveys before and after the workshop assessing their perceived ability to manage medical equipment before and after the workshop and their ongoing learning needs. All participants indicated a substantial need for training on how to manage medical devices used by technology-dependent patients. Scores for perceived ability to manage the devices improved significantly after workshop participation for nearly all devices taught. Medical trainees have significant learning needs for managing devices used by technology-dependent patients. Hands-on, small-group training can be an effective instructional tool for improving confidence in these skills.

EMITEL: E-Encyclopaedia and E-Dictionary of Medical Imaging Technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Medvedec, M.; Kovacevic, N.; Magjarevic, R.

2011-01-01

EMITEL (European Medical Imaging Technology e-Encyclopaedia for Lifelong Learning) is an electronic encyclopaedia and multilingual dictionary related to medical imaging technologies. It is a result of the multi-annual international project which involved more than 250 contributors from 35 countries, aiming to foster development of medical physics and biomedical/clinical engineering by a lifelong e-learning web tool for all interested individuals or groups. Currently, the encyclopaedia is equivalent to about 2100 hard copy pages and includes about 3300 terms with an explanatory article for each term. The dictionary provides bidirectional cross-translation of terms between any two among 28 languages from its current database. Dictionary entries are divided into seven groups: diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, radiation protection and general terms. Croatian language was implemented in EMITEL dictionary in April 2010. There were 17 Croatian translators and reviewers from 8 institutions and 3 cities, ranging from medical physics experts to linguist. The basic terminological principles of translation were final intelligibility of terms, desirable Croatian origin and linguistic appropriateness. Croatian contribution in the actual phase of EMITEL project attempted to improve the quality and efficiency of the specific professional, scientific and teaching terminology. A sort of novel, consistent and verified pool of terms of emerging medical imaging technologies was built up, as a one small part of the process of developing information technologies and socio-cultural transition from the industrial society into the society of knowledge. (author)

Health information technology and the medical school curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Triola, Marc M; Friedman, Erica; Cimino, Christopher; Geyer, Enid M; Wiederhorn, Jo; Mainiero, Crystal

2010-12-01

Medical schools must teach core biomedical informatics competencies that address health information technology (HIT), including explaining electronic medical record systems and computerized provider order entry systems and their role in patient safety; describing the research uses and limitations of a clinical data warehouse; understanding the concepts and importance of information system interoperability; explaining the difference between biomedical informatics and HIT; and explaining the ways clinical information systems can fail. Barriers to including these topics in the curricula include lack of teachers; the perception that informatics competencies are not applicable during preclinical courses and there is no place in the clerkships to teach them; and the legal and policy issues that conflict with students' need to develop skills. However, curricular reform efforts are creating opportunities to teach these topics with new emphasis on patient safety, team-based medical practice, and evidence-based care. Overarching HIT competencies empower our students to be lifelong technology learners.

Visualizing the future: technology competency development in clinical medicine, and implications for medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivasan, Malathi; Keenan, Craig R; Yager, Joel

2006-01-01

In this article, the authors ask three questions. First, what will physicians need to know in order to be effective in the future? Second, what role will technology play in achieving that high level of effectiveness? Third, what specific skill sets will physicians need to master in order to become effective? Through three case vignettes describing past, present, and potential future medical practices, the authors identify trends in major medical, technological and cultural shifts that will shape medical education and practice. From these cases, the authors generate a series of technology-related competencies and skill sets that physicians will need to remain leaders in the delivery of medical care. Physicians will choose how they will be end-users of technology, technology developers, and/or the interface between users and developers. These choices will guide the types of skills each physician will need to acquire. Finally, the authors explore the implications of these trends for medical educators, including the competencies that will be required of educators as they develop the medical curriculum. Examining historical and social trends, including how users adopt current and emerging technologies, allows us to anticipate changes in the practice of medicine. By considering market pressures, global trends and emerging technologies, medical educators and practicing physicians may prepare themselves for the changes likely to occur in the medical curriculum and in the marketplace.

Establishment of a Quantitative Medical Technology Evaluation System and Indicators within Medical Institutions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suo-Wei Wu

2018-01-01

Conclusions: As the two-round questionnaire survey of experts and statistical analysis were performed and credibility of the results was verified through consistency evaluation test, the study established a quantitative medical technology evaluation system model and assessment indicators within medical institutions based on the Delphi method and analytical hierarchy process. Moreover, further verifications, adjustments, and optimizations of the system and indicators will be performed in follow-up studies.

Mobile technology for medication adherence in people with mood disorders: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rootes-Murdy, Kelly; Glazer, Kara L; Van Wert, Michael J; Mondimore, Francis M; Zandi, Peter P

2018-02-01

Medication non-adherence is a critical challenge for many patients diagnosed with mood disorders (Goodwin and Jamison, 1990). There is a need for alternative strategies that improve adherence among patients with mood disorders that are cost-effective, able to reach large patient populations, easy to implement, and that allow for communication with patients outside of in-person visits. Technology-based approaches to promote medication adherence are increasingly being explored to address this need. The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the use of mobile technologies to improve medication adherence in patients with mood disorders. A total of nine articles were identified as describing mobile technology targeting medication adherence in mood disorder populations. Results showed overall satisfaction and feasibility of mobile technology, and reduction in mood symptoms; however, few examined effectiveness of mobile technology improving medication adherence through randomized control trials. Given the limited number of studies, further research is needed to determine long term effectiveness. Mobile technologies has the potential to improve medication adherence and can be further utilized for symptom tracking, side effects tracking, direct links to prescription refills, and provide patients with greater ownership over their treatment progress. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Technology for Improving Medication Monitoring in Nursing Homes

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lapane, Kate L; Cameron, Kathleen; Feinberg, Janice

2005-01-01

.... While clinical informatics systems have focused on the reduction of medication errors at the point of prescribing, dispensing, or administration, few have proposed the use of information technology...

Educational Scholarship and Technology: Resources for a Changing Undergraduate Medical Education Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Kyle, Brandon N; Corral, Irma; John, Nadyah Janine; Shelton, P G

2017-06-01

Returning to the original emphasis of higher education, universities have increasingly recognized the value and scholarship of teaching, and medical schools have been part of this educational scholarship movement. At the same time, the preferred learning styles of a new generation of medical students and advancements in technology have driven a need to incorporate technology into psychiatry undergraduate medical education (UGME). Educators need to understand how to find, access, and utilize such educational technology. This article provides a brief historical context for the return to education as scholarship, along with a discussion of some of the advantages to this approach, as well as several recent examples. Next, the educational needs of the current generation of medical students, particularly their preference to have technology incorporated into their education, will be discussed. Following this, we briefly review the educational scholarship of two newer approaches to psychiatry UGME that incorporate technology. We also offer the reader some resources for accessing up-to-date educational scholarship for psychiatry UGME, many of which take advantage of technology themselves. We conclude by discussing the need for promotion of educational scholarship.

A survey of medical diagnostic imaging technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Heese, V.; Gmuer, N.; Thomlinson, W.

1991-10-01

The fields of medical imaging and medical imaging instrumentation are increasingly important. The state-of-the-art continues to advance at a very rapid pace. In fact, various medical imaging modalities are under development at the National Synchrotron Light Source (such as MECT and Transvenous Angiography.) It is important to understand how these techniques compare with today's more conventional imaging modalities. The purpose of this report is to provide some basic information about the various medical imaging technologies currently in use and their potential developments as a basis for this comparison. This report is by no means an in-depth study of the physics and instrumentation of the various imaging modalities; instead, it is an attempt to provide an explanation of the physical bases of these techniques and their principal clinical and research capabilities.

[Mobile phone-computer wireless interactive graphics transmission technology and its medical application].

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Shuo; Liu, Jing

2010-05-01

Application of clinical digital medical imaging has raised many tough issues to tackle, such as data storage, management, and information sharing. Here we investigated a mobile phone based medical image management system which is capable of achieving personal medical imaging information storage, management and comprehensive health information analysis. The technologies related to the management system spanning the wireless transmission technology, the technical capabilities of phone in mobile health care and management of mobile medical database were discussed. Taking medical infrared images transmission between phone and computer as an example, the working principle of the present system was demonstrated.

Teaching medical humanities in the digital world: affordances of technology-enhanced learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, Sandra Joy; Day, Giskin

2014-12-01

Medical humanities courses are typically taught in face-to-face teaching environments, but now medical humanities educators, alongside educators from other disciplines, are facing shifts in higher education towards online (and sometimes open) courses. For the medical humanities educator, there is limited guidance regarding how technology-enhanced learning design can support the learning outcomes associated with medical humanities. This article aims to provide useful direction for such educators on how digital technologies can be used through learner-focused pedagogies. Specific examples are provided as to how the affordances of Web 2.0 and other tools can be realised in innovative ways to help achieve skills development within the medical humanities. The guidance, alongside the practical suggestions for implementation, can provide important conceptual background for medical humanities educators who wish to embrace technology-enhanced learning, and reconceptualise or redesign medical humanities for an online or blended teaching environment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

The application of digital medical 3D printing technology on tumor operation

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jimin; Jiang, Yijian; Li, Yangsheng

2016-04-01

Digital medical 3D printing technology is a new hi-tech which combines traditional medical and digital design, computer science, bio technology and 3D print technology. At the present time there are four levels application: The printed 3D model is the first and simple application. The surgery makes use of the model to plan the processing before operation. The second is customized operation tools such as implant guide. It helps doctor to operate with special tools rather than the normal medical tools. The third level application of 3D printing in medical area is to print artificial bones or teeth to implant into human body. The big challenge is the fourth level which is to print organs with 3D printing technology. In this paper we introduced an application of 3D printing technology in tumor operation. We use 3D printing to print guide for invasion operation. Puncture needles were guided by printed guide in face tumors operation. It is concluded that this new type guide is dominantly advantageous.

Engagement of the medical-technology sector with society.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, David; Edelman, Elazer R; Radisic, Milica; Laurencin, Cato; Untereker, Darrel

2017-04-12

The medical-technology sector must educate society in an unbiased rational way about the successes and benefits of biotechnology innovation. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Health Instruction Packages: Medical Technologies--EEG, Radiology, & Biomedical Photography.

Science.gov (United States)

Brittenham, Dorothea; And Others

Text, illustrations, and exercises are utilized in this set of four learning modules to instruct medical technology students in a variety of job-related skills. The first module, "EEG Technology: Measurement Technique of the 'International 10-20 System'" by Dorothea Brittenham, describes a procedure used by electroencephalograph…

Technology in postgraduate medical education: a dynamic influence on learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Bullock, Alison; Webb, Katie

2015-11-01

The influence of technology in medical workplace learning is explored by focusing on three uses: m-learning (notably apps), simulation and social media. Smartphones with point-of-care tools (such as textbooks, drug guides and medical calculators) can support workplace learning and doctors' decision-making. Simulations can help develop technical skills and team interactions, and 'in situ' simulations improve the match between the virtual and the real. Social media (wikis, blogs, networking, YouTube) heralds a more participatory and collaborative approach to knowledge development. These uses of technology are related to Kolb's learning cycle and Eraut's intentions of informal learning. Contentions and controversies with these technologies exist. There is a problem with the terminology commonly adopted to describe the use of technology to enhance learning. Using learning technology in the workplace changes the interaction with others and raises issues of professionalism and etiquette. Lack of regulation makes assessment of app quality a challenge. Distraction and dependency are charges levelled at smartphone use in the workplace and these need further research. Unless addressed, these and other challenges will impede the benefits that technology may bring to postgraduate medical education. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Technology-assisted education in graduate medical education: a review of the literature

OpenAIRE

Jwayyed, Sharhabeel; Stiffler, Kirk A; Wilber, Scott T; Southern, Alison; Weigand, John; Bare, Rudd; Gerson, Lowell W

2011-01-01

Studies on computer-aided instruction and web-based learning have left many questions unanswered about the most effective use of technology-assisted education in graduate medical education. Objective We conducted a review of the current medical literature to report the techniques, methods, frequency and effectiveness of technology-assisted education in graduate medical education. Methods A structured review of MEDLINE articles dealing with "Computer-Assisted Instruction," "Internet or World W...

The Use of Technology in the Medical Assisting Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Kozielski, Tracy L.

2014-01-01

The growing presence of technology in health care has infiltrated educational institutions. Numerous software and hardware technologies have been designed to improve student learning; however, their use in the classroom is unclear. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the experiences of medical assisting faculty using…

Formation of a New Entity to Support Effective Use of Technology in Medical Education: The Student Technology Committee.

Science.gov (United States)

Shenson, Jared Andrew; Adams, Ryan Christopher; Ahmed, S Toufeeq; Spickard, Anderson

2015-09-17

As technology in medical education expands from teaching tool to crucial component of curricular programming, new demands arise to innovate and optimize educational technology. While the expectations of today's digital native students are significant, their experience and unique insights breed new opportunities to involve them as stakeholders in tackling educational technology challenges. The objective of this paper is to present our experience with a novel medical student-led and faculty-supported technology committee that was developed at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to harness students' valuable input in a comprehensive fashion. Key lessons learned through the initial successes and challenges of implementing our model are also discussed. A committee was established with cooperation of school administration, a faculty advisor with experience launching educational technologies, and a group of students passionate about this domain. Committee membership is sustained through annual selective recruitment of interested students. The committee serves 4 key functions: acting as liaisons between students and administration; advising development of institutional educational technologies; developing, piloting, and assessing new student-led educational technologies; and promoting biomedical and educational informatics within the school community. Participating students develop personally and professionally, contribute to program implementation, and extend the field's understanding by pursuing research initiatives. The institution benefits from rapid improvements to educational technologies that meet students' needs and enhance learning opportunities. Students and the institution also gain from fostering a campus culture of awareness and innovation in informatics and medical education. The committee's success hinges on member composition, school leadership buy-in, active involvement in institutional activities, and support for committee initiatives. Students

Geographic Medical History: Advances in Geospatial Technology Present New Potentials in Medical Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Faruque, F. S.; Finley, R. W.

2016-06-01

Genes, behaviour, and the environment are known to be the major risk factors for common diseases. When the patient visits a physician, typical questions include family history (genes) and lifestyle of the patient (behaviour), but questions concerning environmental risk factors often remain unasked. It is ironic that 25 centuries ago Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, noted the importance of environmental exposure in medical investigation as documented in his classic work, "Airs, Waters, Places", yet the practice of routinely incorporating environmental risk factors is still not in place. Modern epigenetic studies have found that unhealthy lifestyle and environmental factors can cause changes to our genes that can increase disease risk factors. Therefore, attempting to solve the puzzle of diseases using heredity and lifestyle alone will be incomplete without accounting for the environmental exposures. The primary reason why environmental exposure has not yet been a routine part of the patient's medical history is mostly due to our inability to provide clinicians useful measures of environmental exposures suitable for their clinical practices. This presentation will discuss advances in geospatial technology that show the potential to catalyse a paradigm shift in medical practice and health research by allowing environmental risk factors to be documented as the patient's "Geographic Medical History". In order to accomplish this we need information on: a) relevant spatiotemporal environmental variables, and b) location of the individual in that person's dynamic environment. Common environmental agents that are known to interact with genetic make-up include air pollutants, mold spores, pesticides, etc. Until recently, the other component, location of an individual was limited to a static representation such as residential or workplace location. Now, with the development of mobile technology, changes in an individual's location can be tracked in real time if

GEOGRAPHIC MEDICAL HISTORY: ADVANCES IN GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY PRESENT NEW POTENTIALS IN MEDICAL PRACTICE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. S. Faruque

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Genes, behaviour, and the environment are known to be the major risk factors for common diseases. When the patient visits a physician, typical questions include family history (genes and lifestyle of the patient (behaviour, but questions concerning environmental risk factors often remain unasked. It is ironic that 25 centuries ago Hippocrates, known as the father of medicine, noted the importance of environmental exposure in medical investigation as documented in his classic work, “Airs, Waters, Places”, yet the practice of routinely incorporating environmental risk factors is still not in place. Modern epigenetic studies have found that unhealthy lifestyle and environmental factors can cause changes to our genes that can increase disease risk factors. Therefore, attempting to solve the puzzle of diseases using heredity and lifestyle alone will be incomplete without accounting for the environmental exposures. The primary reason why environmental exposure has not yet been a routine part of the patient’s medical history is mostly due to our inability to provide clinicians useful measures of environmental exposures suitable for their clinical practices. This presentation will discuss advances in geospatial technology that show the potential to catalyse a paradigm shift in medical practice and health research by allowing environmental risk factors to be documented as the patient’s “Geographic Medical History”. In order to accomplish this we need information on: a relevant spatiotemporal environmental variables, and b location of the individual in that person’s dynamic environment. Common environmental agents that are known to interact with genetic make-up include air pollutants, mold spores, pesticides, etc. Until recently, the other component, location of an individual was limited to a static representation such as residential or workplace location. Now, with the development of mobile technology, changes in an individual’s location

Advancing medication infusion safety through the clinical integration of technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhart, Donald; O'Shea, Kristen; Muller, Sharon

2013-01-01

Adverse drug events resulting from errors in prescribing or administering medications are preventable. Within a hospital system, numerous technologies are employed to address the common sources of medication error, including the use of electronic medical records, physician order entry, smart infusion pumps, and barcode medication administration systems. Infusion safety is inherently risky because of the high-risk medications administered and the lack of integration among the stand-alone systems in most institutions. Intravenous clinical integration (IVCI) is a technology that connects electronic medical records, physician order entry, smart infusion pumps, and barcode medication administration systems. It combines the safety features of an automatically programmed infusion pump (drug, concentration, infusion rate, and patient weight, all auto-programmed into the device) with software that provides visibility to real-time clinical infusion data. Our article describes the characteristics of IVCI at WellSpan Health and its impact on patient safety. The integrated infusion system has the capability of reducing medication errors, improving patient care, reducing in-facility costs, and supporting asset management. It can enhance continuous quality improvement efforts and efficiency of clinical work flow. After implementing IVCI, the institution realized a safer patient environment and a more streamlined work flow for pharmacy and nursing.

Medical technology as a key driver of rising health expenditure: disentangling the relationship

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorenson C

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Corinna Sorenson,1,2 Michael Drummond,2,3 Beena Bhuiyan Khan1 1LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK; 2European Health Technology Institute for Socioeconomic Research, Brussels, Belgium; 3Centre for Health Economics, University of York, York, UK Abstract: Health care spending has risen steadily in most countries, becoming a concern for decision-makers worldwide. Commentators often point to new medical technology as the key driver for burgeoning expenditures. This paper critically appraises this conjecture, based on an analysis of the existing literature, with the aim of offering a more detailed and considered analysis of this relationship. Several databases were searched to identify relevant literature. Various categories of studies (eg, multivariate and cost-effectiveness analyses were included to cover different perspectives, methodological approaches, and issues regarding the link between medical technology and costs. Selected articles were reviewed and relevant information was extracted into a standardized template and analyzed for key cross-cutting themes, ie, impact of technology on costs, factors influencing this relationship, and methodological challenges in measuring such linkages. A total of 86 studies were reviewed. The analysis suggests that the relationship between medical technology and spending is complex and often conflicting. Findings were frequently contingent on varying factors, such as the availability of other interventions, patient population, and the methodological approach employed. Moreover, the impact of technology on costs differed across technologies, in that some (eg, cancer drugs, invasive medical devices had significant financial implications, while others were cost-neutral or cost-saving. In light of these issues, we argue that decision-makers and other commentators should extend their focus beyond costs solely to include consideration of whether medical technology results in

Information technology for medication administration: assessing bedside readiness among nurses in Lebanon

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marini, Sana Daya; Hasman, Arie; Huijer, Huda Abu-Saad

2009-01-01

Medication errors continue to be of great concern to hospitals. The use of Information technology (IT) for medication administration was recommended to assist nurses to administer medications safely, decrease the chance of medication errors, and contribute to patient safety. Such IT will be

Purchasing medical innovation the right technology, for the right patient, at the right price

CERN Document Server

Robinson, James C

2015-01-01

Innovation in medical technology generates a remarkable supply of new drugs, devices, and diagnostics that improve health, reduce risks, and extend life. But these technologies are too often used on the wrong patient, in the wrong setting, or at an unaffordable price. The only way to moderate the growth in health care costs without undermining the dynamic of medical innovation is to improve the process of assessing, pricing, prescribing, and using new technologies. Purchasing Medical Innovation analyzes the contemporary revolution in the purchasing of health care technology, with a focus on th

Application countermeasures of non-incineration technologies for medical waste treatment in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yang; Ding, Qiong; Yang, Xiaoling; Peng, Zhengyou; Xu, Diandou; Feng, Qinzhong

2013-12-01

By the end of 2012, there were 272 modern, high-standard, centralized medical waste disposal facilities operating in various cities in China. Among these facilities nearly 50% are non-incineration treatment facilities, including the technologies of high temperature steam, chemical disinfection and microwave. Each of the non-incineration technologies has its advantages and disadvantages, and any single technology cannot offer a panacea because of the complexity of medical waste disposal. Although non-incineration treatment of medical waste can avoid the release of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans, it is still necessary to decide how to best meet the local waste management needs while minimizing the impact on the environment and public health. There is still a long way to go to establish the sustainable application and management mode of non-incineration technologies. Based on the analysis of typical non-incineration process, pollutant release, and the current tendency for technology application and development at home and abroad, this article recommends the application countermeasures of non-incineration technologies as the best available techniques and best environmental practices in China.

Enabling Access to Medical and Health Education in Rwanda Using Mobile Technology: Needs Assessment for the Development of Mobile Medical Educator Apps.

Science.gov (United States)

Rusatira, Jean Christophe; Tomaszewski, Brian; Dusabejambo, Vincent; Ndayiragije, Vincent; Gonsalves, Snedden; Sawant, Aishwarya; Mumararungu, Angeline; Gasana, George; Amendezo, Etienne; Haake, Anne; Mutesa, Leon

2016-06-01

Lack of access to health and medical education resources for doctors in the developing world is a serious global health problem. In Rwanda, with a population of 11 million, there is only one medical school, hence a shortage in well-trained medical staff. The growth of interactive health technologies has played a role in the improvement of health care in developed countries and has offered alternative ways to offer continuous medical education while improving patient's care. However, low and middle-income countries (LMIC) like Rwanda have struggled to implement medical education technologies adapted to local settings in medical practice and continuing education. Developing a user-centered mobile computing approach for medical and health education programs has potential to bring continuous medical education to doctors in rural and urban areas of Rwanda and influence patient care outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine user requirements, currently available resources, and perspectives for potential medical education technologies in Rwanda. Information baseline and needs assessments data collection were conducted in all 44 district hospitals (DHs) throughout Rwanda. The research team collected qualitative data through interviews with 16 general practitioners working across Rwanda and 97 self-administered online questionnaires for rural areas. Data were collected and analyzed to address two key questions: (1) what are the currently available tools for the use of mobile-based technology for medical education in Rwanda, and (2) what are user's requirements for the creation of a mobile medical education technology in Rwanda? General practitioners from different hospitals highlighted that none of the available technologies avail local resources such as the Ministry of Health (MOH) clinical treatment guidelines. Considering the number of patients that doctors see in Rwanda, an average of 32 patients per day, there is need for a locally adapted mobile education app

Educational technology infrastructure and services in North American medical schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamin, Carol; Souza, Kevin H; Heestand, Diane; Moses, Anna; O'Sullivan, Patricia

2006-07-01

To describe the current educational technology infrastructure and services provided by North American allopathic medical schools that are members of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), to present information needed for institutional benchmarking. A Web-based survey instrument was developed and administered in the fall of 2004 by the authors, sent to representatives of 137 medical schools and completed by representatives of 88, a response rate of 64%. Schools were given scores for infrastructure and services provided. Data were analyzed with one-way analyses of variance, chi-square, and correlation coefficients. There was no difference in the number of infrastructure features or services offered based on region of the country, public versus private schools, or size of graduating class. Schools implemented 3.0 (SD = 1.5) of 6 infrastructure items and offered 11.6 (SD = 4.1) of 22 services. Over 90% of schools had wireless access (97%), used online course materials for undergraduate medical education (97%), course management system for graduate medical education (95%) and online teaching evaluations (90%). Use of services differed across the undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education continuum. Outside of e-portfolios for undergraduates, the least-offered services were for services to graduate and continuing medical education. The results of this survey provide a benchmark for the level of services and infrastructure currently supporting educational technology by AAMC-member allopathic medical schools.

Medical technology as a key driver of rising health expenditure: disentangling the relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Sorenson, Corinna; Drummond, Michael; Bhuiyan Khan, Beena

2013-01-01

Health care spending has risen steadily in most countries, becoming a concern for decision-makers worldwide. Commentators often point to new medical technology as the key driver for burgeoning expenditures. This paper critically appraises this conjecture, based on an analysis of the existing literature, with the aim of offering a more detailed and considered analysis of this relationship. Several databases were searched to identify relevant literature. Various categories of studies (eg, multivariate and cost-effectiveness analyses) were included to cover different perspectives, methodological approaches, and issues regarding the link between medical technology and costs. Selected articles were reviewed and relevant information was extracted into a standardized template and analyzed for key cross-cutting themes, ie, impact of technology on costs, factors influencing this relationship, and methodological challenges in measuring such linkages. A total of 86 studies were reviewed. The analysis suggests that the relationship between medical technology and spending is complex and often conflicting. Findings were frequently contingent on varying factors, such as the availability of other interventions, patient population, and the methodological approach employed. Moreover, the impact of technology on costs differed across technologies, in that some (eg, cancer drugs, invasive medical devices) had significant financial implications, while others were cost-neutral or cost-saving. In light of these issues, we argue that decision-makers and other commentators should extend their focus beyond costs solely to include consideration of whether medical technology results in better value in health care and broader socioeconomic benefits. PMID:23807855

[Analysis of medical cost of atlantoaxial disorders in patients receiving innovated treatment technologies].

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yunxia; Liu, Zhongjun

2016-01-19

To explore the effects of innovated technologies and products on improving outcomes and decreasing medical costs by analyzing a total and subtotal medical costs of patients with atlantoaxial disorders. The medical costs of 1 489 patients with atlantoaxial disorders from Peking University Third Hospital from 2005 to 2014, who received innovated technologies and products treatment were retrospectively analyzed and compared.Descriptive analysis and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis, and SPSS 19.0 was used to analyze data. From 2005 to 2014, under the situation of a general increase in medical cost by 327%, the total medical costs were stable for patients who used innovated technologies and products for treatment, fluctuating from 20 851 in 2005 to 20 878 in 2014; however, the cases of operation increased year by year, from 88 in 2005 to 163 in 2014; the average length of stay decreased from 21 in 2005 to 10 in 2014; the total cases of transfusion were 22 from 2005 to 2014; the safety, stability and feasibility of the innovated technologies and products were illustrated through the decrease of average length of stay, the reduction of bleeding and the significance of outcomes. It is illustrated that the innovated technologies and products not only decrease patients' suffering and medical costs but also are safe, stable and feasible.

NASA technology utilization applications. [transfer of medical sciences

Science.gov (United States)

1973-01-01

The work is reported from September 1972 through August 1973 by the Technology Applications Group of the Science Communication Division (SCD), formerly the Biological Sciences Communication Project (BSCP) in the Department of Medical and Public Affairs of the George Washington University. The work was supportive of many aspects of the NASA Technology Utilization program but in particular those dealing with Biomedical and Technology Application Teams, Applications Engineering projects, new technology reporting and documentation and transfer activities. Of particular interest are detailed reports on the progress of various hardware projects, and suggestions and criteria for the evaluation of candidate hardware projects. Finally some observations about the future expansion of the TU program are offered.

Predictors of Osteopathic Medical Students' Readiness to Use Health Information Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Robin J; Iqbal, Hassan; Rana, Arif M; Rana, Zaid; Kane, Michael N

2017-12-01

The advent of health information technology (HIT) tools can affect the practice of modern medicine in many ways, ideally by improving quality of care and efficiency and reducing medical errors. Future physicians will play a key role in the successful implementation of HIT. However, osteopathic medical students' willingness to learn, adopt, and use technology in a health care setting is not well understood. To understand osteopathic medical students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding HIT and to identify factors that may be related to their readiness to use HIT. Using a cross-sectional approach, quantitative surveys were collected from students attending a large osteopathic medical school. Multivariate regression modeling was used to determine whether knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and personal characteristics were associated with students' readiness to use HIT in future clinical practice. Six hundred four students responded to at least 70% of the survey and were included in the analysis. Multivariate modeling successfully explained the 26% of variance in predicting students' readiness to use HIT (F8,506=22.6, Ptechnology use, younger age, being male, and prior exposure to technology were associated with readiness to use HIT. Understanding students' level of HIT readiness may help guide medical education intervention efforts to better prepare future osteopathic physicians for HIT engagement and use. Innovative approaches to HIT education in medical school curricula that include biomedical informatics may be necessary.

78 FR 15974 - Importer of Controlled Substances, Notice of Application; Meridian Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-13

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration Importer of Controlled Substances, Notice of Application; Meridian Medical Technologies Pursuant to Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations 1301.34 (a), this is notice that on January 8, 2013, Meridian Medical Technologies, 2555 Hermelin Drive, St. Louis...

The diffusion of medical technology, local conditions, and technology re-invention: a comparative case study on coronary stenting.

Science.gov (United States)

Hashimoto, Hideki; Noguchi, Haruko; Heidenreich, Paul; Saynina, Olga; Moreland, Abigail; Miyazaki, Shunichi; Ikeda, Shunya; Kaneko, Yoshihiro; Ikegami, Naoki

2006-12-01

Innovation of medical technology is a major driving force behind the increase in medical expenditures in developed countries. Previous studies identified that the diffusion of medical technology varied across countries according to the characteristics of regulatory policy and payment systems. Based on Roger's diffusion of innovation theory, this study purported to see how local practice norms, the evolving nature of diffusing technology, and local clinical needs in addition to differences in politico-economic systems would affect the process of innovation diffusion. Taking a case of coronary stenting, an innovative therapeutic technology in early 1990s, we provided a case study of hospital-based data between two teaching high-tech hospitals in Japan and the US for discussion. Stenting began to be widely used in both countries when complementary new technology modified its clinical efficacy, but the diffusion process still differed between the two hospitals due to (1) distinctive payment systems for hospitals and physicians, (2) practice norms in favor of percutaneous intervention rather than bypass surgery that was shaped by payment incentives and cultural attitudes, and (3) local patient's clinical characteristics that the technology had to be tailored for. The case study described the diffusion of stent technology as a dynamic process between patients, physicians, hospitals, health care systems, and technology under global and local conditions.

77 FR 19716 - Importer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Application Meridian Medical Technologies

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-02

... DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Drug Enforcement Administration Importer of Controlled Substances; Notice of Application Meridian Medical Technologies Pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 958(i), the Attorney General shall, prior to... is notice that on January 4, 2012, Meridian Medical Technologies, 2555 Hermelin Drive, St. Louis...

HEP technologies to address medical imaging challenges

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2016-01-01

Developments in detector technologies aimed at solving challenges in present and future CERN experiments, particularly at the LHC, have triggered exceptional advances in the performance of medical imaging devices, allowing for a spectacular progress in in-vivo molecular imaging procedures, which are opening the way for tailored therapies of major diseases. This talk will briefly review the recent history of this prime example of technology transfer from HEP experiments to society, will describe the technical challenges being addressed by some ongoing projects, and will present a few new ideas for further developments and their foreseeable impact.

A survey of clinical performance skills requirements in medical radiation technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowntree, P.A.; Veitch, J.D.

1993-01-01

This paper outlines the reasons behind carry out a study of clinical performance skills requirements and the method being used to gather data. It describes the changes which have occurred in radiographer education in Queensland, the broader impact brought about by changes in professional body requirements and the development of a Competency based Standards Document for the profession. The paper provides examples of the survey design and layout being developed for distribution to third year students in the Medical Imaging Technology major of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Medical Radiation Technology) Queensland University of Technology, graduates and clinical departments in Queensland. 1 tab., 1 fig

Medical and surgical applications of space biosensor technology

Science.gov (United States)

Hines, J. W.

1996-01-01

Researchers in space life sciences are rapidly approaching a technology impasse. Many of the critical questions on the impact of spaceflight on living systems simply cannot be answered with the limited available technologies. Research subjects, particularly small animal models like the rat, must be allowed to function relatively untended and unrestrained for long periods to fully reflect the impact of microgravity and spaceflight on their behavior and physiology. These requirements preclude the use of present hard-wired instrumentation techniques and limited data acquisition systems. Implantable sensors and miniaturized biotelemetry are the only means of capturing the fundamental and critical data. This same biosensor and biotelemetry technology has direct application to Earth-based medicine and surgery. Continuous, on-line data acquisition and improved measurement capabilities combined with the ease and flexibility offered by automated, wireless, and portable instruments and data systems, should provide a boon to the health care industry. Playing a key role in this technology revolution is the Sensors 2000! (S2K!) Program at NASA Ames Research Center. S2K!, in collaboration with space life sciences researchers and managers, provides an integrated capability for sensor technology development and applications, including advanced biosensor technology development, spaceflight hardware development, and technology transfer and commercialization. S2K! is presently collaborating on several spaceflight projects with dual-use medical applications. One prime example is a collaboration with the Fetal Treatment Center (FTC) at the University of California at San Francisco. The goal is to develop and apply implantable chemical sensor and biotelemetry technology to continuously monitor fetal patients during extra-uterine surgery, replacement into the womb, through birth and beyond. Once validated for ground use, the method will be transitioned to spaceflight applications to

Medical and surgical applications of space biosensor technology

Science.gov (United States)

Hines, John W.

1996-02-01

Researchers in space life sciences are rapidly approaching a technology impasse. Many of the critical questions on the impact of spaceflight on living systems simply cannot be answered with the limited available technologies. Research subjects, particularly small animal models like the rat, must be allowed to function relatively untended and unrestrained for long periods to fully reflect the impact of microgravity and spaceflight on their behavior and physiology. These requirements preclude the use of present hard-wired instrumentation techniques and limited data acquisition systems. Implantable sensors and miniaturized biotelemetry are the only means of capturing the fundamental and critical data. This same biosensor and biotelemetry technology has direct application to Earth-based medicine and surgery. Continuous, on-line data acquisition and improved measurement capabilities combined with the ease and flexibility offered by automated, wireless, and portable instruments and data systems, should provide a boon to the health care industry. Playing a key role in this technology revolution is the Sensors 2000! (S2K!) Program at NASA Ames Research Center. S2K!, in collaboration with space life sciences researchers and managers, provides an integrated capability for sensor technology development and applications, including advanced biosensor technology development, spaceflight hardware development, and technology transfer and commercialization. S2K! is presently collaborating on several spaceflight projects with dual-use medical applications. One prime example is a collaboration with the Fetal Treatment Center (FTC) at the University of California at San Francisco. The goal is to develop and apply implantable chemical sensor and biotelemetry technology to continuously monitor fetal patients during extra-uterine surgery, replacement into the womb, through birth and beyond. Once validated for ground use, the method will be transitioned to spaceflight applications to

Information technology and its role in anaesthesia training and continuing medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Larry F; Erlendson, Matthew J; Sun, John S; Clemenson, Anna M; Martin, Paul; Eng, Reuben L

2012-03-01

Today's educators are faced with substantial challenges in the use of information technology for anaesthesia training and continuing medical education. Millennial learners have uniquely different learning styles than previous generations of students. These preferences distinctly incorporate the use of digital information technologies and social technologies to support learning. To be effective teachers, modern educators must be familiar with these new information technologies and understand how to use them for medical education. Examples of new information technologies include learning management systems, lecture capture, social media (YouTube, Flickr), social networking (Facebook), Web 2.0, multimedia (video learning triggers and point-of-view video) and mobile computing applications. The information technology challenges for educators in the twenty-first century include: (a) understanding how technology shapes the learning preferences of today's anaesthesia residents, (b) distinguishing between the function and properties of new learning technologies and (c) properly using these learning technologies to enhance the anaesthesia curriculum. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rethinking agency and medical adherence technology: applying Actor Network Theory to the case study of Digital Pills.

Science.gov (United States)

Hurtado-de-Mendoza, Alejandra; Cabling, Mark L; Sheppard, Vanessa B

2015-12-01

Much literature surrounding medical technology and adherence posits that technology is a mechanism for social control. This assumes that the medical establishment can take away patients' agency. Although power relationships and social control can play a key role, medical technology can also serve as an agentive tool to be utilized. We (1) offer the alternative framework of Actor Network Theory to view medical technology, (2) discuss the literature on medication adherence and technology, (3) delve into the ramifications of looking at adherence as a network and (4) use Digital Pills as a case study of dispersed agency. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Connecting Technological Innovation in Artificial Intelligence to Real-world Medical Practice through Rigorous Clinical Validation: What Peer-reviewed Medical Journals Could Do

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Artificial intelligence (AI) is projected to substantially influence clinical practice in the foreseeable future. However, despite the excitement around the technologies, it is yet rare to see examples of robust clinical validation of the technologies and, as a result, very few are currently in clinical use. A thorough, systematic validation of AI technologies using adequately designed clinical research studies before their integration into clinical practice is critical to ensure patient benefit and safety while avoiding any inadvertent harms. We would like to suggest several specific points regarding the role that peer-reviewed medical journals can play, in terms of study design, registration, and reporting, to help achieve proper and meaningful clinical validation of AI technologies designed to make medical diagnosis and prediction, focusing on the evaluation of diagnostic accuracy efficacy. Peer-reviewed medical journals can encourage investigators who wish to validate the performance of AI systems for medical diagnosis and prediction to pay closer attention to the factors listed in this article by emphasizing their importance. Thereby, peer-reviewed medical journals can ultimately facilitate translating the technological innovations into real-world practice while securing patient safety and benefit.

Connecting Technological Innovation in Artificial Intelligence to Real-world Medical Practice through Rigorous Clinical Validation: What Peer-reviewed Medical Journals Could Do.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Seong Ho; Kressel, Herbert Y

2018-05-28

Artificial intelligence (AI) is projected to substantially influence clinical practice in the foreseeable future. However, despite the excitement around the technologies, it is yet rare to see examples of robust clinical validation of the technologies and, as a result, very few are currently in clinical use. A thorough, systematic validation of AI technologies using adequately designed clinical research studies before their integration into clinical practice is critical to ensure patient benefit and safety while avoiding any inadvertent harms. We would like to suggest several specific points regarding the role that peer-reviewed medical journals can play, in terms of study design, registration, and reporting, to help achieve proper and meaningful clinical validation of AI technologies designed to make medical diagnosis and prediction, focusing on the evaluation of diagnostic accuracy efficacy. Peer-reviewed medical journals can encourage investigators who wish to validate the performance of AI systems for medical diagnosis and prediction to pay closer attention to the factors listed in this article by emphasizing their importance. Thereby, peer-reviewed medical journals can ultimately facilitate translating the technological innovations into real-world practice while securing patient safety and benefit.

The use of advanced medical technologies at home: a systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Ten Haken, Ingrid; Ben Allouch, Somaya; van Harten, Wim H

2018-02-26

The number of medical technologies used in home settings has increased substantially over the last 10-15 years. In order to manage their use and to guarantee quality and safety, data on usage trends and practical experiences are important. This paper presents a literature review on types, trends and experiences with the use of advanced medical technologies at home. The study focused on advanced medical technologies that are part of the technical nursing process and 'hands on' processes by nurses, excluding information technology such as domotica. The systematic review of literature was performed by searching the databases MEDLINE, Scopus and Cinahl. We included papers from 2000 to 2015 and selected articles containing empirical material. The review identified 87 relevant articles, 62% was published in the period 2011-2015. Of the included studies, 45% considered devices for respiratory support, 39% devices for dialysis and 29% devices for oxygen therapy. Most research has been conducted on the topic 'user experiences' (36%), mainly regarding patients or informal caregivers. Results show that nurses have a key role in supporting patients and family caregivers in the process of homecare with advanced medical technologies and in providing information for, and as a member of multi-disciplinary teams. However, relatively low numbers of articles were found studying nurses perspective. Research on medical technologies used at home has increased considerably until 2015. Much is already known on topics, such as user experiences; safety, risks, incidents and complications; and design and technological development. We also identified a lack of research exploring the views of nurses with regard to medical technologies for homecare, such as user experiences of nurses with different technologies, training, instruction and education of nurses and human factors by nurses in risk management and patient safety.

77 FR 39559 - In The Matter of China Medical Technologies, Inc.; Order of Suspension of Trading

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-03

... SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION [File No. 500-1] In The Matter of China Medical Technologies... Medical Technologies, Inc. (``China Medical'') because of questions regarding the accuracy and adequacy of disclosures by China Medical concerning, among other things: (1) The status of the company's officers and...

Awareness and using of medical students about mobile health technology in clinical areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Ehteshami, Asghar; Hachesu, Peyman Rezaei; Esfahani, Mahtab Kasayi; Rezazadeh, Esmaeil

2013-01-01

NONE DECLARED. Necessity of data transmission and getting contact with specialists is so evident in impassable regions. In order to solve such problems, there are different solutions one of which is mobile health technology. Being small and user-friendly, easy to enter data and having low expense are some of its advantages. This study aims to define the association between awareness of medical students in clinical stage about mobile health technology application and the rate of their using this technology in educational hospital of Isfahan in 2011. The study is a cross-sectional analytical application research. Sixty medical students were selected as samples from a society of 240 medical students. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included 21 multiple choice and 15 yes no questions, which were corrected to reach a score. A researcher-made checklist with 5-fold Likert scale was used to define the rate of applying such technology. The reliability of questionnaire was confirmed through a test-retest. The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software in descriptive and deductive statistics level. The highest percentage of awareness about mobile health technology among medical students in the clinical stage of Azzahra educational hospital is 45.6 in nature areas, and their lowest percentage of awareness is 17.8 in the infrastructure area. In addition, their mean awareness of all areas is 54.4. The highest percentage of using mobile health technology by medical students is 14.6 in the education area, and their lowest percentage of usage is 6.8 in the treatment area. Their mean usage of all areas is 9.4 as well. The rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology is not favorable. Except for treatment, there is no significant association between the rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology.

Using Web 2.0 technologies to enhance evidence-based medical information.

Science.gov (United States)

Metzger, Miriam J; Flanagin, Andrew J

2011-01-01

This article invokes research on information seeking and evaluation to address how providers of evidence-based medical information can use Web 2.0 technologies to increase access to, enliven users' experiences with, and enrich the quality of the information available. In an ideal scenario, evidence-based medical information can take appropriate advantage of community intelligence spawned by Web 2.0 technologies, resulting in the ideal combination of scientifically sound, high-quality information that is imbued with experiential insights from a multitude of individuals. To achieve this goal, the authors argue that people will engage with information that they can access easily, and that they perceive as (a) relevant to their information-seeking goals and (b) credible. The authors suggest the utility of Web 2.0 technologies for engaging stakeholders with evidence-based medical information through these mechanisms, and the degree to which the information provided can and should be trusted. Last, the authors discuss potential problems with Web 2.0 information in relation to decision making in health contexts, and they conclude with specific and practical recommendations for the dissemination of evidence-based health information via Web 2.0 technologies.

APA Summit on Medical Student Education Task Force on Informatics and Technology: learning about computers and applying computer technology to education and practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilty, Donald M; Hales, Deborah J; Briscoe, Greg; Benjamin, Sheldon; Boland, Robert J; Luo, John S; Chan, Carlyle H; Kennedy, Robert S; Karlinsky, Harry; Gordon, Daniel B; Yager, Joel; Yellowlees, Peter M

2006-01-01

This article provides a brief overview of important issues for educators regarding medical education and technology. The literature describes key concepts, prototypical technology tools, and model programs. A work group of psychiatric educators was convened three times by phone conference to discuss the literature. Findings were presented to and input was received from the 2005 Summit on Medical Student Education by APA and the American Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry. Knowledge of, skills in, and attitudes toward medical informatics are important to life-long learning and modern medical practice. A needs assessment is a starting place, since student, faculty, institution, and societal factors bear consideration. Technology needs to "fit" into a curriculum in order to facilitate learning and teaching. Learning about computers and applying computer technology to education and clinical care are key steps in computer literacy for physicians.

Designing medical technology for resilience: integrating health economics and human factors approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Borsci, Simone; Uchegbu, Ijeoma; Buckle, Peter; Ni, Zhifang; Walne, Simon; Hanna, George B

2018-01-01

The slow adoption of innovation into healthcare calls into question the manner of evidence generation for medical technology. This paper identifies potential reasons for this including a lack of attention to human factors, poor evaluation of economic benefits, lack of understanding of the existing healthcare system and a failure to recognise the need to generate resilient products. Areas covered: Recognising a cross-disciplinary need to enhance evidence generation early in a technology's life cycle, the present paper proposes a new approach that integrates human factors and health economic evaluation as part of a wider systems approach to the design of technology. This approach (Human and Economic Resilience Design for Medical Technology or HERD MedTech) supports early stages of product development and is based on the recent experiences of the National Institute for Health Research London Diagnostic Evidence Co-operative in the UK. Expert commentary: HERD MedTech i) proposes a shift from design for usability to design for resilience, ii) aspires to reduce the need for service adaptation to technological constraints iii) ensures value of innovation at the time of product development, and iv) aims to stimulate discussion around the integration of pre- and post-market methods of assessment of medical technology.

Ethical evaluation model for technologies. the role of medical technology in the development of autonomy in diabetes patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Damian, Simona; Necula, Roxana; Sandu, A; Iliescu, Maria Liliana; Ioan, Beatrice

2013-01-01

Romanian Government Decision (GD) No. 8/2012 amending and supplementing GD No. 144/2010 regarding the function and organization structures of the Ministry of Health defines health technology assessment (HTA) as "a systematic and multidisciplinary analysis of the existing and new medical technologies, through which medical, economic, social, ethical and organizational information are synthesized so that medical technologies to be used in a transparent and unbiased manner". We propose an ethical assessment model of technologies used in the care of diabetic patients. The nature of this research was exploratory, giving the novelty of this approach to the clinical and social context of Romania. The assessment of health technologies used in the care of diabetic patients was based on the following research question: What is the role of health technology in developing autonomy and responsibility in patients suffering from chronic diseases? Individual interviews and focus groups were held from June, 2011 to November, 2012 in Iasi. The criterion for selecting the participants was belonging to the target groups: family doctors or diabetes specialist, patients with type 1 (TID) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), caregivers and other professionals involved in diabetes patient care. The diabetic patient benefits from a specific treatment and has the privilege of self-administering it, his life expectancy and quality of life depending upon the compliance and responsibility he demonstrates.

Memorandum on the use of information technology to improve medication safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Ammenwerth, E; Aly, A-F; Bürkle, T; Christ, P; Dormann, H; Friesdorf, W; Haas, C; Haefeli, W E; Jeske, M; Kaltschmidt, J; Menges, K; Möller, H; Neubert, A; Rascher, W; Reichert, H; Schuler, J; Schreier, G; Schulz, S; Seidling, H M; Stühlinger, W; Criegee-Rieck, M

2014-01-01

Information technology in health care has a clear potential to improve the quality and efficiency of health care, especially in the area of medication processes. On the other hand, existing studies show possible adverse effects on patient safety when IT for medication-related processes is developed, introduced or used inappropriately. To summarize definitions and observations on IT usage in pharmacotherapy and to derive recommendations and future research priorities for decision makers and domain experts. This memorandum was developed in a consensus-based iterative process that included workshops and e-mail discussions among 21 experts coordinated by the Drug Information Systems Working Group of the German Society for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS). The recommendations address, among other things, a stepwise and comprehensive strategy for IT usage in medication processes, the integration of contextual information for alert generation, the involvement of patients, the semantic integration of information resources, usability and adaptability of IT solutions, and the need for their continuous evaluation. Information technology can help to improve medication safety. However, challenges remain regarding access to information, quality of information, and measurable benefits.

Medical imaging technology reviews and computational applications

CERN Document Server

Dewi, Dyah

2015-01-01

This book presents the latest research findings and reviews in the field of medical imaging technology, covering ultrasound diagnostics approaches for detecting osteoarthritis, breast carcinoma and cardiovascular conditions, image guided biopsy and segmentation techniques for detecting lung cancer, image fusion, and simulating fluid flows for cardiovascular applications. It offers a useful guide for students, lecturers and professional researchers in the fields of biomedical engineering and image processing.

Development of Rural Emergency Medical System (REMS) with Geospatial Technology in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Ooi, W. H.; Shahrizal, I. M.; Noordin, A.; Nurulain, M. I.; Norhan, M. Y.

2014-02-01

Emergency medical services are dedicated services in providing out-of-hospital transport to definitive care or patients with illnesses and injuries. In this service the response time and the preparedness of medical services is of prime importance. The application of space and geospatial technology such as satellite navigation system and Geographical Information System (GIS) was proven to improve the emergency operation in many developed countries. In collaboration with a medical service NGO, the National Space Agency (ANGKASA) has developed a prototype Rural Emergency Medical System (REMS), focusing on providing medical services to rural areas and incorporating satellite based tracking module integrated with GIS and patience database to improve the response time of the paramedic team during emergency. With the aim to benefit the grassroots community by exploiting space technology, the project was able to prove the system concept which will be addressed in this paper.

Recent advances in medical device triage technologies for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events.

Science.gov (United States)

Lansdowne, Krystal; Scully, Christopher G; Galeotti, Loriano; Schwartz, Suzanne; Marcozzi, David; Strauss, David G

2015-06-01

In 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration (Silver Spring, Maryland USA) created the Medical Countermeasures Initiative with the mission of development and promoting medical countermeasures that would be needed to protect the nation from identified, high-priority chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) threats and emerging infectious diseases. The aim of this review was to promote regulatory science research of medical devices and to analyze how the devices can be employed in different CBRN scenarios. Triage in CBRN scenarios presents unique challenges for first responders because the effects of CBRN agents and the clinical presentations of casualties at each triage stage can vary. The uniqueness of a CBRN event can render standard patient monitoring medical device and conventional triage algorithms ineffective. Despite the challenges, there have been recent advances in CBRN triage technology that include: novel technologies; mobile medical applications ("medical apps") for CBRN disasters; electronic triage tags, such as eTriage; diagnostic field devices, such as the Joint Biological Agent Identification System; and decision support systems, such as the Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management Intelligent Syndromes Tool (CHEMM-IST). Further research and medical device validation can help to advance prehospital triage technology for CBRN events.

Health-illness transition among persons using advanced medical technology at home.

Science.gov (United States)

Fex, Angelika; Flensner, Gullvi; Ek, Anna-Christina; Söderhamn, Olle

2011-06-01

This study aimed to elucidate meanings of health-illness transition experiences among adult persons using advanced medical technology at home. As an increasing number of persons perform self-care while using different sorts of advanced medical technology at home, knowledge about health-illness transition experiences in this situation may be useful to caregivers in supporting these patients. A qualitative design was used. Five women and five men, all of whom performed self-care at home, either using long-term oxygen therapy from a ventilator or oxygen cylinder, or performing peritoneal or haemodialysis, were interviewed. Ethics committee approval was obtained. Informed consent was received from all participants, and ethical issues concerning their rights in research were raised. The interviews were analysed using a phenomenological hermeneutical methodology, including both an inductive and a deductive structural analysis. This method offers possibilities to obtain an increased understanding by uncovering a deeper meaning of lived experiences through interviews transcribed as texts. The health-illness transition for adult persons in this context was found to mean a learning process of accepting, managing, adjusting and improving daily life with technology, facilitated by realizing the gain from technology at home. Further, the meaning of the health-illness transition experience was interpreted as contentment with being part of the active and conscious process towards transcending into a new state of living, in which the individual and the technology were in tune. The healthy transition experience was characterized by human growth and becoming. This study elucidates one meaning of health-illness transition experiences in relation to the use of advanced medical technology on a more generic level, independent of the specific type of technology used. A positive attitude towards technology at home facilitates the transition. © 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of

Medical education for rural areas: Opportunities and challenges for information and communications technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sargeant Joan

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Resources in medical education are not evenly distributed and access to education can be more problematic in rural areas. Similar to telemedicine′s positive influence on health care access, advances in information and communications technologies (ICTs increase opportunities for medical education. This paper provides a descriptive overview of the use of ICTs in medical education and suggests a conceptual model for reviewing ICT use in medical education, describes specific ICTs and educational interventions, and discusses opportunities and challenges of ICT use, especially in rural areas. The literature review included technology and medical education, 1996-2005. Using an educational model as a framework, the uses of ICTs in medical education are, very generally, to link learners, instructors, specific course materials and/or information resources in various ways. ICTs range from the simple (telephone, audio-conferencing to the sophisticated (virtual environments, learning repositories and can increase access to medical education and enhance learning and collaboration for learners at all levels and for institutions. While ICTs are being used and offer further potential for medical education enhancement, challenges exist, especially for rural areas. These are technological (e.g., overcoming barriers like cost, maintenance, access to telecommunications infrastructure, educational (using ICTs to best meet learners′ educational priorities, integrating ICTs into educational programs and social (sensitivity to remote needs, resources, cultures. Finally, there is need for more rigorous research to more clearly identify advantages and disadvantages of specific uses of ICTs in medical education.

Role of information communication technology in higher education: learners perspective in rural medical schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Srivastava, Tripti K; Waghmare, Lalitbhushan S; Jagzape, Arunita T; Rawekar, Alka T; Quazi, Nazli Z; Mishra, Ved Prakash

2014-06-01

Higher education has undergone profound transformation due to recent technological advancements. Resultantly health profession students have a strong base to utilize information technology for their professional development. Studies over recent past reflect a striking change in pattern of technology usage amongst medical students expanding prospects exponentially by e-books, science apps, readymade power-point presentations, evidence based medicine, Wikipedia, etc. Aim & Objectives: The study was undertaken with an aim to explore the general perceptions of medical students and faculties about the role of Information Communication Technology in higher education and to gauge student's dependence on the same for seeking knowledge and information. Cross-sectional, mixed research design. The study was conducted in Department of Physiology, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University). Study population included students (n=150) and teaching faculty (n=10) of I(st) phase of medical curriculum. The survey questionnaire (10 closed ended and 5 open ended items) and Focus group discussion (FGD) captured the perceptions and attitudes of students and faculties respectively regarding the role and relevance of technology in higher education. Quantitative analysis of closed ended responses was done by percentage distribution and Qualitative analysis of open ended responses and FGD excerpts was done by coding and observing the trends and patterns respectively. Overall the observations were in favour of increasing usability and dependability on technology as ready reference tool of subject information. Learners valued text books and technology almost equally and regarded computer training as a desirable incorporation in medical curriculum. Role of technology in education should be anticipated and appropriate measures should be undertaken for its adequate and optimum utilization by proper training of students as well as facilitators.

Developing an active emergency medical service system based on WiMAX technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shing-Han; Cheng, Kai-An; Lu, Wen-Hui; Lin, Te-Chang

2012-10-01

The population structure has changed with the aging of population. In the present, elders account for 10.63% of the domestic population and the percentage is still gradually climbing. In other words, the demand for emergency services among elders in home environment is expected to grow in the future. In order to improve the efficiency and quality of emergency care, information technology should be effectively utilized to integrate medical systems and facilities, strengthen human-centered operation designs, and maximize the overall performance. The improvement in the quality and survival rate of emergency care is an important basis for better life and health of all people. Through integrated application of medical information systems and information communication technology, this study proposes a WiMAX-based emergency care system addressing the public demands for convenience, speed, safety, and human-centered operation of emergency care. This system consists of a healthcare service center, emergency medical service hospitals, and emergency ambulances. Using the wireless transmission capability of WiMAX, patients' physiological data can be transmitted from medical measurement facilities to the emergency room and emergency room doctors can provide immediate online instructions on emergency treatment via video and audio transmission. WiMAX technology enables the establishment of active emergency medical services.

[A survey of medical information education in radiological technology schools].

Science.gov (United States)

Ohba, Hisateru; Ogasawara, Katsuhiko; Hoshino, Shuhei; Hosoba, Minoru; Okuda, Yasuo; Konishi, Yasuhiko; Ikeda, Ryuji

2010-08-20

The purpose of this study was to clarify actual conditions and problems in medical information education and to propose the educational concept to be adopted in medical information. A questionnaire survey was carried out by the anonymous method in June 2008. The survey was intended for 40 radiological technology schools. The questionnaire items were as follows: (1) educational environment in medical information education, (2) content of a lecture in medical information, (3) problems in medical information education. The response rate was 55.0% (22 schools). Half of the responding schools had a laboratory on medical information. Seventeen schools had a medical information education facility, and out of them, approximately 50% had an educational medical information system. The main problems of the medical information education were as follows: (a) motivation of the students is low, (b) the educational coverage and level for medical information are uncertain, (c) there are not an appropriate textbook and educational guidance. In conclusion, these findings suggest that it is necessary to have a vision of medical information education in the education of radiological technologists.

A survey of medical information education in radiological technology schools

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohba, Hisateru; Ogasawara, Katsuhiko; Hoshino, Shuhei; Hosoba, Minoru; Okuda, Yasuo; Konishi, Yasuhiko; Ikeda, Ryuji

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to clarify actual conditions and problems in medical information education and to propose the educational concept to be adopted in medical information. A questionnaire survey was carried out by the anonymous method in June 2008. The survey was intended for 40 radiological technology schools. The questionnaire items were as follows: educational environment in medical information education, content of a lecture in medical information, problems in medical information education. The response rate was 55.0% (22 schools). Half of the responding schools had a laboratory on medical information. Seventeen schools had a medical information education facility, and out of them, approximately 50% had an educational medical information system. The main problems of the medical information education were as follows: motivation of the students is low, the educational coverage and level for medical information are uncertain, there are not an appropriate textbook and educational guidance. In conclusion, these findings suggest that it is necessary to have a vision of medical information education in the education of radiological technologists. (author)

Educating medical students as competent users of health information technologies: the MSOP data.

Science.gov (United States)

McGowan, Julie J; Passiment, Morgan; Hoffman, Helene M

2007-01-01

As more health information technologies become part of the health care environment, the need for physicians with medical informatics competencies is growing. In 2006, a survey was created to determine the degree to which the Association of American Medical College's Medical School Objectives Project (MSOP) medical informatics competencies had been incorporated into medical school curricula in the United States. a web-based tool was used to create the survey; medical education deans or their designees were requested to complete the survey. Analysis focused on the clinician, researcher, and manager roles of physicians. Seventy usable surveys were returned. Many of the objectives were stated in the schools' respective curricula and the competencies were being evaluated. However, only a few schools taught and assessed the medical informatics objectives that required interaction with health information. To insure that physicians have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively and efficiently interact with today's health information technologies, more medical informatics concepts need to be included and assessed in all undergraduate medical education curricula in the United States.

Longitudinal analysis of high-technology medical services and hospital financial performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Zengul, Ferhat D; Weech-Maldonado, Robert; Ozaydin, Bunyamin; Patrician, Patricia A; OʼConnor, Stephen J

U.S. hospitals have been investing in high-technology medical services as a strategy to improve financial performance. Despite the interest in high-tech medical services, there is not much information available about the impact of high-tech services on financial performance. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of high-tech medical services on financial performance of U.S. hospitals by using the resource-based view of the firm as a conceptual framework. Fixed-effects regressions with 2 years lagged independent variables using a longitudinal panel sample of 3,268 hospitals (2005-2010). It was hypothesized that hospitals with rare or large numbers (breadth) of high-tech medical services will experience better financial performance. Fixed effects regression results supported the link between a larger breadth of high-tech services and total margin, but only among not-for-profit hospitals. Both breadth and rareness of high-tech services were associated with high total margin among not-for-profit hospitals. Neither breadth nor rareness of high-tech services was associated with operating margin. Although breadth and rareness of high-tech services resulted in lower expenses per inpatient day among not-for-profit hospitals, these lower costs were offset by lower revenues per inpatient day. Enhancing the breadth of high-tech services may be a legitimate organizational strategy to improve financial performance, especially among not-for-profit hospitals. Hospitals may experience increased productivity and efficiency, and therefore lower inpatient operating costs, as a result of newer technologies. However, the negative impact on operating revenue should caution hospital administrators about revenue reducing features of these technologies, which may be related to the payer mix that these technologies may attract. Therefore, managers should consider both the cost and revenue implications of these technologies.

Awareness and Using of Medical Students About Mobile Health Technology in Clinical Areas

Science.gov (United States)

Ehteshami, Asghar; Hachesu, Peyman Rezaei; Esfahani, Mahtab Kasayi

2013-01-01

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: NONE DECLARED Introduction Necessity of data transmission and getting contact with specialists is so evident in impassable regions. In order to solve such problems, there are different solutions one of which is mobile health technology. Being small and user-friendly, easy to enter data and having low expense are some of its advantages. This study aims to define the association between awareness of medical students in clinical stage about mobile health technology application and the rate of their using this technology in educational hospital of Isfahan in 2011. Method The study is a cross-sectional analytical application research. Sixty medical students were selected as samples from a society of 240 medical students. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included 21 multiple choice and 15 yes no questions, which were corrected to reach a score. A researcher-made checklist with 5-fold Likert scale was used to define the rate of applying such technology. The reliability of questionnaire was confirmed through a test–retest. The collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software in descriptive and deductive statistics level. Findings The highest percentage of awareness about mobile health technology among medical students in the clinical stage of Azzahra educational hospital is 45.6 in nature areas, and their lowest percentage of awareness is 17.8 in the infrastructure area. In addition, their mean awareness of all areas is 54.4. The highest percentage of using mobile health technology by medical students is 14.6 in the education area, and their lowest percentage of usage is 6.8 in the treatment area. Their mean usage of all areas is 9.4 as well. Conclusion The rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology is not favorable. Except for treatment, there is no significant association between the rate of awareness and application of mobile health technology. PMID:24058250

U.S. Experiences and Regulatory Challenges with New Medical Technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elee, J.

2016-01-01

There are many challenges in regulating new medical technologies in the United States. In the US, there are fifty different state agencies, several local and city agencies, and eleven federal agencies which all delve into some aspects of regulating the use of radiation. It also can take several years to promulgate new regulations for new technologies. Additionally, some technologies are used outside of their original approved/intended use which causes issues for regulators. Finally, many of our regulating agencies have limited resources to learn and train on the new technologies that are on the market. All of these reasons combine to make regulating new technologies and uses of radiation difficult. (author)

Better health care: Ghana uses radiation technology to sterilize medical items

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dixit, Aabha

2015-01-01

Infections acquired from improperly sterilized equipment are recognized as a major impediment to safe health care delivery, with consequences that are often deadly for patients. Radiation technology plays a major role in many countries in making medical equipment safer. “The use of nuclear applications, such as exposing medical items to gamma radiation, helps Ghana protect its people from avoidable sicknesses that can occur if items like syringes are not properly sterilized,” said Abraham Adu-Gyamfi, Manager of the Radiation Technology Centre of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission’s Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute in Accra.

[Application of advanced engineering technologies to medical and rehabilitation fields].

Science.gov (United States)

Fujie, Masakatsu

2012-07-01

The words "Japan syndrome" can now be heard increasingly through the media. Facing the approach of an elderly-dominated society, Robot Technology(RT)is expected to play an important role in Japan's medical, rehabilitation, and daily support fields. The industrial robot, which has already spread through the world with a great success in certain isolated environments by doing the work which is specialized for the thing with the hard known characteristic. By comparison, in the medical and rehabilitation fields, environments always change intricately, and individual characteristics differ from person to person. Furthermore, there are many times when a robot will be asked to directly interact with people. Moreover, the relation between a robot and a person turns into a relation which should involve contact flexibly according to a situation, and also turns into a relation which should avoid contact. In our group, we have so far developed practical rehabilitation and medical robots which can respond to difficulties such as environmental change and individual specificity. In developing rehabilitation robots, it is especially important to consider intuitive operability and individual differences. In addition, in developing medical robots, it is important to replace the experimental knowledge of surgeons to the mechanical quantitative properties. In this article, we introduce some practical examples of rehabilitation and medical robots interweaving several detailed technologies we have so far developed.

The determinants of medical technology adoption in different decisional systems: A systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Varabyova, Yauheniya; Blankart, Carl Rudolf; Greer, Ann Lennarson; Schreyögg, Jonas

2017-03-01

Studies of determinants of adoption of new medical technology have failed to coalesce into coherent knowledge. A flaw obscuring strong patterns may be a common habit of treating a wide range of health care innovations as a generic technology. We postulate three decisional systems that apply to different medical technologies with distinctive expertise, interest, and authority: medical-individualistic, fiscal-managerial, and strategic-institutional decisional systems. This review aims to examine the determinants of the adoption of medical technologies based on the corresponding decision-making system. We included quantitative and qualitative studies that analyzed factors facilitating or inhibiting the adoption of medical technologies. In total, 65 studies published between 1974 and 2014 met our inclusion criteria. These studies contained 688 occurrences of variables that were used to examine the adoption decisions, and we subsequently condensed these variables to 62 determinants in four main categories: organizational, individual, environmental, and innovation-related. The determinants and their empirical association with adoption were grouped and analyzed by the three decision-making systems. Although we did not identify substantial differences across the decision-making systems in terms of the direction of the determinants' influence on adoption, a clear pattern emerged in terms of the categories of determinants that were targeted in different decision-making systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Is a shift from research on individual medical error to research on health information technology underway? A 40-year analysis of publication trends in medical journals.

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Erlewein, Daniel; Bruni, Tommaso; Gadebusch Bondio, Mariacarla

2018-06-07

In 1983, McIntyre and Popper underscored the need for more openness in dealing with errors in medicine. Since then, much has been written on individual medical errors. Furthermore, at the beginning of the 21st century, researchers and medical practitioners increasingly approached individual medical errors through health information technology. Hence, the question arises whether the attention of biomedical researchers shifted from individual medical errors to health information technology. We ran a study to determine publication trends concerning individual medical errors and health information technology in medical journals over the last 40 years. We used the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) taxonomy in the database MEDLINE. Each year, we analyzed the percentage of relevant publications to the total number of publications in MEDLINE. The trends identified were tested for statistical significance. Our analysis showed that the percentage of publications dealing with individual medical errors increased from 1976 until the beginning of the 21st century but began to drop in 2003. Both the upward and the downward trends were statistically significant (P information technology doubled between 2003 and 2015. The upward trend was statistically significant (P information technology in the USA and the UK. © 2018 Chinese Cochrane Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Introduction and uptake of new medical technologies in the Australian health care system: a qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gallego, Gisselle; Casey, Robert; Norman, Richard; Goodall, Stephen

2011-10-01

The aim of this study was to explore the views and perceptions of stakeholders about the current national health technology assessment process conducted by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) and its role in the uptake and diffusion of new medical technologies in Australia. Data collection occurred over a nine month period (August 2008-April 2009). Twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals from four stakeholders groups: (i) MSAC members and evaluators, (ii) academic and health technology assessment experts, (iii) medical industry representatives and (iv) medical specialists. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded using a constant comparative method. Respondents expressed a consensus opinion that the MSAC process is generally fair and transparent, and has been increasingly so over time. The process was described as "flexible" and "intuitive" yet also "idiosyncratic" due to the nature of the technologies being appraised. Approval by MSAC was generally reported to be increasingly important once a technology becomes more widely used. While successful MSAC approval was felt to be important for widespread distribution of a new technology, it was viewed more as a "facilitator of the uptake of new technologies" as opposed to a primary "driver" of technology uptake. Instead, other factors were identified as providing the actual impetus for the uptake of new technologies, with MSAC approval and reimbursement eventually helping facilitate more widespread diffusion. MSAC's decision making process is perceived as fair but with room for improvement. Its role in the uptake and diffusion of new medical technologies in Australia is limited. MSAC does not act as a barrier to significant market penetration of new procedures and medical technologies. However reimbursement is a trigger for increased use. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances in solid state laser technology for space and medical applications

Science.gov (United States)

Byvik, C. E.; Buoncristiani, A. M.

1988-01-01

Recent developments in laser technology and their potential for medical applications are discussed. Gas discharge lasers, dye lasers, excimer lasers, Nd:YAG lasers, HF and DF lasers, and other commonly used lasers are briefly addressed. Emerging laser technology is examined, including diode-pumped lasers and other solid state lasers.

Near field communications technology and the potential to reduce medication errors through multidisciplinary application

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

O’Connell, Emer

2016-07-01

Patient safety requires optimal management of medications. Electronic systems are encouraged to reduce medication errors. Near field communications (NFC) is an emerging technology that may be used to develop novel medication management systems.

Judicious use of simulation technology in continuing medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Michael T; DiazGranados, Deborah; Feldman, Moshe

2012-01-01

Use of simulation-based training is fast becoming a vital source of experiential learning in medical education. Although simulation is a common tool for undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula, the utilization of simulation in continuing medical education (CME) is still an area of growth. As more CME programs turn to simulation to address their training needs, it is important to highlight concepts of simulation technology that can help to optimize learning outcomes. This article discusses the role of fidelity in medical simulation. It provides support from a cross section of simulation training domains for determining the appropriate levels of fidelity, and it offers guidelines for creating an optimal balance of skill practice and realism for efficient training outcomes. After defining fidelity, 3 dimensions of fidelity, drawn from the human factors literature, are discussed in terms of their relevance to medical simulation. From this, research-based guidelines are provided to inform CME providers regarding the use of simulation in CME training. Copyright © 2012 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on CME, Association for Hospital Medical Education.

An Empirical Assessment of a Technology Acceptance Model for Apps in Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Briz-Ponce, Laura; García-Peñalvo, Francisco José

2015-11-01

The evolution and the growth of mobile applications ("apps") in our society is a reality. This general trend is still upward and the app use has also penetrated the medical education community. However, there is a lot of unawareness of the students' and professionals' point of view about introducing "apps" within Medical School curriculum. The aim of this research is to design, implement and verify that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) can be employed to measure and explain the acceptance of mobile technology and "apps" within Medical Education. The methodology was based on a survey distributed to students and medical professionals from University of Salamanca. This model explains 46.7% of behavioral intention to use mobile devise or "apps" for learning and will help us to justify and understand the current situation of introducing "apps" into the Medical School curriculum.

[The implementation of innovative medical technologies: biological pharmaceuticals for the treatment of psoriasis--a case study].

Science.gov (United States)

Tal, Orna; Lomnicky, Yosef

2012-06-01

Advanced health systems worldwide strive to adopt new technologies that will ensure improved health and better clinical outcomes. The implementation of new medical technologies is affected by medical factors as well as economic and social forces, influencing both the individual and the health care providers. Chronic disease management is a major challenge to governments, as a result of the cumulative effects of chronic morbidity, life expectancy, quality of life and the national burden of disease due to accelerating medical expenditure. Psoriasis, a common chronic disease, for which advanced technologies were recently implemented, was chosen as a case study. The distribution of utility of various technologies for the treatment of psoriasis over the past nine years was analyzed to categorize "patterns of behavior" in accordance with the lifecycle of medical technology described in the Literature. It is expected that these changing trends will produce overall economic consequences, on direct expenditure combined with a reduction in some health services. Analyzing these clinical and economic trends, may add important considerations for the adoption of emerging medical technologies, presenting an important tool for policymakers at at all levels.

Performance of technology-driven simulators for medical students--a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Michael, Michael; Abboudi, Hamid; Ker, Jean; Shamim Khan, Mohammed; Dasgupta, Prokar; Ahmed, Kamran

2014-12-01

Simulation-based education has evolved as a key training tool in high-risk industries such as aviation and the military. In parallel with these industries, the benefits of incorporating specialty-oriented simulation training within medical schools are vast. Adoption of simulators into medical school education programs has shown great promise and has the potential to revolutionize modern undergraduate education. An English literature search was carried out using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and psychINFO databases to identify all randomized controlled studies pertaining to "technology-driven" simulators used in undergraduate medical education. A validity framework incorporating the "framework for technology enhanced learning" report by the Department of Health, United Kingdom, was used to evaluate the capabilities of each technology-driven simulator. Information was collected regarding the simulator type, characteristics, and brand name. Where possible, we extracted information from the studies on the simulators' performance with respect to validity status, reliability, feasibility, education impact, acceptability, and cost effectiveness. We identified 19 studies, analyzing simulators for medical students across a variety of procedure-based specialities including; cardiovascular (n = 2), endoscopy (n = 3), laparoscopic surgery (n = 8), vascular access (n = 2), ophthalmology (n = 1), obstetrics and gynecology (n = 1), anesthesia (n = 1), and pediatrics (n = 1). Incorporation of simulators has so far been on an institutional level; no national or international trends have yet emerged. Simulators are capable of providing a highly educational and realistic experience for the medical students within a variety of speciality-oriented teaching sessions. Further research is needed to establish how best to incorporate simulators into a more primary stage of medical education; preclinical and clinical undergraduate medicine. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights

Evaluating and Predicting Patient Safety for Medical Devices With Integral Information Technology

Science.gov (United States)

2005-01-01

323 Evaluating and Predicting Patient Safety for Medical Devices with Integral Information Technology Jiajie Zhang, Vimla L. Patel, Todd R...errors are due to inappropriate designs for user interactions, rather than mechanical failures. Evaluating and predicting patient safety in medical ...the users on the identified trouble spots in the devices. We developed two methods for evaluating and predicting patient safety in medical devices

Nuclear medical technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daga, Avinash; Sharma, Smita; Sharma, K.S.

2012-01-01

Nuclear medical technology helps to use radiopharmaceuticals (drugs that give off radiation) to diagnose and treat illness. A more recent development is Positron Emission Tomography (PET) which is a more precise and sophisticated technique that uses isotopes produced in a cyclotron. F-18 in FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) is one such positron-emitting radionuclide. Chemically, it is 2-deoxy-2-( 18 F) fluoro-D-glucose, a glucose analog with the positron-emitting radioactive isotope fluorine-18 substituted for the normal hydroxyl group at the 2' position in the glucose molecule. It is introduced, usually by injection, and then it gets accumulated in the target tissue. As it decays it emits a positron, which promptly combines with a nearby electron resulting in the simultaneous emission of two identifiable gamma rays in opposite directions. These are detected by a PET camera when the patient is placed in the PET scanner for a series of one or more scans which may take from 20 minutes to as long as an hour. It gives very precise indication of their origin. 18 F in FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) has become very important in detection of cancers and the monitoring of progress in their treatment, using PET. (author)

The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maresova P

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Petra Maresova,1 Marek Penhaker,1,2 Ali Selamat,1,3 Kamil Kuca1,41Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic; 2Department of Cybernetics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Technical University of Ostrava, Poruba, Czech Republic; 3Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; 4Center for Biomedical Research, University Hospital Hradec Králové, Hradec Králové, Czech RepublicAbstract: The high quality of public health improves not only healthy life expectancy, but also the productivity of labor. The most important part of the health care sector is the medical technology industry. The aim of this study is to analyze the current situation in the medical device industry in Europe, its potential strengths and weaknesses in the context of topical economic and demographic development. The contribution specifies an analysis of the economic state of the medical device industry in the context of demographic development of European Union’s macroeconomic indicators and views of experts in the field of medical device development, concerning the opportunities for entities involved in the medical device market. There is fierce competition on the European market. The innovative activity is stable and well regulated by responsible authorities. Worldwide, the medical device market is expected to grow.Keywords: technology context, medical device, Europe, expenditure, review

Technology of forming a positive attitude to physical training students of special medical group

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mukhamediarov N.N.

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Defined effective technology stages of forming a positive attitude towards physical education of students in special medical groups, stimulate motivation, epistemologically, informative, content-procedural, analytical and adjustment. For each stage technology offered special tools: lectures, seminars, analysis articles, mini conference on improving technique, racing games, mini-competitions, diagnostic interviews, questionnaires, analysis of log data on attendance. Selected criteria forming positive attitudes towards physical education: theoretical and practical, formed groups for research: experimental and control, analyzed results introduction of technology, efficiency of the proposed technology and means forming a positive attitude towards physical education students in special medical groups.

Technology in postgraduate medical education: a dynamic influence on learning?

OpenAIRE

Bullock, Alison; Webb, Katie

2015-01-01

The influence of technology in medical workplace learning is explored by focusing on three uses: m-learning (notably apps), simulation and social media. Smartphones with point-of-care tools (such as textbooks, drug guides and medical calculators) can support workplace learning and doctors’ decision-making. Simulations can help develop technical skills and team interactions, and ‘in situ’ simulations improve the match between the virtual and the real. Social media (wikis, blogs, networking, Yo...

Supporting medical technology development with the analytic hierarchy process

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hummel, Janna Marchien

2001-01-01

This thesis aims to develop an adequate method of CTA to influence decision making about the development and clinical application of a medical technology. The adequacy of this method is related to the timing of its application, the information used in the assessment, the consensus formation about,

The impact of medical technology on sense of security in the palliative home care setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Munck, Berit; Sandgren, Anna

2017-03-02

The increase in the use of medical devices in palliative home care requires that patients and next-of-kin feel secure. Therefore, the aim was to describe medical technology's impact on the sense of security for patients, next-of-kin and district nurses. Deductive content analysis was conducted on data from three previous studies, using the theoretical framework 'palliative home care as a secure base'. The use of medical technology was shown to have an impact on the sense of security for all involved. A sense of control was promoted by trust in staff and their competence in managing the technology, which was linked to continuity. Inner peace and being in comfort implied effective symptom relief facilitated by pain pumps and being relieved of responsibility. Health care professionals need to have practical knowledge about medical technology, but at the same time have an awareness of how to create and maintain a sense of security.

Future Directions in Medical Physics: Models, Technology, and Translation to Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Siewerdsen, Jeffrey

The application of physics in medicine has been integral to major advances in diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. Two primary areas represent the mainstay of medical physics research in the last century: in radiation therapy, physicists have propelled advances in conformal radiation treatment and high-precision image guidance; and in diagnostic imaging, physicists have advanced an arsenal of multi-modality imaging that includes CT, MRI, ultrasound, and PET as indispensible tools for noninvasive screening, diagnosis, and assessment of treatment response. In addition to their role in building such technologically rich fields of medicine, physicists have also become integral to daily clinical practice in these areas. The future suggests new opportunities for multi-disciplinary research bridging physics, biology, engineering, and computer science, and collaboration in medical physics carries a strong capacity for identification of significant clinical needs, access to clinical data, and translation of technologies to clinical studies. In radiation therapy, for example, the extraction of knowledge from large datasets on treatment delivery, image-based phenotypes, genomic profile, and treatment outcome will require innovation in computational modeling and connection with medical physics for the curation of large datasets. Similarly in imaging physics, the demand for new imaging technology capable of measuring physical and biological processes over orders of magnitude in scale (from molecules to whole organ systems) and exploiting new contrast mechanisms for greater sensitivity to molecular agents and subtle functional / morphological change will benefit from multi-disciplinary collaboration in physics, biology, and engineering. Also in surgery and interventional radiology, where needs for increased precision and patient safety meet constraints in cost and workflow, development of new technologies for imaging, image registration, and robotic assistance can leverage

Understanding the health care utilization of children who require medical technology: A descriptive study of children who require tracheostomies.

Science.gov (United States)

Spratling, Regena

2017-04-01

Children who require medical technology have complex chronic illnesses. This medical technology, including ventilators, oximeters, tracheostomy tubes, and feeding tubes, allows children and their families to live at home; however, the management of the children's care by informal caregivers is complex with the need for intensive, specialized care. The purpose of this study was to examine the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics that affect health care utilization in a population of children who require medical technology. A retrospective electronic health record (EHR) review was completed on the EHR records on 171 children who require medical technology, specifically tracheostomies, at an outpatient technology dependent pulmonary clinic over a three year period (January 2010-December 2012). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, including medical diagnoses, and emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations. Of the 171 children requiring medical technology studied, there were numerous medical diagnoses (n=791), 99% had chronic illnesses affecting two or more body systems, and 88% required two or more technologies, including a tracheostomy and a feeding tube. In addition, 91% of the children had at least one ED visit or hospitalization and were treated in the ED approximately three times over the three year period. The findings from this study noted an increased utilization of health care by these children, and identified common symptoms and medical technologies for which caregivers may need interventions, focusing on education in managing symptoms and medical technology prior to presentation to the ED or hospital. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Optimize Use of Space Research and Technology for Medical Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Minnifield, Nona K.

2012-01-01

systems, and cutting-edge component technologies to conduct a wide range of scientific observations and measurements. These technologies are also considered for practical applications that benefit society in remarkable ways. At NASA Goddard, the technology transfer initiative promotes matching technologies from Earth and space science needs to targeted industry sectors. This requires clear knowledge of industry needs and priorities and social demands. The process entails matching mature technologies where there are known innovation challenges and good opportunities for matching technology needs. This requires creative thinking and takes commitment of time and resources. Additionally, we also look at applications for known hot industry or societal needs. Doing so has given us occasion to host discussions with representatives from industry, academia, government organizations, and societal special interest groups about the application of NASA Goddard technologies for devices used in medical monitoring and detection tools. As a result, partnerships have been established. Innovation transpired when new products were enabled because of NASA Goddard research and technology programs.

Managing perceived conflicts of interest while ensuring the continued innovation of medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Haute, Andrew

2011-09-01

If it were not for the ongoing collaboration between vascular surgeons and the medical technology industry, many of these advanced treatments used every day in vascular interventional surgery would not exist. The flip side of this coin is that these vital relationships create multiple roles for surgeons and must be appropriately managed. The dynamic process of innovation, along with factors such as product delivery technique refinement, education, testing and clinical trials, and product support, all make it necessary for ongoing and close collaboration between surgeons and the device industry. This unique relationship sometimes leads to the perception of conflicts of interest for physicians, in part because the competing pressures from the multiple, overlapping roles as clinician/caregiver/investigator/innovator/customer are significant. To address this issue, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), the nation's largest medical technology association representing medical device and diagnostics companies, developed a Code of Ethics to guide medical technology companies in their interactions with health care professionals. First introduced in 1993, the AdvaMed Code strongly encourages both industry and physicians to commit to openness and high ethical standards in the conduct of their business interactions. The AdvaMed Code addresses many of the types of interactions that can occur between companies and health care professionals, including training, consulting agreements, the provision of demonstration and evaluation units, and charitable donations. By following the Code, companies send a strong message that treatment decisions must always be based on the best interest of the patient. Copyright © 2011. Published by Mosby, Inc.

Integrating medical, assistive, and universally designed products and technologies: assistive technology device classification (ATDC).

Science.gov (United States)

Bauer, Stephen; Elsaesser, Linda-Jeanne

2012-09-01

ISO26000:2010 International Guidance Standard on Organizational Social Responsibility requires that effective organizational performance recognize social responsibility, including the rights of persons with disabilities (PWD), engage stakeholders and contribute to sustainable development. Millennium Development Goals 2010 notes that the most vulnerable people require special attention, while the World Report on Disability 2011 identifies improved data collection and removal of barriers to rehabilitation as the means to empower PWD. The Assistive Technology Device Classification (ATDC), Assistive Technology Service Method (ATSM) and Matching Person and Technology models provide an evidence-based, standardized, internationally comparable framework to improve data collection and rehabilitation interventions. The ATDC and ATSM encompass and support universal design (UD) principles, and use the language and concepts of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Use ATDC and ICF concepts to differentiate medical, assistive and UD products and technology; relate technology "types" to markets and costs; and support provision of UD products and technologies as sustainable and socially responsible behavior. Supply-side and demand-side incentives are suggested to foster private sector development and commercialization of UD products and technologies. Health and health-related professionals should be knowledgeable of UD principles and interventions.

Perspectives of radiological protection facing the development of new medical technologies with ionizing radiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arranz, L.

1993-01-01

The development of medical technologies with ionizing radiations is always showing a parallel effort on risks control. These technologies are a safe tool for accurate diagnosis and the elaboration of effective treatments. However it is not foreseen to achieve a decrease of the equivalent effective annual dose person due to medical irradiation (1.06 m Sv for OECD countries), because of the population growing and aging

Fiscal 1999 research report on long-term energy technology strategy. Basic research on industrial technology strategy (Individual technology strategy). Human life, medical care and welfare field (Medical health care technology field); 1999 nendo choki energy gijujtsu senryaku ni kansuru chosa hokokusho. Sangyo gijutsu senryaku sakutei kiban chosa (bun'yabetsu gijutsu senryaku) ningen seikatsu iryo fukushi bun'ya (medidal health care gijutsu bun'ya)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

This report summarizes the fiscal 1999 research result on Japanese technology competitiveness, future trend, technology innovation and policy needs in a medical health care field. Future international growth of a medical health care equipment industry is promising because of an expected progress of medical care technology, change in medical care needs and creation of the new global market. The current highlighted technical trend is fusion of medical technology with network, system, biotechnology and micro-machine technologies, and such fusion is expected to contribute to daily use, less/no invasion and improvement of medical treatment. Industry-government cooperative measures for upgrading an international competitiveness are as follows: an approach as national policy by preparing Japanese BECOM, preparation of a system supporting venture businesses for developing medical health care equipment, and systematic establishment of a medical-engineering cooperative system. Preparation of a complementary relation with overseas countries is also desirable. (NEDO)

[Application Progress of Three-dimensional Laser Scanning Technology in Medical Surface Mapping].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yonghong; Hou, He; Han, Yuchuan; Wang, Ning; Zhang, Ying; Zhu, Xianfeng; Wang, Mingshi

2016-04-01

The booming three-dimensional laser scanning technology can efficiently and effectively get spatial three-dimensional coordinates of the detected object surface and reconstruct the image at high speed,high precision and large capacity of information.Non-radiation,non-contact and the ability of visualization make it increasingly popular in three-dimensional surface medical mapping.This paper reviews the applications and developments of three-dimensional laser scanning technology in medical field,especially in stomatology,plastic surgery and orthopedics.Furthermore,the paper also discusses the application prospects in the future as well as the biomedical engineering problems it would encounter with.

Advanced maternal age: ethical and medical considerations for assisted reproductive technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrison, Brittany J; Hilton, Tara N; Rivière, Raphaël N; Ferraro, Zachary M; Deonandan, Raywat; Walker, Mark C

2017-01-01

This review explores the ethical and medical challenges faced by women of advanced maternal age who decide to have children. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) make post-menopausal pregnancy physiologically plausible, however, one must consider the associated physical, psychological, and sociological factors involved. A quasi-systematic review was conducted in PubMed and Ovid using the key terms post-menopause, pregnancy + MeSH terms [donations, hormone replacement therapy, assisted reproductive technologies, embryo donation, donor artificial insemination, cryopreservation]. Overall, 28 papers encompassing two major themes (ethical and medical) were included in the review. There are significant ethical considerations and medical (maternal and fetal) complications related to pregnancy in peri- and post-menopausal women. When examining the ethical and sociological perspective, the literature portrays an overall positive attitude toward pregnancy in advanced maternal age. With respect to the medical complications, the general consensus in the evaluated studies suggests that there is greater risk of complication for spontaneous pregnancy when the mother is older (eg, >35 years old). This risk can be mitigated by careful medical screening of the mother and the use of ARTs in healthy women. In these instances, a woman of advanced maternal age who is otherwise healthy can carry a pregnancy with a similar risk profile to that of her younger counterparts when using donated oocytes.

The potential of medical device industry in technological and economical context.

Science.gov (United States)

Maresova, Petra; Penhaker, Marek; Selamat, Ali; Kuca, Kamil

2015-01-01

The high quality of public health improves not only healthy life expectancy, but also the productivity of labor. The most important part of the health care sector is the medical technology industry. The aim of this study is to analyze the current situation in the medical device industry in Europe, its potential strengths and weaknesses in the context of topical economic and demographic development. The contribution specifies an analysis of the economic state of the medical device industry in the context of demographic development of European Union's macroeconomic indicators and views of experts in the field of medical device development, concerning the opportunities for entities involved in the medical device market. There is fierce competition on the European market. The innovative activity is stable and well regulated by responsible authorities. Worldwide, the medical device market is expected to grow.

Institutionalising health technology assessment: establishing the Medical Technology Assessment Board in India.

Science.gov (United States)

Downey, Laura E; Mehndiratta, Abha; Grover, Ashoo; Gauba, Vijay; Sheikh, Kabir; Prinja, Shankar; Singh, Ravinder; Cluzeau, Francoise A; Dabak, Saudamini; Teerawattananon, Yot; Kumar, Sanjiv; Swaminathan, Soumya

2017-01-01

India is at crossroads with a commitment by the government to universal health coverage (UHC), driving efficiency and tackling waste across the public healthcare sector. Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important policy reform that can assist policy-makers to tackle inequities and inefficiencies by improving the way in which health resources are allocated towards cost-effective, appropriate and feasible interventions. The equitable and efficient distribution of health budget resources, as well as timely uptake of good value technologies, are critical to strengthen the Indian healthcare system. The government of India is set to establish a Medical Technology Assessment Board to evaluate existing and new health technologies in India, assist choices between comparable technologies for adoption by the healthcare system and improve the way in which priorities for health are set. This initiative aims to introduce a more transparent, inclusive, fair and evidence-based process by which decisions regarding the allocation of health resources are made in India towards the ultimate goal of UHC. In this analysis article, we report on plans and progress of the government of India for the institutionalisation of HTA in the country. Where India is home to one-sixth of the global population, improving the health services that the population receives will have a resounding impact not only for India but also for global health.

Artist concept of Mercury program study of medical effects and technology

Science.gov (United States)

1964-01-01

Artist concept of Mercury program study of medical effects and technology development. Drawing depicts cut-away view of Mercury capsule orbiting the Earth, showing the astronaut and his capsule's hardware.

Information and communication technology in medical education: an experience from a developing country.

Science.gov (United States)

Houshyari, Asefeh Badiey; Bahadorani, Mahnaz; Tootoonchi, Mina; Gardiner, John Jacob Zucker; Peña, Roberto A; Adibi, Peyman

2012-03-01

This literature review was conducted using PubMed-Medline, PubMed-Central and ERIC databases, 1979- 2010, for research studies and pertinent theoretical publications including journals and texts. Key search words included general terms such as: "medical education," "information and communication technology in medical education," "medical students' computer skills" and "ICT use among medical students". Theoretical approaches were included to place the review within an educational and social context, and selected studies to demonstrate use of ICT in medical education through time and in different countries.

Delivering a medical school elective with massive open online course (MOOC) technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Robert

2016-01-01

The educational technology of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has been successfully applied in a wide variety of disciplines and are an intense focus of educational research at this time. Educators are now looking to MOOC technology as a means to improve professional medical education, but very little is known about how medical MOOCs compare with traditional content delivery. A retrospective analysis of the course evaluations for the Medicine as a Business elective by fourth-year medical students at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU-SOM) for the 2012-2015 academic years was conducted. This course was delivered by small group flipped classroom discussions for 2012-2014 and delivered via MOOC technology in 2015. Learner ratings were compared between the two course delivery methods using routinely collected course evaluations. Course enrollment has ranged from 6-19 students per year in the 2012-2015 academic years. Student evaluations of the course are favorable in the areas of effective teaching, accurate course objectives, meeting personal learning objectives, recommending the course to other students, and overall when rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The majority of all student ratings (76-95%) of this elective course are for the highest possible choice (Strongly agree or Excellent) for any criteria, regardless if the course was delivered via a traditional or MOOC format. Statistical analysis of these ratings suggests that the Effective Teacher and Overall Evaluations did not statistically differ between the two delivery formats. Student ratings of this elective course were highly similar when delivered in a flipped classroom format or by using MOOC technology. The primary advantage of this new course format is flexibility of time and place for learners, allowing them to complete the course objectives when convenient for them. The course evaluations suggest this is a change that is acceptable to the target audience. This study suggests that

Disruptive Technologies: A Credible Threat to Leading Programs in Continuing Medical Education?

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Clayton M.; Armstrong, Elizabeth G.

1998-01-01

Disruptive technologies are simple convenient innovations that have triggered failures of some well-managed companies. They may threaten continuing medical-education programs so focused on leading-edge technology they lose sight of the very different educational needs of growing numbers of health care providers, who are turning to consultants, the…

See one, do one, teach one: advanced technology in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Vozenilek, John; Huff, J Stephen; Reznek, Martin; Gordon, James A

2004-11-01

The concept of "learning by doing" has become less acceptable, particularly when invasive procedures and high-risk care are required. Restrictions on medical educators have prompted them to seek alternative methods to teach medical knowledge and gain procedural experience. Fortunately, the last decade has seen an explosion of the number of tools available to enhance medical education: web-based education, virtual reality, and high fidelity patient simulation. This paper presents some of the consensus statements in regard to these tools agreed upon by members of the Educational Technology Section of the 2004 AEM Consensus Conference for Informatics and Technology in Emergency Department Health Care, held in Orlando, Florida. Web-based teaching: 1) Every ED should have access to medical educational materials via the Internet, computer-based training, and other effective education methods for point-of-service information, continuing medical education, and training. 2) Real-time automated tools should be integrated into Emergency Department Information Systems [EDIS] for contemporaneous education. Virtual reality [VR]: 1) Emergency physicians and emergency medicine societies should become more involved in VR development and assessment. 2) Nationally accepted protocols for the proper assessment of VR applications should be adopted and large multi-center groups should be formed to perform these studies. High-fidelity simulation: Emergency medicine residency programs should consider the use of high-fidelity patient simulators to enhance the teaching and evaluation of core competencies among trainees. Across specialties, patient simulation, virtual reality, and the Web will soon enable medical students and residents to... see one, simulate many, do one competently, and teach everyone.

The use of web internet technologies to distribute medical images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deller, A.L.; Cheal, D.; Field, J.

1999-01-01

Full text: In the past, internet browsers were considered ineffective for image distribution. Today we have the technology to use internet standards for picture archive and communication systems (PACS) and teleradiology effectively. Advanced wavelet compression and state-of-the-art JAVA software allows us to distribute images on normal computer hardware. The use of vendor and database neutral software and industry-standard hardware has many advantages. This standards base approach avoids the costly rapid obsolescence of proprietary PACS and is cheaper to purchase and maintain. Images can be distributed around a hospital site, as well as outside the campus, quickly and inexpensively. It also allows integration between the Hospital Information System (HIS) and the Radiology Information System (RIS). Being able to utilize standard internet technologies and computer hardware for PACS is a cost-effective alternative. A system based on this technology can be used for image distribution, archiving, teleradiology and RIS integration. This can be done without expensive specialized imaging workstations and telecommunication systems. Web distribution of images allows you to send images to multiple places concurrently. A study can be within your Medical Imaging Department, as well as in the ward and on the desktop of referring clinicians - with a report. As long as there is a computer with an internet access account, high-quality images can be at your disposal 24 h a day. The importance of medical images for patient management makes them a valuable component of the patient's medical record. Therefore, an efficient system for displaying and distributing images can improve patient management and make your workplace more effective

Simulation Technology for Skills Training and Competency Assessment in Medical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Obeso, Vivian T.; Issenberg, S. Barry

2007-01-01

Medical education during the past decade has witnessed a significant increase in the use of simulation technology for teaching and assessment. Contributing factors include: changes in health care delivery and academic environments that limit patient availability as educational opportunities; worldwide attention focused on the problem of medical errors and the need to improve patient safety; and the paradigm shift to outcomes-based education with its requirements for assessment and demonstration of competence. The use of simulators addresses many of these issues: they can be readily available at any time and can reproduce a wide variety of clinical conditions on demand. In lieu of the customary (and arguably unethical) system, whereby novices carry out the practice required to master various techniques—including invasive procedures—on real patients, simulation-based education allows trainees to hone their skills in a risk-free environment. Evaluators can also use simulators for reliable assessments of competence in multiple domains. For those readers less familiar with medical simulators, this article aims to provide a brief overview of these educational innovations and their uses; for decision makers in medical education, we hope to broaden awareness of the significant potential of these new technologies for improving physician training and assessment, with a resultant positive impact on patient safety and health care outcomes. PMID:18095044

Undergraduate medical students' perspectives of skills, uses and preferences of information technology in medical education: A cross-sectional study in a Saudi Medical College.

Science.gov (United States)

Khamis, Nehal; Aljumaiah, Rawabi; Alhumaid, Alla; Alraheem, Hiba; Alkadi, Dalal; Koppel, Cristina; Abdulghani, Hamza Mohammad

2018-05-07

Information technology (IT) is widely used in medical education. However, there are not enough studies about IT uses and preferences among traditional and problem-based learning (PBL) medical students. To compare IT skills, uses and preferences for education between traditional and PBL medical students'. A cross-sectional study; a modified Educause Center for Analysis and Research online survey was sent to traditional curriculum 5th and PBL 4th year medical students of King Saud University. Most of the responding 176 students prefer mobile devices and moderate amount of IT in education. Fourth and fifth year students perceived high academic value of Google (94.2 vs. 86.7%, p = 0.34), YouTube (90.7 vs. 92.2%, p = 0.83) and PubMed (83.7 vs. 86.7%, p = 0.06). More 4th year than 5th year students rated themselves as skilled in learning management system (54.7 vs. 21.1%, p = 0.0001) and Smartboard use (40.7 vs. 23.3%, p = 0.04). Most students rated faculty IT skills as effective. Students agreed that technology helps working faster (95.5%) and make learning creative (85.9%). More integration of information literacy and IT training in medical curricula is needed to enhance better utilization of full features of IT resources available for learning and problem solving. National multi-institutional studies are recommended.

Health Information Technology: Meaningful Use and Next Steps to Improving Electronic Facilitation of Medication Adherence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosworth, Hayden B; Zullig, Leah L; Mendys, Phil; Ho, Michael; Trygstad, Troy; Granger, Christopher; Oakes, Megan M; Granger, Bradi B

2016-03-15

The use of health information technology (HIT) may improve medication adherence, but challenges for implementation remain. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of HIT as it relates to medication adherence programs, acknowledge the potential barriers in light of current legislation, and provide recommendations to improve ongoing medication adherence strategies through the use of HIT. We describe four potential HIT barriers that may impact interoperability and subsequent medication adherence. Legislation in the United States has incentivized the use of HIT to facilitate and enhance medication adherence. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) was recently adopted and establishes federal standards for the so-called "meaningful use" of certified electronic health record (EHR) technology that can directly impact medication adherence. The four persistent HIT barriers to medication adherence include (1) underdevelopment of data reciprocity across clinical, community, and home settings, limiting the capture of data necessary for clinical care; (2) inconsistent data definitions and lack of harmonization of patient-focused data standards, making existing data difficult to use for patient-centered outcomes research; (3) inability to effectively use the national drug code information from the various electronic health record and claims datasets for adherence purposes; and (4) lack of data capture for medication management interventions, such as medication management therapy (MTM) in the EHR. Potential recommendations to address these issues are discussed. To make meaningful, high quality data accessible, and subsequently improve medication adherence, these challenges will need to be addressed to fully reach the potential of HIT in impacting one of our largest public health issues.

Evolving provider payment models and patient access to innovative medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Genia; Mortimer, Richard; Sanzenbacher, Geoffrey

2014-12-01

Abstract Objective: To investigate the evolving use and expected impact of pay-for-performance (P4P) and risk-based provider reimbursement on patient access to innovative medical technology. Structured interviews with leading private payers representing over 110 million commercially-insured lives exploring current and planned use of P4P provider payment models, evidence requirements for technology assessment and new technology coverage, and the evolving relationship between the two topics. Respondents reported rapid increases in the use of P4P and risk-sharing programs, with roughly half of commercial lives affected 3 years ago, just under two-thirds today, and an expected three-quarters in 3 years. All reported well-established systems for evaluating new technology coverage. Five of nine reported becoming more selective in the past 3 years in approving new technologies; four anticipated that in the next 3 years there will be a higher evidence requirement for new technology access. Similarly, four expected it will become more difficult for clinically appropriate but costly technologies to gain coverage. All reported planning to rely more on these types of provider payment incentives to control costs, but didn't see them as a substitute for payer technology reviews and coverage limitations; they each have a role to play. Interviews limited to nine leading payers with models in place; self-reported data. Likely implications include a more uncertain payment environment for providers, and indirectly for innovative medical technology and future investment, greater reliance on quality and financial metrics, and increased evidence requirements for favorable coverage and utilization decisions. Increasing provider financial risk may challenge the traditional technology adoption paradigm, where payers assumed a 'gatekeeping' role and providers a countervailing patient advocacy role with regard to access to new technology. Increased provider financial risk may result in an

Uncertainties in real-world decisions on medical technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, C Y

2014-08-01

Patients, clinicians, payers and policy makers face substantial uncertainties in their respective healthcare decisions as they attempt to achieve maximum value, or the greatest level of benefit possible at a given cost. Uncertainties largely come from incomplete information at the time that decisions must be made. This is true in all areas of medicine because evidence from clinical trials is often incongruent with real-world patient care. This article highlights key uncertainties around the (comparative) benefits and harms of medical technologies. Initiatives and strategies such as comparative effectiveness research and coverage with evidence development may help to generate reliable and relevant evidence for decisions on coverage and treatment. These efforts could result in better decisions that improve patient outcomes and better use of scarce medical resources. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Impact of technological innovation on a nursing home performance and on the medication-use process safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Baril, Chantal; Gascon, Viviane; Brouillette, Christel

2014-03-01

Despite the fact that since 1985 the government of Québec increased by 5.75 % on average the amount of money spent on healthcare per year, little improvement was noted. It is obvious that an optimal use of resources is essential to reduce waiting times and provide safer and faster services to patients. The use of new technology can contribute to improve the healthcare system efficiency. Our study aims to assess the impact of a medication distribution technology on 1) the performance of a health and social services center's pharmacy, 2) the performance of one care unit in a nursing home and on 3) the medication-use process safety. To measure performance we were inspired by the Lean approach. The results show that medication distribution technology is considered as an effective way to significantly detect medication errors, to allow nurses to focus more on patients and pharmacy to react more rapidly to changes in patient medications.

[Medical doctors driving technological innovation: questions about and innovation management approaches to incentive structures for lead users].

Science.gov (United States)

Bohnet-Joschko, Sabine; Kientzler, Fionn

2010-01-01

Management science defines user-generated innovations as open innovation and lead user innovation. The medical technology industry finds user-generated innovations profitable and even indispensable. Innovative medical doctors as lead users need medical technology innovations in order to improve patient care. Their motivation to innovate is mostly intrinsic. But innovations may also involve extrinsic motivators such as gain in reputation or monetary incentives. Medical doctors' innovative activities often take place in hospitals and are thus embedded into the hospital's organisational setting. Hospitals find it difficult to gain short-term profits from in-house generated innovations and sometimes hesitate to support them. Strategic investment in medical doctors' innovative activities may be profitable for hospitals in the long run if innovations provide first-mover competitive advantages. Industry co-operations with innovative medical doctors offer chances but also bear potential risks. Innovative ideas generated by expert users may result in even higher complexity of medical devices; this could cause mistakes when applied by less specialised users and thus affect patient safety. Innovations that yield benefits for patients, medical doctors, hospitals and the medical technology industry can be advanced by offering adequate support for knowledge transfer and co-operation models.

Information system technologies' role in augmenting dermatologists' knowledge of prescription medication costs.

Science.gov (United States)

DeMarco, Sebastian S; Paul, Ravi; Kilpatrick, Russell J

2015-12-01

Despite the recent rising costs of once affordable dermatologic prescription medications, a survey measuring dermatologists' attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge of the cost of drugs they commonly prescribe has not been conducted. Awareness of drug costs is hindered by a lack of access to data about the prices of medicines. No surveys of physicians have addressed this issue by proposing new information system technologies that augment prescription medication price transparency and measuring how receptive physicians are to using these novel solutions in their daily clinical practice. Our research aims to investigate these topics with a survey of physicians in dermatology. Members of the North Carolina Dermatology Association were contacted through their electronic mailing list and asked to take an online survey. The survey asked several questions about dermatologists' attitudes and beliefs about drug costs. To measure their knowledge of prescription medications, the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost was used as an authoritative price that was compared to the survey takers' price estimates of drugs commonly used in dermatology. Physicians' willingness to use four distinct information system technologies that increase drug price transparency was also assessed. Dermatologists believe drug costs are an important factor in patient care and believe access to price information would allow them to provide a higher quality of care. Dermatologists' knowledge of the costs of medicines they commonly prescribe is poor, but they want to utilize information system technologies that increase access to drug pricing information. There is an unmet demand for information system technologies which increase price transparency of medications in dermatology. Physicians and IT professionals have the opportunity to create novel information systems that can be utilized to help guide cost conscious clinical decision making. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Decreasing medication turnaround time with digital scanning technology in a canadian health region.

Science.gov (United States)

Neville, Heather; Nodwell, Lisa; Alsharif, Sahar

2014-11-01

Reducing medication turnaround time can improve efficiency, patient safety, and quality of care in the hospital setting. Digital scanning technology (DST) can be used to electronically transmit scanned prescriber orders to a pharmacy computer queue for verification and processing, which may help to improve medication turnaround time. To evaluate medication turnaround time before and after implementation of DST for all medications and for antibiotics only. Medication turnaround times were evaluated retrospectively for periods before (June 6-10, 2011) and after (September 26-30, 2011) implementation of DST at 2 hospital sites in 1 health region. Medication turnaround time was defined as the time from composition of a medication order by the prescriber to its verification by the pharmacy (phase 1) and the time from prescriber composition to administration to the patient by a nurse (total). Median turnaround times were analyzed with SPSS software using the Mann-Whitney U test. In total, 304 and 244 medication orders were audited before and after DST implementation, respectively. Median phase 1 turnaround time for all medications declined significantly, from 2 h 23 min before DST implementation to 1 h 33 min after DST implementation (p < 0.001). Antibiotics were also processed significantly faster (1 h 51 min versus 1 h 9 min, p = 0.015). However, total turnaround time for all medications did not differ significantly (5 h 15 min versus 5 h 0 min, p = 0.42). Implementation of DST was associated with a 50-min decrease in medication turnaround time for the period from when an order was prescribed to the time it was processed by the pharmacy. Regular evaluation of medication turnaround times is recommended to compare with benchmarks, to ensure that hospital standards are being met, and to measure the effects of policy changes and implementation of new technology on medication-use processes.

Ethics of emergent information and communication technology applications in humanitarian medical assistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Matthew; Pringle, John; Christen, Markus; Eckenwiler, Lisa; Schwartz, Lisa; Davé, Anushree

2016-07-01

New applications of information and communication technology (ICT) are shaping the way we understand and provide humanitarian medical assistance in situations of disaster, disease outbreak or conflict. Each new crisis appears to be accompanied by advancements in humanitarian technology, leading to significant improvements in the humanitarian aid sector. However, ICTs raise ethical questions that warrant attention. Focusing on the context of humanitarian medical assistance, we review key domains of ICT innovation. We then discuss ethical challenges and uncertainties associated with the development and application of new ICTs in humanitarian medical assistance, including avoiding harm, ensuring privacy and security, responding to inequalities, demonstrating respect, protecting relationships, and addressing expectations. In doing so, we emphasize the centrality of ethics in humanitarian ICT design, application and evaluation. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Information technologies in education of medical students at the university of sarajevo.

Science.gov (United States)

Masic, Izet; Karcic, Emina; Hodzic, Ajla; Mulic, Smaila

2014-08-01

Information and communication technology have brought about many changes in medical education and practice, especially in the field of diagnostics. During the academic year 2013/2014, at Faculty of Medicine, University of Sarajevo, students in the final year of the study were subjected to examination which aim was to determine how medical students in Bosnia and Herzegovina subjectively assessing their skills for using computers, have gained insight into the nature of Information Technology's (IT) education and possessive knowledge. The survey was conducted voluntary by anonymous questionnaire consisting of 27 questions, divided into five categories, which are collecting facts about student's: sex, age, year of entry, computer skills, possessing the same, the use of the Internet, the method of obtaining currently knowledge and recommendations of students in order to improve their IT training. According to the given parameters, indicate an obvious difference in the level of knowledge, use and practical application of Information Technology's knowledge among students of the Bologna process to the students educated under the old system in favor of the first ones. Based on a comparison of similar studies conducted in Croatia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Denmark, it was observed that the level of knowledge of students of the Medical Faculty in Sarajevo was of equal height or greater than in these countries.

78 FR 6167 - Order of Suspension of Trading; In the Matter of Medis Technologies Ltd., Modern Medical...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-29

... of Medis Technologies Ltd., Modern Medical Modalities Corp., National Datacomputer, Inc., New Media... current and accurate information concerning the securities of Medis Technologies Ltd. because it has not... Modern Medical Modalities Corp. because it has not filed any periodic reports since the period ended...

Tobacco Use, Exposure to Secondhand Smoke and Cessation Training among Third-Year Medical Technology Students in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Namjuntra, Pisit; Suriyaprom, Kanjana

2015-10-01

Compare tobacco use, exposure to second-hand smoke, and smoking cessation training among third-year medical technology students in Thailand between 2006 and 2011. The medical technology student survey was carried out with Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) between October and November 2011. The population of the present study was all students in nine medical technology schools. There were 773 students enrolled in this study yielding a response rate of 95.1%. The prevalence of current cigarette smokers had decreased from 2006 to 2011 (4.8% to 1.4%, respectively). Rates of exposure to second-hand smoke at home were 36.3% in 2006 and 39.7% in 2011, while rates of exposure to second-hand smoke in other places did not change. Most students recognized that they should give patients counseling to quit smoking, but only 20.6% in 2006 and 28.4% in 2011 of them had received formal training in tobacco cessation counseling. There were low percentages of current cigarette smoking but high percentages of exposure to second-hand smoke among medical technology students. The percentage of cessation training was still low among students. Therefore, medical technology schools should provide formal training in tobacco cessation for all students to help improve their ability in providing advice to patients.

Emerging Use of Early Health Technology Assessment in Medical Product Development: A Scoping Review of the Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

IJzerman, Maarten J; Koffijberg, Hendrik; Fenwick, Elisabeth; Krahn, Murray

2017-07-01

Early health technology assessment is increasingly being used to support health economic evidence development during early stages of clinical research. Such early models can be used to inform research and development about the design and management of new medical technologies to mitigate the risks, perceived by industry and the public sector, associated with market access and reimbursement. Over the past 25 years it has been suggested that health economic evaluation in the early stages may benefit the development and diffusion of medical products. Early health technology assessment has been suggested in the context of iterative economic evaluation alongside phase I and II clinical research to inform clinical trial design, market access, and pricing. In addition, performing early health technology assessment was also proposed at an even earlier stage for managing technology portfolios. This scoping review suggests a generally accepted definition of early health technology assessment to be "all methods used to inform industry and other stakeholders about the potential value of new medical products in development, including methods to quantify and manage uncertainty". The present review also aimed to identify recent published empirical studies employing an early-stage assessment of a medical product. With most included studies carried out to support a market launch, the dominant methodology was early health economic modeling. Further methodological development is required, in particular, by combining systems engineering and health economics to manage uncertainty in medical product portfolios.

[Study of the Application of Mobile Medical Technology in Construction of Grading Diagnosis and Treatment System].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Wenwu; Shen, Yihong; Zhen, Hui; Yang, Xiaohe; Hu, Kai

2018-02-08

The combination of mobile medical technology and the grading diagnosis and treatment system (GDTS) can stimulate the allocation of medical resources, reduce medical cost and improve public health significantly. Firstly we summarize development features of mobile medical technology in foreign and domestic market, then we study the application model of mobile medical application in GDTS with field research data and analyzes its advantage and shortage. Finally, we propose four measures for further developing mobile medical application in the GDTS:the government departments should formulate policies and industry standards of products as soon as possible to meet requirement of market; service providers should take the hospitals as core role to achieve mutual benefit and win-win situation; take the daily monitoring of chronic diseases as an entry point to build profitable business model; enhance publicity to promote public health awareness.

MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF PARTS OF MEDICAL PRODUCTS PRODUCED USING ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Filip Górski

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The paper presents results of tests conducted on the elements of medical devices - slings used with medical lifts - manufactured using additive technologies. Project assumptions were: to produce 100 samples of clips with varying design, material and orientation parameter. Samples were manufactured using FDM and SLA processes and then tested for mechanical strength, load transmission and functionality, using certified equipment. Paper shows full methodology and obtained test results.

Integration of computer technology into the medical curriculum: the King's experience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vickie Aitken

1997-12-01

Full Text Available Recently, there have been major changes in the requirements of medical education which have set the scene for the revision of medical curricula (Towle, 1991; GMC, 1993. As part of the new curriculum at King's, the opportunity has been taken to integrate computer technology into the course through Computer-Assisted Learning (CAL, and to train graduates in core IT skills. Although the use of computers in the medical curriculum has up to now been limited, recent studies have shown encouraging steps forward (see Boelen, 1995. One area where there has been particular interest is the use of notebook computers to allow students increased access to IT facilities (Maulitz et al, 1996.

Using Technology, Clinical Workflow Redesign, and Team Solutions to Achieve the Patient Centered Medical Home

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Redesign, and Team Solutions to Achieve the Patient Centered Medical Home LTC Nicole Kerkenbush, MHA, MN Army Medical Department, Office of the...TITLE AND SUBTITLE Using Technology, Clinical Workflow Redesign, and Team Solutions to Achieve the Patient Centered Medical Home 5a. CONTRACT...Describe how these tools are being used to implement the Patient Centered Medical Home care model 2 2011 MHS Conference MEDCOM AHLTA Provider Satisfaction

Health technology assessment to improve the medical equipment life cycle management.

Science.gov (United States)

Margotti, Ana E; Ferreira, Filipa B; Santos, Francisco A; Garcia, Renato

2013-01-01

Health technology assessment (HTA) is a tool to support decision making that is intended to assist healthcare managers in their strategic decisions. The use of HTA as a tool for clinical engineering is especially relevant in the domain of the medical equipment once it could improve the performance of the medical equipment. It would be done by their systematically evaluation in several aspects, in their life cycle. In Brazil, the Institute of Biomedical Engineering (IEB-UFSC) through the clinical engineering area has been working on the development of methodologies and improvements on HTA for medical equipment. Therefore, this paper presents the effort to create specific methodologies that will improve the dissemination of HTA, focusing on incorporation and utilization phase of the medical equipment life cycle. This will give a better support to the decision makers in the management of the health care system.

The Role of Healthcare Technology Management in Facilitating Medical Device Cybersecurity.

Science.gov (United States)

Busdicker, Mike; Upendra, Priyanka

2017-09-02

This article discusses the role of healthcare technology management (HTM) in medical device cybersecurity and outlines concepts that are applicable to HTM professionals at a healthcare delivery organization or at an integrated delivery network, regardless of size. It provides direction for HTM professionals who are unfamiliar with the security aspects of managing healthcare technologies but are familiar with standards from The Joint Commission (TJC). It provides a useful set of recommendations, including relevant references for incorporating good security practices into HTM practice. Recommendations for policies, procedures, and processes referencing TJC standards are easily applicable to HTM departments with limited resources and to those with no resource concerns. The authors outline processes from their organization as well as best practices learned through information sharing at AAMI, National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (NH-ISAC), and Medical Device Innovation, Safety, and Security Consortium (MDISS) conferences and workshops.

Organizational models of educational technology in U.S. and Canadian medical schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Souza, Kevin H; Kamin, Carol; O'Sullivan, Patricia; Moses, Anna; Heestand, Diane

2008-07-01

To examine the organizational structure of educational technology units within U.S. and Canadian medical schools in order to (1) identify organization models that support educational technology, (2) describe key attributes of these models, and (3) discuss the strengths and challenges associated with these models. The authors distributed a survey to 88 schools that had previously provided information on their educational technology services and infrastructure. The authors developed the survey through a series of pilots and, then, from the data for each respondent school, created concept maps, which were used to identify organizational models. The authors conducted analyses to determine differences among models. The authors coded the comments about organizational models and identified themes. The authors received adequate data for analysis from 61 schools (69%). Four models for educational technology organizations emerged: (1) centralized units located in the school of medicine, (2) centralized units located at the health science center, (3) centralized units at the comprehensive university, and (4) no centralized unit (Dispersed Model). The majority (75%) of schools relied on some type of centralized organization. Whereas few organization attributes proved to be statistically significant, the centralized models have more resources devoted to educational technology and a closer alignment with the academic mission than the Dispersed Model. Medical schools primarily use central models. The authors recommend that schools structuring their educational technology resources consider exploration of a central model because of its focused use of resources to improve teaching and learning.

Healthcare information technology and medical-surgical nurses: the emergence of a new care partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, An'Nita; Fisher, Kathleen

2012-03-01

Healthcare information technology in US hospitals and ambulatory care centers continues to expand, and nurses are expected to effectively and efficiently utilize this technology. Researchers suggest that clinical information systems have expanded the realm of nursing to integrate technology as an element as important in nursing practice as the patient or population being served. This study sought to explore how medical surgical nurses make use of healthcare information technology in their current clinical practice and to examine the influence of healthcare information technology on nurses' clinical decision making. A total of eight medical surgical nurses participated in the study, four novice and four experienced. A conventional content analysis was utilized that allowed for a thematic interpretation of participant data. Five themes emerged: (1) healthcare information technology as a care coordination partner, (2) healthcare information technology as a change agent in the care delivery environment, (3) healthcare information technology-unable to meet all the needs, of all the people, all the time, (4) curiosity about healthcare information technology-what other bells and whistles exist, and (5) Big Brother is watching. The results of this study indicate that a new care partnership has emerged as the provision of nursing care is no longer supplied by a single practitioner but rather by a paired team, consisting of nurses and technology, working collaboratively in an interdependent relationship to achieve established goals.

[Guidelines for blood transfusion teaching to medical laboratory technology students].

Science.gov (United States)

Moncharmont, P; Tourlourat, M; Fourcade, C; Julien, E; Peyrard, T; Cabaud, J-J

2012-02-01

The new French law about clinical laboratory medicine, the requirements of the ISO/CEI 15189 standard, the numerous abilities expected from the medical laboratory technologists and their involvement in blood bank management has led the working group "Recherche et démarche qualité" of the French Society of Blood Transfusion to initiate an inventory of blood transfusion teaching syllabus for medical laboratory technology students and to propose transfusion medicine teaching guidelines. Seven worksheets have been established for that purpose including red blood cell antigen typing and antibody screening, blood sampling in immunohaematology, automation, clinical practices, blood products, blood delivery and haemovigilance. These guidelines aim at contributing to the harmonization of transfusion medicine teaching and at providing objective elements to the medical laboratory managers regarding the practical and theoretical skills of theirs collaborators. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Value of research and value of development in early assessments of new medical technologies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Retèl, Valesca P.; Grutters, Janneke P.C.; van Harten, Wim H.; Joore, Manuela A.

2013-01-01

Objectives: In early stages of development of new medical technologies, there are conceptually separate but related societal decisions to be made concerning adoption, further development (i.e., technical improvement), and research (i.e., clinical trials) of new technologies. This article presents a

Future of X-ray phase imaging in medical imaging technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Momose, Atsushi

2007-01-01

Weakly absorbing materials, such as biological, soft tissues, can be imaged by generating contrast due to the phase shift of X-rays. In the past decade, several methods for X-ray phase imaging were proposed and demonstrated. The performance of X-ray phase imaging is attractive in the field of medical imaging technology, and its development for practical use is expected. Many methods, however, have been developed under the assumption of the use of synchrotron radiation, which is an obstacle to practical use. The method based on Talbot (-Lau) interferometry enables us to use a compact X-ray source, and its development is expected as a breakthrough for medical applications. (author)

Use of mobile learning technology among final year medical students in Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Masika, Moses Muia; Omondi, Gregory Barnabas; Natembeya, Dennis Simiyu; Mugane, Ephraim Mwatha; Bosire, Kefa Ogonyo; Kibwage, Isaac Ongubo

2015-01-01

Mobile phone penetration has increased exponentially over the last decade as has its application in nearly all spheres of life including health and medical education. This study aimed at assessing the use of mobile learning technology and its challenges among final year undergraduate students in the College of Health sciences, University of Nairobi. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted among final year undergraduate students at the University of Nairobi, College of Health Sciences. Self-administered, anonymous questionnaires were issued to all final year students in their lecture rooms after obtaining informed consent. Data on demographics, mobile device ownership and mobile learning technology use and its challenges was collected. Data entry and analysis was done using SPSS(®). Chi-square and t-test were used for bivariate analysis. We had 292 respondents; 62% were medical students, 16% were nursing students, 13% were pharmacy students and 9% were dental surgery students. The majority were female (59%) and the average age was 24 years. Eighty eight percent (88%) of the respondents owned a smart device and nearly all of them used it for learning. 64% of the respondents used medical mobile applications. The main challenges were lack of a smart device, lack of technical know-how in accessing or using apps, sub-optimal internet access, cost of acquiring apps and limited device memory. Mobile learning is increasingly popular among medical students and should be leveraged in promoting access and quality of medical education.

Building a Smooth Medical Service for Operating Room Using RFID Technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lun-Ping Hung

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the information technology advancement, the feasibility for the establishment of mobile medical environments has been strengthened. Using RFID to facilitate the tracing of patients’ mobile position in hospital has attracted more attentions from researchers due to the demand on advanced features. Traditionally, the management of surgical treatment is generally manually operated and there is no consistent operating procedure for patients transferring among wards, surgery waiting rooms, operating rooms, and recovery rooms, resulting in panicky and urgent transferring work among departments and, thus, leading to delays and errors. In this paper, we propose a new framework using radio frequency identification (RFID technology for a mobilized surgical process monitoring system. Through the active tag, an application management system used before, during, and after the surgical processes has been proposed. The concept of signal level matrix, SLM, was proposed to accurately identify patients and dynamically track patients’ location. By updating patient’s information real-time, the preprocessing time needed for various tasks and incomplete transfers among departments can be reduced, the medical resources can be effectively used, unnecessary medical disputes can be reduced, and more comprehensive health care environment can be provided. The feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed system are demonstrated with a number of experimental results.

Dissemination of medical applications of nuclear energy with virtual reality technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Botelho, Felipe M.; Oliveira, Beatriz A.R.

2007-01-01

This work makes use of Virtual Reality technology to disseminate medical applications of nuclear energy, with educational purposes. Virtual Reality is an effective learning tool, since navigation and interaction in virtual worlds can improve motivation in the learning process. With this technology, learning can be achieved in a clearer, joyful and more objective way. Among the existing medical applications of nuclear energy, this work focuses on the use of radiopharmaceuticals. The goal is to simulate this application in a virtual environment, for educational purposes, and to show the absorption of a radiopharmaceutical by the human body, during a diagnostics or treatment procedure. An example has been chosen, for Iodine radiopharmaceutical, which has affinity with the thyroid, and then concentrates in this organ. During the simulation, the concentration of the radioactive Iodine in the thyroid can be emphasized, and in the sequence, the virtual patient can be shown during the imaging procedure. (author)

A proton medical accelerator by the SBIR route - an example of technology transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, R.L.

1989-01-01

Medical facilities for radiation treatment of cancer with protons have been established in many laboratories throughout the world. Essentially all of these have been designed as physics facilities, however, because of the requirement for protons up to 250 MeV. Most of the experience on this branch of accelerator technology lies in the national laboratories and a few large universities. A major issue is the transfer of this technology to the commercial sector to provide hospitals with simple, reliable, and relatively inexpensive accelerators for this application. The author has chosen the SBIR route to accomplish this goal. ACCTEK Associates has received grants from the National Cancer Institute for development of the medical accelerator and beam delivery systems. Considerable encouragement and help has been received from Argonne National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. The experiences to date and the pros and cons on this approach to commercializing medical accelerators are described. (orig.)

A proton medical accelerator by the SBIR route: An example of technology transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martin, R.L.

1988-01-01

Medical facilities for radiation treatment of cancer with protons have been established in many laboratories throughout the world. Essentially all of these have been designed as physics facilities, however, because of the requirement for protons up to 250 MeV. Most of the experience in this branch of accelerator technology lies in the national laboratories and a few large universities. A major issue is the transfer of this technology to the commercial sector to provide hospitals with simple, reliable, and relatively inexpensive accelerators for this application. The author has chosen the SBIR route to accomplish this goal. ACCTEK Associates have received grants from the National Cancer Institute for development of the medical accelerator and beam delivery systems. Considerable encouragement and help has been received from Argonne National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. The experiences to date and the pros and cons on this approach to commercializing medical accelerators are described. 4 refs., 1 fig

Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with arterial hypertension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kiselev A.R.

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with arterial hypertension based on IDEF0 methodology and corresponded with clinical guidelines is presented.

Advanced maternal age: ethical and medical considerations for assisted reproductive technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harrison BJ

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Brittany J Harrison,1 Tara N Hilton,1 Raphaël N Rivière,1 Zachary M Ferraro,1–3 Raywat Deonandan,4 Mark C Walker1–3,51Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; 2Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, University of Ottawa, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada; 3Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, Canada; 4University of Ottawa Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Ottawa, ON, Canada; 5Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Newborn Care, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, ON, CanadaObjectives: This review explores the ethical and medical challenges faced by women of advanced maternal age who decide to have children. Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs make post-menopausal pregnancy physiologically plausible, however, one must consider the associated physical, psychological, and sociological factors involved.Methods: A quasi-systematic review was conducted in PubMed and Ovid using the key terms post-menopause, pregnancy + MeSH terms [donations, hormone replacement therapy, assisted reproductive technologies, embryo donation, donor artificial insemination, cryopreservation]. Overall, 28 papers encompassing two major themes (ethical and medical were included in the review.Conclusion: There are significant ethical considerations and medical (maternal and fetal complications related to pregnancy in peri- and post-menopausal women. When examining the ethical and sociological perspective, the literature portrays an overall positive attitude toward pregnancy in advanced maternal age. With respect to the medical complications, the general consensus in the evaluated studies suggests that there is greater risk of complication for spontaneous pregnancy when the mother is older (eg, >35 years old. This risk can be mitigated by careful medical screening of the mother and the use of ARTs in healthy women. In these instances, a woman of advanced maternal age who is otherwise healthy can carry a

[Ethical reflection on multidisciplinarity and confidentiality of information in medical imaging through new information and communication technologies].

Science.gov (United States)

Béranger, J; Le Coz, P

2012-05-01

Technological advances in medical imaging has resulted in the exponential increase of the number of images per examination, caused the irreversible decline of the silver film and imposed digital imaging. This digitization is a concept whose levels of development are multiple, reflecting the complexity of this process of technological change. Under these conditions, the use of medical information via new information and communication technologies is at the crossroads of several scientific approaches and several disciplines (medicine, ethics, law, economics, psychology, etc.) surrounding the information systems in health, doctor-patient relationship and concepts that are associated. Each day, these new information and communication technologies open up new horizons and the space of possibilities, spectacularly developing access to information and knowledge. In this perspective of digital technology emergence impacting the multidisciplinary use of health information systems, the ethical questions are numerous, especially on the preservation of privacy, confidentiality and security of medical data, and their accessibility and integrity. Copyright © 2012 Société française de radiothérapie oncologique (SFRO). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Data Processing and Text Mining Technologies on Electronic Medical Records: A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wencheng Sun

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, medical institutes generally use EMR to record patient’s condition, including diagnostic information, procedures performed, and treatment results. EMR has been recognized as a valuable resource for large-scale analysis. However, EMR has the characteristics of diversity, incompleteness, redundancy, and privacy, which make it difficult to carry out data mining and analysis directly. Therefore, it is necessary to preprocess the source data in order to improve data quality and improve the data mining results. Different types of data require different processing technologies. Most structured data commonly needs classic preprocessing technologies, including data cleansing, data integration, data transformation, and data reduction. For semistructured or unstructured data, such as medical text, containing more health information, it requires more complex and challenging processing methods. The task of information extraction for medical texts mainly includes NER (named-entity recognition and RE (relation extraction. This paper focuses on the process of EMR processing and emphatically analyzes the key techniques. In addition, we make an in-depth study on the applications developed based on text mining together with the open challenges and research issues for future work.

``Low Power Wireless Technologies: An Approach to Medical Applications''

Science.gov (United States)

Bellido O., Francisco J.; González R., Miguel; Moreno M., Antonio; de La Cruz F, José Luis

Wireless communication supposed a great both -quantitative and qualitative, jump in the management of the information, allowing the access and interchange of it without the need of a physical cable connection. The wireless transmission of voice and information has remained in constant evolution, arising new standards like BluetoothTM, WibreeTM or ZigbeeTM developed under the IEEE 802.15 norm. These newest wireless technologies are oriented to systems of communication of short-medium distance and optimized for a low cost and minor consume, becoming recognized as a flexible and reliable medium for data communications across a broad range of applications due to the potential that the wireless networks presents to operate in demanding environments providing clear advantages in cost, size, power, flexibility, and distributed intelligence. About the medical applications, the remote health or telecare (also called eHealth) is getting a bigger place into the manufacturers and medical companies, in order to incorporate products for assisted living and remote monitoring of health parameteres. At this point, the IEEE 1073, Personal Health Devices Working Group, stablish the framework for these kind of applications. Particularly, the 1073.3.X describes the physical and transport layers, where the new ultra low power short range wireless technologies can play a big role, providing solutions that allow the design of products which are particularly appropriate for monitor people’s health with interoperability requirements.

Ethical reflection on multi-disciplinarity and confidentiality of information in medical imaging through new information and communication technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beranger, J.; Le Coz, P.

2012-01-01

Technological advances in medical imaging has resulted in the exponential increase of the number of images per examination, caused the irreversible decline of the silver film and imposed digital imaging. This digitization is a concept whose levels of development are multiple, reflecting the complexity of this process of technological change. Under these conditions, the use of medical information via new information and communication technologies is at the crossroads of several scientific approaches and several disciplines (medicine, ethics, law, economics, psychology, etc.) surrounding the information systems in health, doctor-patient relationship and concepts that are associated. Each day, these new information and communication technologies open up new horizons and the space of possibilities, spectacularly developing access to information and knowledge. In this perspective of digital technology emergence impacting the multidisciplinary use of health information systems, the ethical questions are numerous, especially on the preservation of privacy, confidentiality and security of medical data, and their accessibility and integrity. (authors)

A proton medical accelerator by the SBIR route — an example of technology transfer

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, R. L.

1989-04-01

Medical facilities for radiation treatment of cancer with protons have been established in many laboratories throughout the world. Essentially all of these have been designed as physics facilities, however, because of the requirement for protons up to 250 MeV. Most of the experience in this branch of accelerator technology lies in the national laboratories and a few large universities. A major issue is the transfer of this technology to the commercial sector to provide hospitals with simple, reliable and relatively inexpensive accelerators for this application. The author has chosen the SBIR route to accomplish this goal. ACCTEK Associates has received grants from the National Cancer Institute for development of the medical accelerator and beam delivery systems. Considerable encouragement and help has been received from Argonne National Laboratory and the Department of Energy. The experiences to date and the pros and cons on this approach to commercializing medical accelerators are described.

Designing medical technology for resilience : integrating health economics and human factors approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Borsci, Simone; Uchegbu, Ijeoma; Buckle, Peter; Ni, Zhifang; Walne, Simon; Hanna, George B.

2018-01-01

Introduction: The slow adoption of innovation into healthcare calls into question the manner of evidence generation for medical technology. This paper identifies potential reasons for this including a lack of attention to human factors, poor evaluation of economic benefits, lack of understanding of

Information technology and medical missteps: evidence from a randomized trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Javitt, Jonathan C; Rebitzer, James B; Reisman, Lonny

2008-05-01

We analyze the effect of a decision support tool designed to help physicians detect and correct medical "missteps". The data comes from a randomized trial of the technology on a population of commercial HMO patients. The key findings are that the new information technology lowers average charges by 6% relative to the control group. This reduction in resource utilization was the result of reduced in-patient charges (and associated professional charges) for the most costly patients. The rate at which identified issues were resolved was generally higher in the study group than in the control group, suggesting the possibility of improvements in care quality along measured dimensions and enhanced diffusion of new protocols based on new clinical evidence.

From theory to practice: integrating instructional technology into veterinary medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hong; Rush, Bonnie R; Wilkerson, Melinda; Herman, Cheryl; Miesner, Matt; Renter, David; Gehring, Ronette

2013-01-01

Technology has changed the landscape of teaching and learning. The integration of instructional technology into teaching for meaningful learning is an issue for all educators to consider. In this article, we introduce educational theories including constructivism, information-processing theory, and dual-coding theory, along with the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education. We also discuss five practical instructional strategies and the relationship of these strategies to the educational theories. From theory to practice, the purpose of the article is to share our application of educational theory and practice to work toward more innovative teaching in veterinary medical education.

Health Information Technology Continues to Show Positive Effect on Medical Outcomes: Systematic Review

OpenAIRE

Kruse, Clemens Scott; Beane, Amanda

2018-01-01

Background Health information technology (HIT) has been introduced into the health care industry since the 1960s when mainframes assisted with financial transactions, but questions remained about HIT’s contribution to medical outcomes. Several systematic reviews since the 1990s have focused on this relationship. This review updates the literature. Objective The purpose of this review was to analyze the current literature for the impact of HIT on medical outcomes. We hypothesized that there is...

Guidelines for the development of scientific texts; path of pedagogical training to the medical technology teacher

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Betty Jacqueline Gaibor-Donoso

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In general, the teacher who works in the process of training the medical technology professional receives training in a medical sense, with emphasis on the subjects related to patient care and from the cognitive perspectives of the human being in their physical and mental integrity. More is not always assured the content with a view to how to write different texts that throughout the exercise of their profession must do and that have a scientific nature and pedagogical basis. In this sense, this article is oriented from which propose guidelines that favor the training in writing scientific texts, with emphasis in the article, related to the work of the medical technology professional.

Classification of medication incidents associated with information technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheung, Ka-Chun; van der Veen, Willem; Bouvy, Marcel L; Wensing, Michel; van den Bemt, Patricia M L A; de Smet, Peter A G M

2014-02-01

Information technology (IT) plays a pivotal role in improving patient safety, but can also cause new problems for patient safety. This study analyzed the nature and consequences of a large sample of IT-related medication incidents, as reported by healthcare professionals in community pharmacies and hospitals. The medication incidents submitted to the Dutch central medication incidents registration (CMR) reporting system were analyzed from the perspective of the healthcare professional with the Magrabi classification. During classification new terms were added, if necessary. The principal source of the IT-related problem, nature of error. Additional measures: consequences of incidents, IT systems, phases of the medication process. From March 2010 to February 2011 the CMR received 4161 incidents: 1643 (39.5%) from community pharmacies and 2518 (60.5%) from hospitals. Eventually one of six incidents (16.1%, n=668) were related to IT; in community pharmacies more incidents (21.5%, n=351) were related to IT than in hospitals (12.6%, n=317). In community pharmacies 41.0% (n=150) of the incidents were about choosing the wrong medicine. Most of the erroneous exchanges were associated with confusion of medicine names and poor design of screens. In hospitals 55.3% (n=187) of incidents concerned human-machine interaction-related input during the use of computerized prescriber order entry. These use problems were also a major problem in pharmacy information systems outside the hospital. A large sample of incidents shows that many of the incidents are related to IT, both in community pharmacies and hospitals. The interaction between human and machine plays a pivotal role in IT incidents in both settings.

Analysis of the technology acceptance model in examining hospital nurses' behavioral intentions toward the use of bar code medication administration.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Lunar; Park, Byeonghwa; Oh, Kyeung Mi

2015-04-01

Serious medication errors continue to exist in hospitals, even though there is technology that could potentially eliminate them such as bar code medication administration. Little is known about the degree to which the culture of patient safety is associated with behavioral intention to use bar code medication administration. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model, this study evaluated the relationships among patient safety culture and perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention to use bar code medication administration technology among nurses in hospitals. Cross-sectional surveys with a convenience sample of 163 nurses using bar code medication administration were conducted. Feedback and communication about errors had a positive impact in predicting perceived usefulness (β=.26, Pmodel predicting for behavioral intention, age had a negative impact (β=-.17, Pmodel explained 24% (Ptechnology.

The Effects of Health Information Technology on the Costs and Quality of Medical Care

OpenAIRE

Agha, Leila

2014-01-01

Information technology has been linked to productivity growth in a wide variety of sectors, and health information technology (HIT) is a leading example of an innovation with the potential to transform industry-wide productivity. This paper analyzes the impact of health information technology (HIT) on the quality and intensity of medical care. Using Medicare claims data from 1998-2005, I estimate the effects of early investment in HIT by exploiting variation in hospitals’ adoption statuses ov...

Improving patient access to novel medical technologies in Europe.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Kearney, Peter

2012-02-03

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) organized a one-day workshop with clinicians, health economic experts, and health technology appraisal experts to discuss the equity of patient access to novel medical technologies in Europe. Two index technologies were considered: implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and drug-eluting stents (DES). The use of ICDs range from 35 implants\\/million population in Portugal to 166 implants\\/million population in Germany, whereas for implants of DES (as percentage of total stents) it is lowest in Germany at 14% and high in Portugal at 65%. These differences can in part be explained by a lack of structured implementation of guidelines, the direct cost in relation to the overall healthcare budget, and to differences in procedures and models applied by Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies in Europe. The workshop participants concluded that physicians need to be involved in a more structured way in HTA and need to become better acquainted with its methods and terminology. Clinical guidelines should be systematically translated, explained, disseminated, updated, and adopted by cardiologists in Europe. Clinically appropriate, consistent and transparent health economic models need to be developed and high-quality international outcome and cost data should be used. A process for funding of a technology should be developed after a positive recommendation from HTA agencies. Both the ESC and the national cardiac societies should build-up health economic expertise and engage more actively in discussions with stakeholders involved in the provision of healthcare.

Disruptive technology: new medical advances are troublesome for even the most successful health systems and innovator health companies.

Science.gov (United States)

Michaelis, Lawrence; Vaul, Joanne; Chumer, Kathleen; Faul, Maureen; Sheehan, Lisa; DeCerce, Jack

2004-01-01

An independent expert panel conducted a multi-year research/education/advocacy initiative on the impact of the new drug-eluting stent technology. They conclude that this technology represents a "tipping point" in a series of transformative drugs and medical devices, often used in combination, and recommend that healthcare decision makers develop careful, data-based strategies to avoid the disruptiveness of these medical advances.

Exploring the potential of video technologies for collaboration in emergency medical care

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sonnenwald, Diane H.; Söderholm, Hanna M.; Manning, James E.

2008-01-01

videoconferencing techniques. This may be of benefit in diagnosing and treating patients in emergency situations where specialized medical expertise is not locally available. The 3D telepresence technology does not yet exist, and there is a need to understand its potential before resources are spent on its...

Evaluating interactive computer-based scenarios designed for learning medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Persson, Johanna; Dalholm, Elisabeth Hornyánszky; Wallergård, Mattias; Johansson, Gerd

2014-11-01

The use of medical equipment is growing in healthcare, resulting in an increased need for resources to educate users in how to manage the various devices. Learning the practical operation of a device is one thing, but learning how to work with the device in the actual clinical context is more challenging. This paper presents a computer-based simulation prototype for learning medical technology in the context of critical care. Properties from simulation and computer games have been adopted to create a visualization-based, interactive and contextually bound tool for learning. A participatory design process, including three researchers and three practitioners from a clinic for infectious diseases, was adopted to adjust the form and content of the prototype to the needs of the clinical practice and to create a situated learning experience. An evaluation with 18 practitioners showed that practitioners were positive to this type of tool for learning and that it served as a good platform for eliciting and sharing knowledge. Our conclusion is that this type of tools can be a complement to traditional learning resources to situate the learning in a context without requiring advanced technology or being resource-demanding. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information technology leadership in academic medical centers: a tale of four cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, C P

1999-07-01

Persons and groups within academic medical centers bring consistent and predictable viewpoints to planning and decision making. The varied professional and academic cultures of these individuals appear to account primarily for the diversity of their viewpoints. Understanding these professional cultures can help leaders achieve some predictability in the complex environments for which they are responsible. Leaders in information technology in particular, in order to be successful, must become part-time anthropologists, immersing themselves in the varied workplaces of their constituents to understand the work they do and the cultures that have grown up around this work. Only in this way will they be able to manage the challenges that arise continuously as the technology and the needs it can address change over time. In this article, the author briefly describes the concept of culture, portrays four specific professional cultures that typically coexist in academic medical centers, and argues that understanding these cultures is absolutely critical to effective management and use of information resources.

Commercializing medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Scanlon, Kevin J; Lieberman, Mark A

2007-04-01

As medicine moves into the 21st century, life saving therapies will move from inception into medical products faster if there is a better synergy between science and business. Medicine appears to have 50-year innovative cycles of education and scientific discoveries. In the 1880's, the chemical industry in Germany was faced with the dilemma of modernization to exploit the new scientific discoveries. The solution was the spawning of novel technical colleges for training in these new chemical industries. The impact of those new employees and their groundbreaking compounds had a profound influence on medicine and medical education in Germany between 1880 and 1930. Germany dominated international science during this period and was a training center for scientists worldwide. This model of synergy between education and business was envied and admired in Europe, Asia and America. British science soon after evolved to dominate the field of science during the prewar and post World War (1930's-1970's) because the German scientists fled Hitler's government. These expatriated scientists had a profound influence on the teaching and training of British scientists, which lead to advances in medicine such as antibiotics. After the Second World War, the US government wisely funded the development of the medical infrastructure that we see today. British and German scientists in medicine moved to America because of this bountiful funding for their research. These expatriated scientists helped drive these medical advances into commercialized products by the 1980's. America has been the center of medical education and advances of biotechnology but will it continue? International scientists trained in America have started to return to Europe and Asia. These American-trained scientists and their governments are very aware of the commercial potential of biotechnology. Those governments are now more prepared to play an active role this new science. Germany, Ireland, Britain, Singapore

Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with chronic heart failure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kiselev A.R.

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with chronic heart failure based on IDEF0 methodology and corresponded with clinical guidelines is presented.

Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with coronary heart disease

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popova Y.V.

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Organization-and-technological model of medical care delivered to patients with coronary heart disease based on IDEF0 methodology and corresponded with clinical guidelines is presented.

Early bedside care during preclinical medical education: can technology-enhanced patient simulation advance the Flexnerian ideal?

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Gordon, James A; Hayden, Emily M; Ahmed, Rami A; Pawlowski, John B; Khoury, Kimberly N; Oriol, Nancy E

2010-02-01

Flexner wanted medical students to study at the patient bedside-a remarkable innovation in his time-so that they could apply science to clinical care under the watchful eye of senior physicians. Ever since his report, medical schools have reserved the latter years of their curricula for such an "advanced" apprenticeship, providing clinical clerkship experiences only after an initial period of instruction in basic medical sciences. Although Flexner codified the segregation of preclinical and clinical instruction, he was committed to ensuring that both domains were integrated into a modern medical education. The aspiration to fully integrate preclinical and clinical instruction continues to drive medical education reform even to this day. In this article, the authors revisit the original justification for sequential preclinical-clinical instruction and argue that modern, technology-enhanced patient simulation platforms are uniquely powerful for fostering simultaneous integration of preclinical-clinical content in a way that Flexner would have applauded. To date, medical educators tend to focus on using technology-enhanced medical simulation in clinical and postgraduate medical education; few have devoted significant attention to using immersive clinical simulation among preclinical students. The authors present an argument for the use of dynamic robot-mannequins in teaching basic medical science, and describe their experience with simulator-based preclinical instruction at Harvard Medical School. They discuss common misconceptions and barriers to the approach, describe their curricular responses to the technique, and articulate a unifying theory of cognitive and emotional learning that broadens the view of what is possible, feasible, and desirable with simulator-based medical education.

Users' Perception of Medical Simulation Training: A Framework for Adopting Simulator Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Leili Hayati

2014-01-01

Users play a key role in many training strategies, yet some organizations often fail to understand the users' perception after a simulation training implementation, their attitude about acceptance or rejection of and integration of emerging simulation technology in medical training (Gaba, 2007, and Topol, 2012). Several factors are considered to…

Understanding the Use of Educational Technology among Faculty, Staff, and Students at a Medical University

Science.gov (United States)

Kazley, Abby Swanson; Annan, Dustin L.; Carson, Nancy E.; Freeland, Melissa; Hodge, Ashley B.; Seif, Gretchen A.; Zoller, James S.

2013-01-01

A college of health professions at a medical university located in the southeastern United States is striving to increase the use of educational technology among faculty, staff, and students. A strategic planning group was formed and charged with enhancing the use of educational technology within the college. In order to understand the current…

Near field communications technology and the potential to reduce medication errors through multidisciplinary application.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connell, Emer; Pegler, Joe; Lehane, Elaine; Livingstone, Vicki; McCarthy, Nora; Sahm, Laura J; Tabirca, Sabin; O'Driscoll, Aoife; Corrigan, Mark

2016-01-01

Patient safety requires optimal management of medications. Electronic systems are encouraged to reduce medication errors. Near field communications (NFC) is an emerging technology that may be used to develop novel medication management systems. An NFC-based system was designed to facilitate prescribing, administration and review of medications commonly used on surgical wards. Final year medical, nursing, and pharmacy students were recruited to test the electronic system in a cross-over observational setting on a simulated ward. Medication errors were compared against errors recorded using a paper-based system. A significant difference in the commission of medication errors was seen when NFC and paper-based medication systems were compared. Paper use resulted in a mean of 4.09 errors per prescribing round while NFC prescribing resulted in a mean of 0.22 errors per simulated prescribing round (P=0.000). Likewise, medication administration errors were reduced from a mean of 2.30 per drug round with a Paper system to a mean of 0.80 errors per round using NFC (PNFC based medication system may be used to effectively reduce medication errors in a simulated ward environment.

Developing technology-enhanced active learning for medical education: challenges, solutions, and future directions.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Lise; Pettit, Robin K; Lewis, Joy H; Bennett, Thomas; Carrasco, Noel; Brysacz, Stanley; Makin, Inder Raj S; Hutman, Ryan; Schwartz, Frederic N

2015-04-01

Growing up in an era of video games and Web-based applications has primed current medical students to expect rapid, interactive feedback. To address this need, the A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (Mesa) has developed and integrated a variety of approaches using technology-enhanced active learning for medical education (TEAL-MEd) into its curriculum. Over the course of 3 years (2010-2013), the authors facilitated more than 80 implementations of games and virtual patient simulations into the education of 550 osteopathic medical students. The authors report on 4 key aspects of the TEAL-MEd initiative, including purpose, portfolio of tools, progress to date regarding challenges and solutions, and future directions. Lessons learned may be of benefit to medical educators at academic and clinical training sites who wish to implement TEAL-MEd activities.

Acceptability and perceived utility of drone technology among emergency medical service responders and incident commanders for mass casualty incident management.

Science.gov (United States)

Hart, Alexander; Chai, Peter R; Griswold, Matthew K; Lai, Jeffrey T; Boyer, Edward W; Broach, John

2017-01-01

This study seeks to understand the acceptability and perceived utility of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology to Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) scene management. Qualitative questionnaires regarding the ease of operation, perceived usefulness, and training time to operate UAVs were administered to Emergency Medical Technicians (n = 15). A Single Urban New England Academic Tertiary Care Medical Center. Front-line emergency medical service (EMS) providers and senior EMS personnel in Incident Commander roles. Data from this pilot study indicate that EMS responders are accepting to deploying and operating UAV technology in a disaster scenario. Additionally, they perceived UAV technology as easy to adopt yet impactful in improving MCI scene management.

Technology Access and Smartphone App Preferences for Medication Adherence in Adolescents and Young Adults With Sickle Cell Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Badawy, Sherif M; Thompson, Alexis A; Liem, Robert I

2016-05-01

Hydroxyurea is the only Food and Drug Administration approved medication for sickle cell disease (SCD) with short- and long-term benefits for both morbidity and mortality. However, hydroxyurea underutilization and adherence remain challenges for patients with SCD. The objectives of this study were to determine access to technology among adolescents and young adults (AYA) with SCD and to identify their preferred technology-based strategies for improving medication adherence. A cross-sectional survey was administered in a variety of clinical settings from October 2014 through May 2015 to AYA (12-22 years) with SCD (all genotypes) followed in a Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program. Eighty of 107 eligible participants completed the survey for a 75% response rate. Participants (51% female, 94% Black) had a mean age of 15.3 ± 2.8 years. Most participants (75%) were on a daily medication with about half on hydroxyurea. Forgetfulness (67%) was the most common barrier to medication adherence. The majority of participants (85%) owned smartphones and either owned or had access to electronic tablets (83%), laptops (72%), or desktops (70%). Of the proposed smartphone app features, daily medication reminders were ranked first most frequently, followed by education about SCD, adherence text prompts, education about SCD medications, and medication log. The majority of our AYA with SCD owned smartphones and had access to other electronic devices. Our survey results provided valuable insight into the preferred app features and optimal strategies for developing technology-based interventions, such as a multicomponent app, to increase medication adherence for AYA with SCD or other chronic conditions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Impact of Risk-Benefit Perception and Trust on Medical Technology Acceptance in Relation to Drug and Device Lag: A Tripartite Cross-Sectional Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Todaka, Koji; Kishimoto, Junji; Ikeda, Masayuki; Ikeda, Koji; Yamamoto, Haruko

2017-01-01

New drug and medical device introduction in Japan usually lags behind that in the West. Many reports indicate that in Japan, the associated risks are considered greater than the benefits recognized in other countries. This study aimed to compare the relationship between risk-benefit perception and acceptance of medical technologies in 3 leading markets. A tripartite cross-sectional survey of the general public was used. In total, 3345 adults in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan participated, and sexes and age groups were equally represented. Questions about the perception of risk, benefit, and acceptance of medical and other scientific technologies, and trust of medical product providers or regulatory authorities were included. Five-step Likert coding for risk/benefit/acceptance of 4 medical items (x-rays, antibiotics, vaccines, and cardiac pacemakers) and 6 general items (such as automobiles and airplanes) were collected. Relationships between benefit perception and acceptance were linear for 4 medical technologies. The relationship had a similar slope but was shifted downward in Japan compared with the UK and US ( P medical technologies, benefits of medical technologies, trust in doctors, and trust in the Department of Health. The UK and US attributes were clustered with positive responses such as "useful," "acceptable," and "trustworthy," whereas Japan was clustered with intermediate to negative responses such as "neither" and "untrustworthy." Acceptance of medical technologies was low in Japan because of significant differences in trust for doctors and authorities compared with that in the UK and US. This is a possible basis for delays of 24 to 60 months for medical product approval in Japan.

Sleep disturbance in family caregivers of children who depend on medical technology: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Keilty, Krista; Cohen, Eyal; Ho, Michelle; Spalding, Karen; Stremler, Robyn

2015-01-01

Society relies on family caregivers of children who depend on medical technology (e.g. mechanical ventilation), to provide highly skilled and vigilant care in their homes 24 hours per day. Sleep disturbance is among the most common complaints of these caregivers. The purpose of this review is to systematically examine studies reporting on sleep outcomes in family caregivers of technology dependent children. All relevant databases were systematically searched: MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL. Given the heterogeneity of the studies, a qualitative analysis was completed and thus results of this review are presented as a narrative. Thirteen studies were retrieved that met eligibility criteria for inclusion. All of the studies reported on family caregivers of children with medical complexity living at home. Moreover, all of the studies relied entirely on self-report, not objective sleep measures. No intervention studies were found. Sleep disturbance was found to be common (51-100%) along with caregiver reports of poor sleep quality. Sleep quantity was seldom measured, but was found in the few studies that did, to be approximately 6 hours, or less than recommendations for optimal health and daytime function. Multiple caregiver, child and environmental factors were also identified that may negatively influence caregiver sleep, health and daytime function. Findings of this review suggest that family caregivers of children with medical complexity who depend on medical technology achieve poor sleep quality and quantity that may place them at risk of the negative consequences of sleep deprivation. Recommendations for practice include that health care providers routinely assess for sleep disturbance in this vulnerable population. The review also suggests that studies using objective sleep measurement are needed to more fully characterize sleep and inform the development of targeted interventions to promote sleep in family caregivers of technology dependent children.

Retention factors in relation to organisational commitment in medical and information technology services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeannette van Dyk

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Retaining staff with scarce and critical skills in the medical and information technology (IT industry has become a top priority because of skills shortages.Research purpose: The objectives of the study were to investigate empirically: (1 the relationship between employees’ satisfaction with organisational retention factors (measured by the Retention Factors Scale and their organisational commitment (measured by the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire and (2 whether gender, age, race and tenure groups differ significantly in terms of these variables.Motivation for the study: Medical and information technology professionals have specialised and hard to replace skills. They also have strong tendencies to leave their organisations and countries. Understanding the retention factors that will increase their organisational commitment may benefit the organisations who want to retain their valuable talent.Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from a purposive sample of 206 staff members who had scarce skills in a South African medical and information technology services company. Correlational and inferential statistics were computed to achieve the objectives.Main findings: The results showed that the participants’ satisfaction with retention factors has a significant relationship with their organisational commitment and that the biographical groups differ significantly in terms of the variables.Practical/managerial implications: The measured retention factors were all associated with human resource management practices that influence employees’ intentions to leave.Contribution/value-add: The results are important to managers who are interested in retaining staff who have scarce skills and provide valuable pointers for designing effective retention strategies.

Implementing a Swedish regionalized medical program supported by digital technologies: possibilities and challenges from a management perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Pettersson, Fanny L M

2013-01-01

In 2011, Umeå University in Sweden was facing its first attempt to transform the existing medical program into a regionalized medical program (RMP), supported by the use of digital technologies. The Swedish RMP means that students are distributed in geographically separated groups while doing their five clinical clerkship semesters. To provide medical students with ways of undertaking their theoretical studies when geographically distributed, digital technologies are used for educational and administrative purposes. In this article, the Swedish RMP will be described and related to previous international research on educating medical students in rural settings. The aim of this article was, from a management perspective, to understand if and how contradictions arise during the implementation process of the Swedish RMP, supported by digital technologies. Based on this analysis, a further aim was to discuss, from a management perspective, the possibilities and challenges for improvement of this medical educational practice, as well as to provide implications for other similar changes in medical programs internationally. To identify possible contradictions during the implementation process, ethnographically inspired observations were made during management work meetings, before and during the first regionalized semester. In addition, in-depth follow-up interviews were held in May and June 2011 with six management executives of the Swedish RMP, concerning their expectations and experiences of the implementation process. The qualitative and activity theory (AT)-inspired analysis resulted in the emergence of two main themes and seven sub-themes. The analysis suggests that a number of contradictions arose during the implementation process of the Swedish RMP. For instance, a contradiction constituted as a conflict between the university management and some teachers concerning how digital technologies and technology enhanced learning (TEL) could and should be used when

Use of societal criteria in evaluation of medical technology assessment research proposals in the Netherlands: Development and testing of a checklist

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Oortwijn, W.J.; Ament, A.J.H.A.; Vondeling, H.

1996-01-01

Rising health care costs, and the recognition that medical technology is a significant contributor to these costs, have provided the stimulus to develop medical technology assessment programmes in the Netherlands. The most important programme in this field is the Investigational Medicine Programme

The National Medical Cyclotron - An Australian experience in technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, R. K.

1997-01-01

The establishment of the National Medical Cyclotron (NMC) in the early 1990's was the practical outcome of a vision, held by nuclear medicine professionals, to complement the available neutron-rich radionuclides produced in Australia, with neutron-deficient radionuclides. The NMC is operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in collaboration with the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Sydney where the PET department is able to use the short-lived radiotracers to good advantage. Neutron-deficient radionuclides, are also produced by the NMC laboratories. The cyclotron-generated radionuclides are used in over 70,000 patient studies per year

Medical technology integration: CT, angiography, imaging-capable OR-table, navigation and robotics in a multifunctional sterile suite.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacob, A L; Regazzoni, P; Bilecen, D; Rasmus, M; Huegli, R W; Messmer, P

2007-01-01

Technology integration is an enabling technological prerequisite to achieve a major breakthrough in sophisticated intra-operative imaging, navigation and robotics in minimally invasive and/or emergency diagnosis and therapy. Without a high degree of integration and reliability comparable to that achieved in the aircraft industry image guidance in its different facets will not ultimately succeed. As of today technology integration in the field of image-guidance is close to nonexistent. Technology integration requires inter-departmental integration of human and financial resources and of medical processes in a dialectic way. This expanded techno-socio-economic integration has profound consequences for the administration and working conditions in hospitals. At the university hospital of Basel, Switzerland, a multimodality multifunction sterile suite was put into operation after a substantial pre-run. We report the lessons learned during our venture into the world of medical technology integration and describe new possibilities for similar integration projects in the future.

Integrating heterogeneous databases in clustered medic care environments using object-oriented technology

Science.gov (United States)

Thakore, Arun K.; Sauer, Frank

1994-05-01

The organization of modern medical care environments into disease-related clusters, such as a cancer center, a diabetes clinic, etc., has the side-effect of introducing multiple heterogeneous databases, often containing similar information, within the same organization. This heterogeneity fosters incompatibility and prevents the effective sharing of data amongst applications at different sites. Although integration of heterogeneous databases is now feasible, in the medical arena this is often an ad hoc process, not founded on proven database technology or formal methods. In this paper we illustrate the use of a high-level object- oriented semantic association method to model information found in different databases into an integrated conceptual global model that integrates the databases. We provide examples from the medical domain to illustrate an integration approach resulting in a consistent global view, without attacking the autonomy of the underlying databases.

Translating silicon nanowire BioFET sensor-technology to embedded point-of-care medical diagnostics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfreundt, Andrea; Zulfiqar, Azeem; Patou, François

2013-01-01

Silicon nanowire and nanoribbon biosensors have shown great promise in the detection of biomarkers at very low concentrations. Their high sensitivity makes them ideal candidates for use in early-stage medical diagnostics and further disease monitoring where low amounts of biomarkers need to be de......Silicon nanowire and nanoribbon biosensors have shown great promise in the detection of biomarkers at very low concentrations. Their high sensitivity makes them ideal candidates for use in early-stage medical diagnostics and further disease monitoring where low amounts of biomarkers need...... to be detected. However, in order to translate this technology from the bench to the bedside, a number of key issues need to be taken into consideration: Integrating nanobiosensors-based technology requires to overcome the difficult tradeoff between imperatives for high device reproducibilty and associated...... rising fabrication costs. Also the translation of nano-scale sensor technology into daily-use point-of-care devices requires acknowledgement of the end-user requirements, making device portability and human-interfacing a focus point in device development. Sample handling or purification for instance...

Examining Health Information Technology Implementations: Case of the Patient-Centered Medical Home

Science.gov (United States)

Behkami, Nima A.

2012-01-01

It has been shown that the use of Health Information Technology (HIT) is associated with reduced cost and increased quality of care. This dissertation examined the use of registries in Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practices. A survey questionnaire was sent to a nationwide group of clinics certified for being a PCMH. They were asked to…

[Jurisdictions on the reimbursement of new medical technologies by public health insurance: A systematic review].

Science.gov (United States)

Ex, Patricia; Felgner, Susanne; Henschke, Cornelia

2018-04-01

In Germany reimbursement for new medical technologies is often enforced before a social court. It is likely that these judicial decisions also affect the sickness funds' decisions on requests for reimbursement and thus patient access to new technologies in general. The aim of this study was to identify the technologies that have repeatedly generated court actions and whether these actions have been successful. The focus was on differences between sectors, technology groups and indications. Based on this, we analysed in a case study whether judicial decisions on the reimbursement of the same technologies vary across the years. Based on a systematic review, we identified judicial decisions of German social courts on new technologies for the years 2011 to 2016. The analysis included social court decisions on reimbursements for technologies used in the treatment of individual patients. 284 judicial decisions on new technologies were considered in the analysis. In one third of the cases, the sickness funds were required to reimburse the costs, with a higher percentage in inpatient than in outpatient care. Technologies used in treatment of diseases of the eyes and the ears were granted most frequently. In cases involving similar circumstances the social courts sometimes came to conflicting decisions; these decisions are, in part, contradictory to subsequent assessments by the Joint Federal Committee (G-BA). Decisions as to whether reimbursement for new technologies is granted or not do not appear to follow a systematic approach. In the context of the seemingly innovation-friendly policy in inpatient care, there is uncertainty with regard to the "generally accepted state of medical knowledge." It is problematic for both patients and their treating physicians that over a number of years legal proceedings are being initiated for technologies that have not been subjected to a systematic assessment of their benefit. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Technologies in the patient-centered medical home: examining the model from an enterprise perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Cortney L; Marshall, Capt Robert; Murphy, Edward; Mun, Seong K

2011-01-01

Fee-for-service reimbursement has fragmented the healthcare system. Providers are paid based on the number of services rendered instead of quality, leading to the cost of care rising at a faster rate than its value. One approach to counter this is the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a primary care model that emphasizes team-based medicine, a partnership between patients and providers, and expanded access and communication. The transition to PCMH is facilitated by innovative technologies, such as telemedicine for additional services, electronic medical records to document patients' health needs, and online portals for electronic visits and communication between patients and providers. Implementing these technologies involves tremendous investment of funds and time from practices and healthcare organizations. Although PCMH does not require such technologies, they facilitate its success, as care coordination and population management necessitated by the model are difficult to do without. This article argues that there is a paradox in PCMH and technology is at its center. Although PCMH intends to be cost effective by reducing hospital admissions and ER visits through providing better preventative services, it is actually a financial risk due to the very real upfront costs of implementing and sustaining technologies needed to carry out the intent of the PCMH model, which may not be made up immediately, if ever. This article delves into the rationale behind why payers, providers, and patients have adopted PCMH regardless of this risk and in doing so, maps out the roles that innovative technologies play in the conversion to PCMH.

National priorities for the assessment of clinical conditions and medical technologies: report of a pilot study

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lara, María Elena; Goodman, Clifford

1990-01-01

... and Medical Technologies Report of a Pilot Study Maria Elena Lara and Clifford Goodman, editors Priority-Setting Group Council on Health Care Technology Institute of Medicine NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. 1990 i Copyrightoriginal retained, the be not from cannot book, paper original however, for version formatting, authoritative the typese...

Definition of information technology architectures for continuous data management and medical device integration in diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hernando, M Elena; Pascual, Mario; Salvador, Carlos H; García-Sáez, Gema; Rodríguez-Herrero, Agustín; Martínez-Sarriegui, Iñaki; Gómez, Enrique J

2008-09-01

The growing availability of continuous data from medical devices in diabetes management makes it crucial to define novel information technology architectures for efficient data storage, data transmission, and data visualization. The new paradigm of care demands the sharing of information in interoperable systems as the only way to support patient care in a continuum of care scenario. The technological platforms should support all the services required by the actors involved in the care process, located in different scenarios and managing diverse information for different purposes. This article presents basic criteria for defining flexible and adaptive architectures that are capable of interoperating with external systems, and integrating medical devices and decision support tools to extract all the relevant knowledge to support diabetes care.

Adoption of high technology medical imaging and hospital quality and efficiency: Towards a conceptual framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandoval, Guillermo A; Brown, Adalsteinn D; Wodchis, Walter P; Anderson, Geoffrey M

2018-05-17

Measuring the value of medical imaging is challenging, in part, due to the lack of conceptual frameworks underlying potential mechanisms where value may be assessed. To address this gap, this article proposes a framework that builds on the large body of literature on quality of hospital care and the classic structure-process-outcome paradigm. The framework was also informed by the literature on adoption of technological innovations and introduces 2 distinct though related aspects of imaging technology not previously addressed specifically in the literature on quality of hospital care: adoption (a structural hospital characteristic) and use (an attribute of the process of care). The framework hypothesizes a 2-part causality where adoption is proposed to be a central, linking factor between hospital structural characteristics, market factors, and hospital outcomes (ie, quality and efficiency). The first part indicates that hospital structural characteristics and market factors influence or facilitate the adoption of high technology medical imaging within an institution. The presence of this technology, in turn, is hypothesized to improve the ability of the hospital to deliver high quality and efficient care. The second part describes this ability throughout 3 main mechanisms pointing to the importance of imaging use on patients, to the presence of staff and qualified care providers, and to some elements of organizational capacity capturing an enhanced clinical environment. The framework has the potential to assist empirical investigations of the value of adoption and use of medical imaging, and to advance understanding of the mechanisms that produce quality and efficiency in hospitals. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The protracted demise of medical technology. The case of intermittent positive pressure breathing.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, S Q; Farley, D E

1992-08-01

In this study, the effects of hospital, staff, and patient characteristics on the rates of use and abandonment of an outmoded medical technology, intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) are analyzed. The study focuses specifically on the use of IPPB to treat inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a national sample of more than 500 community hospitals from 1980 to 1987. Cross-sectionally, hospitals with shorter case-mix-adjusted lengths of stay, private nonprofit or investor-owned hospitals, and hospitals located outside of the north central United States were more likely to abandon IPPB by 1980. Teaching status, location, ownership, volume, and source of payment all appeared to affect rates of IPPB use in 1980. The longitudinal analysis examines both the probability a hospital abandoned IPPB and declines in rates of IPPB use over the study period, conditioned on the availability of IPPB in 1980. The results show that changes in the characteristics of hospitals, patients, and physicians all help to explain variations in the abandonment of IPPB. These findings contrast with previous studies of technological change, which find hospital size to be the most important variable. Size is important in explaining the rate of use in 1980, but it has no effect on the rate of decline in use or abandonment after 1980. In general, the analysis demonstrates that a combination of factors, economic incentives as well as information, contribute to the abandonment of outmoded medical technologies. Given the surprisingly long time periods required for this process to occur, the analysis underscores the need to strengthen financial incentives that encourage appropriate medical decisions and to disseminate information about the efficacy of specific procedures more widely and effectively.

Progress in computer aided diagnosis for medical images by information technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mekada, Yoshito

2007-01-01

This paper describes the history, present state and future view of computer aided diagnosis (CAD) based on processing, recognition and visualization of chest and abdominal images. A primitive feature of CAD is seen as early as in 1960's for lung cancer detection. Contemporarily, advances in medical imaging by CT, MRI, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) in multi-dimensions require doctors to read those vast information, where necessity of CAD is evident. At present, simultaneous CAD for multi-organs and multi-diseases is in progress, the interaction between images and medical doctors is leading to developing a newer system like virtual endoscopy, objective evaluation of CAD systems is necessary for its approval to authorities like fluorescein diacetate (FDA) with use of receiver operating characteristics analysis, and thus cooperation of medical and technological fields is more and more important. In future, CAD should be responsible for individual difference and for change in disease state, usable simultaneously for time and space, more recognized of its importance by doctors, and more useful in participation to therapeutic practice. (R.T.)

The National Medical Cyclotron - An Australian experience in technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnes, R K [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Lucas Heights, NSW (Australia). National Medical Cyclotron

1998-12-31

The establishment of the National Medical Cyclotron (NMC) in the early 1990`s was the practical outcome of a vision, held by nuclear medicine professionals, to complement the available neutron-rich radionuclides produced in Australia, with neutron-deficient radionuclides. The NMC is operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in collaboration with the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPAH) in Sydney where the PET department is able to use the short-lived radiotracers to good advantage. Neutron-deficient radionuclides, are also produced by the NMC laboratories. The cyclotron-generated radionuclides are used in over 70,000 patient studies per year. 7 refs., 1 tab.

Supervising nursing students in a technology-driven medication administration process in a hospital setting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gaard, Mette; Orbæk, Janne

2016-01-01

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review is to identify, describe and synthesize the experiences of nurse supervisors and the factors that influence the supervision of pre-graduate nursing students in undertaking technology-driven medication administration in hospital settings...

Re-engineering the process of medical imaging physics and technology education and training.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprawls, Perry

2005-09-01

The extensive availability of digital technology provides an opportunity for enhancing both the effectiveness and efficiency of virtually all functions in the process of medical imaging physics and technology education and training. This includes degree granting academic programs within institutions and a wide spectrum of continuing education lifelong learning activities. Full achievement of the advantages of technology-enhanced education (e-learning, etc.) requires an analysis of specific educational activities with respect to desired outcomes and learning objectives. This is followed by the development of strategies and resources that are based on established educational principles. The impact of contemporary technology comes from its ability to place learners into enriched learning environments. The full advantage of a re-engineered and implemented educational process involves changing attitudes and functions of learning facilitators (teachers) and resource allocation and sharing both within and among institutions.

Safe Disposal of Medical and Plastic Waste and Energy Recovery Possibilities using Plasma Pyrolysis Technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nema, S.K.; Mukherjee, S.

2010-01-01

Plasma pyrolysis and plasma gasification are emerging technologies that can provide complete solution to organic solid waste disposal. In these technologies plasma torch is used as a workhorse to convert electrical energy into heat energy. These technologies dispose the organic waste in an environment friendly manner. Thermal plasma provides extremely high temperature in oxygen free or controlled air environment which is required for pyrolysis or gasification reactions. Plasma based medical waste treatment is an extremely complex technology since it has to contend with extreme temperatures and corrosion-prone environment, complex pyro-chemistry resulting in toxic and dangerous products, if not controlled. In addition, one has to take care of complete combustion of pyrolyzed gases followed by efficient scrubbing to meet the emission standards set by US EPA and Central Pollution Control Board, India. In medical waste, high volume and low packing density waste with nonstandard composition consisting of a variety of plastics, organic material and liquids used to be present. The present paper describes the work carried out at Institute for Plasma Research, India, on plasma pyrolysis of (i) medical waste disposal and the results of emission measurement done at various locations in the system and (ii) energy recovery from cotton and plastic waste. The process and system development has been done in multiple steps. Different plasma pyrolysis models were made and each subsequent model was improved upon to meet stringent emission norms and to make the system energy efficient and user friendly. FCIPT, has successfully demonstrated up to 50 kg/ hr plasma pyrolysis systems and have installed plasma pyrolysis facilities at various locations in India . Plastic Waste disposal along with energy recovery in 15 kg/ hr model has also been developed and demonstrated at FCIPT. In future, this technology has great potential to dispose safely different waste streams such as biomass

Use of information technology for medication management in residential care facilities: correlates of facility characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhuyan, Soumitra S; Chandak, Aastha; Powell, M Paige; Kim, Jungyoon; Shiyanbola, Olayinka; Zhu, He; Shiyanbola, Oyewale

2015-06-01

The effectiveness of information technology in resolving medication problems has been well documented. Long-term care settings such as residential care facilities (RCFs) may see the benefits of using such technologies in addressing the problem of medication errors among their resident population, who are usually older and have numerous chronic conditions. The aim of this study was two-fold: to examine the extent of use of Electronic Medication Management (EMM) in RCFs and to analyze the organizational factors associated with the use of EMM functionalities in RCFs. Data on RCFs were obtained from the 2010 National Survey of Residential Care Facilities. The association between facility, director and staff, and resident characteristics of RCFs and adoption of four EMM functionalities was assessed through multivariate logistic regression. The four EMM functionalities included were maintaining lists of medications, ordering for prescriptions, maintaining active medication allergy lists, and warning of drug interactions or contraindications. About 12% of the RCFs adopted all four EMM functionalities. Additionally, maintaining lists of medications had the highest adoption rate (34.5%), followed by maintaining active medication allergy lists (31.6%), ordering for prescriptions (19.7%), and warning of drug interactions or contraindications (17.9%). Facility size and ownership status were significantly associated with adoption of all four EMM functionalities. Medicaid certification status, facility director's age, education and license status, and the use of personal care aides in the RCF were significantly associated with the adoption of some of the EMM functionalities. EMM is expected to improve the quality of care and patient safety in long-term care facilities including RCFs. The extent of adoption of the four EMM functionalities is relatively low in RCFs. Some RCFs may strategize to use these functionalities to cater to the increasing demands from the market and also to

A retrospective review of TATRC funding for medical modeling and simulation technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, Carla M; Bevan, Matthew G; Duve, Rebecca J; White, Heather L; Magee, J Harvey; Wiehagen, Gene B

2011-08-01

In February 2000, the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) and the U.S. Army's Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command cohosted an Integrated Research Team conference in Maryland. The goal of the conference was to enable end users, researchers, materiel developers, and other government agencies to present their conceptions of how modeling and simulation could and should be developed to meet military medical needs. During the past 9 years, TATRC has funded more than 175 projects relating to simulation. This study was a retrospective review of TATRC's Modeling and Simulation Training projects (N = 175). Our results show that most (>75%) of the funded projects in this study involved industry. More than 85% of the projects that involved industry focused on technology development. Industry development projects seemed to meet their deliverables in a timely fashion. However, academia projects using industry-developed technologies and prototypes were delayed largely because the technologies did not meet their needs. There seems to be a measurable gap between industry's definition of a completed product technology and academia's ability to implement and use the technology in interactive learning environments. Our findings support the need for a standardized strategic design process that involves a strong industry-academia collaboration and early end-user testing to better facilitate the development of sound requirements that guide technology development.

[Virtual reality in medical education].

Science.gov (United States)

Edvardsen, O; Steensrud, T

1998-02-28

Virtual reality technology has found new applications in industry over the last few years. Medical literature has for several years predicted a break-through in this technology for medical education. Although there is a great potential for this technology in medical education, there seems to be a wide gap between expectations and actual possibilities at present. State of the technology was explored by participation at the conference "Medicine meets virtual reality V" (San Diego Jan. 22-25 1997) and a visit to one of the leading laboratories on virtual reality in medical education. In this paper we introduce some of the basic terminology and technology, review some of the topics covered by the conference, and describe projects running in one of the leading laboratories on virtual reality technology for medical education. With this information in mind, we discuss potential applications of the current technology in medical education. Current virtual reality systems are judged to be too costly and their usefulness in education too limited for routine use in medical education.

The use of advanced medical technologies at home : A systematic review of the literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

ten Haken, Ingrid; Allouch, Somaya Ben; van Harten, Willem H.

2018-01-01

Background: The number of medical technologies used in home settings has increased substantially over the last 10-15 years. In order to manage their use and to guarantee quality and safety, data on usage trends and practical experiences are important. This paper presents a literature review on

Impact of information technology on the role of medical libraries in information managment: normative background

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anamarija Rožić-Hristovski

1998-01-01

Full Text Available Exponential growth of biomedical knowledge and information technology development is changing the infrastructure of health care systems, education and research. So medical libraries roles have shifted from managing containers of information toward influencing biomedical information resource content and education. These new tasks are formalised in modem American standards for medical libraries, stressing information management role in evolving environment.In Slovenia medical libraries also are aware of development imperative of information activities for advances in medicine. At one side they are faced with lack of specific guidelines for proactive action and on the other with inadequate assessment in legal documents and insufficient funding.

Modelling in Medical Technology Assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

B.C. Michel (Bowine)

1996-01-01

textabstractHealth care is a rapidly developing field in which new technologies are introduced continuously. Not all new technologies have the same impact however: most represent only small changes in existing technologies, whereas only a few - like organ transplants - really are revolutionary new

Information technologies, mechatronics and robotics as a basis of an interdisciplinary approach to engineering and medical education

OpenAIRE

Ovsyanitskaya, L. Y.; Yurasova, E. V.; Овсяницкая, Л. Ю.; Юрасова, Е. В.

2015-01-01

Information technologies, robotics and mechatronics play an important role in modern medicine. The article shows that the use of information technology is an essential part of any activity of a specialist healthcare. The main goal of the medical technique development is the high accuracy and quality of service, efficiency of treatment, reducing the risk of harm to human health. However, despite advances in engineering and technology, health care professionals are not always aware of them, ...

Radiation protection perspectives in developing new medical technologies with ionizing radiations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arranz, L.

1993-01-01

The medical technical development with ionizing radiation is and will be followed by an effort to control and reduce their inherent risks and make it a safe tool that offers more exact diagnoses and more effective treatments. However, it is not foreseeable to achieve a decrease on the annual effective dose equivalent per capita due to medical irradiation (1.06 mSv in OECD countries), since the general population will go on increasing, and the same will happen to the elder population (with greater morbidity). The turn of the century will bring a time of major cost savings, but also a higher demand on the quality of life. The high cost technologies help the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and therefore their use and spread are absolutely justified, according to health policy objectives. However, their diffusion should be spread out under efficiency and equity criteria. (author). 32 refs

Mobile technologies: expectancy, usage, and acceptance of clinical staff and patients at a university medical center.

Science.gov (United States)

Illiger, Kristin; Hupka, Markus; von Jan, Ute; Wichelhaus, Daniel; Albrecht, Urs-Vito

2014-10-21

Despite their increasing popularity, little is known about how users perceive mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs in medical contexts. Available studies are often restricted to evaluating the success of specific interventions and do not adequately cover the users' basic attitudes, for example, their expectations or concerns toward using mobile devices in medical settings. The objective of the study was to obtain a comprehensive picture, both from the perspective of the patients, as well as the doctors, regarding the use and acceptance of mobile devices within medical contexts in general well as the perceived challenges when introducing the technology. Doctors working at Hannover Medical School (206/1151, response 17.90%), as well as patients being admitted to this facility (213/279, utilization 76.3%) were surveyed about their acceptance and use of mobile devices in medical settings. Regarding demographics, both samples were representative of the respective study population. GNU R (version 3.1.1) was used for statistical testing. Fisher's exact test, two-sided, alpha=.05 with Monte Carlo approximation, 2000 replicates, was applied to determine dependencies between two variables. The majority of participants already own mobile devices (doctors, 168/206, 81.6%; patients, 110/213, 51.6%). For doctors, use in a professional context does not depend on age (P=.66), professional experience (P=.80), or function (P=.34); gender was a factor (P=.009), and use was more common among male (61/135, 45.2%) than female doctors (17/67, 25%). A correlation between use of mobile devices and age (P=.001) as well as education (P=.002) was seen for patients. Minor differences regarding how mobile devices are perceived in sensitive medical contexts mostly relate to data security, patients are more critical of the devices being used for storing and processing patient data; every fifth patient opposed this, but nevertheless, 4.8% of doctors (10/206) use their devices for this

Use of medical technologies in rehabilitation medicine settings in Israel: results of the TECHNO-R 2005 survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ring, Haim; Keren, Ofer; Zwecker, Manuel; Dynia, Aida

2007-10-01

With the development of computer technology and the high-tech electronic industry over the past 30 years, the technological age is flourishing. New technologies are continually being introduced, and questions regarding the economic viability of these technologies need to be addressed. To identify the medical technologies currently in use in different rehabilitation medicine settings in Israel. The TECHNO-R 2005 survey was conducted in two phases. Beginning in 2004, the first survey used a questionnaire with open questions relating to the different technologies in clinical use, including questions on their purpose, who operates the device (technician, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, physician, etc.), and a description of the treated patients. This questionnaire was sent to 31 rehabilitation medicine facilities in Israel. Due to difficulties in comprehension of the term "technology," a second revised standardized questionnaire with closed-ended questions specifying diverse technologies was introduced in 2005. The responder had to mark from a list of 15 different medical technologies which were in use in his or her facility, as well as their purpose, who operates the device, and a description of the treated patients. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, the TILT bed, continuous passive movement, and therapeutic ultrasound were the most widely used technologies in rehabilitation medicine facilities. Monitoring of the sitting position in the wheelchair, at the bottom of the list, was found to be the least used technology (with 15.4% occurrence). Most of the technologies are used primarily for treatment purposes and to a lesser degree for diagnosis and research. Our study poses a fundamental semantic and conceptual question regarding what kind of technologies are or should be part of the standard equipment of any accredited rehabilitation medicine facility for assessment, treatment and/or research. For this purpose, additional data are needed.

Use of raiting assessment of students at studying of technology of medications under the credit – module system of study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. M. Litvinenko

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction of credit-module system into educational process is a main requirement of Bolognese process. First and foremost rating estimation of student’s knowledge is a modern technology in educational field which helps teacher to estimate of student’s knowledge objectively. Aim of article. To analyze tactic of carrying out training for foreign students in technology of medications. Materials and methods. Investigation was carrying out on the basis of new working program of technology of medications with introduction of credit-module system into educational process. As material was used experience in working with foreign students, textbooks and methodical decisions of department, faculty and university. Results and their discussion. Usage of this system in educational process for foreign students will help teacher to take into account special features of each student and give a chance to teach how to enrich their knowledge of technology of medications on one's own. Conclusion. Teacher’s collaboration with each student is a guarantee of quality usage of credit-module system in higher institutes of education.

The use of advanced medical technologies at home : a systematic review of the literature

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haken, ten I. (Ingrid); Ben Allouch, S. (Somaya); Harten, van W.H. (Wim)

2018-01-01

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5123-4 Background: The number of medical technologies used in home settings has increased substantially over the last 10–15 years. In order to manage their use and to guarantee quality and safety, data on usage trends and practical experiences are important.

[Hospital-based health technology assessment in France: how to proceed to evaluate innovative medical devices?].

Science.gov (United States)

Martelli, N; van den Brink, H; Denies, F; Dervaux, B; Germe, A F; Prognon, P; Pineau, J

2014-01-01

Innovative medical devices offer solutions to medical problems and greatly improve patients' outcomes. Like National Health Technology Assessment (HTA) agencies, hospitals face numerous requests for innovative and costly medical devices. To help local decision-makers, different approaches of hospital-based HTA (HB-HTA) have been adopted worldwide. The objective of the present paper is to explore HB-HTA models for adopting innovative medical devices in France and elsewhere. Four different models have been conceptualized: "ambassador" model, "mini-HTA" model, "HTA unit" model and "internal committee". Apparently, "HTA unit" and "internal committee" (or a mixture of both models) are the prevailing HB-HTA models in France. Nevertheless, some weaknesses of these models have been pointed out in previous works. Only few examples involving hospital pharmacists have been found abroad, except in France and in Italy. Finally, the harmonization of the assessment of innovative medical devices in France needs a better understanding of HB-HTA practices. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Estimating costs in the economic evaluation of medical technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Luce, B R; Elixhauser, A

1990-01-01

The complexities and nuances of evaluating the costs associated with providing medical technologies are often underestimated by analysts engaged in economic evaluations. This article describes the theoretical underpinnings of cost estimation, emphasizing the importance of accounting for opportunity costs and marginal costs. The various types of costs that should be considered in an analysis are described; a listing of specific cost elements may provide a helpful guide to analysis. The process of identifying and estimating costs is detailed, and practical recommendations for handling the challenges of cost estimation are provided. The roles of sensitivity analysis and discounting are characterized, as are determinants of the types of costs to include in an analysis. Finally, common problems facing the analyst are enumerated with suggestions for managing these problems.

Information technologies, mechatronics and robotics as a basis of an interdisciplinary approach to engineering and medical education

OpenAIRE

OVSYANITSKAYA L.Y.; YURASOVA E.V.

2015-01-01

Information technologies, robotics and mechatronics play an important role in modern medicine. The article shows that the use of information technology is an essential part of any activity of a specialist healthcare. The main goal of the medical technique development is the high accuracy and quality of service, efficiency of treatment, reducing the risk of harm to human health. However, despite advances in engineering and technology, health care professionals are not always aware of them, and...

Development of key technology for the medical isotope production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Soo Youl; Kim, I. S.; Kim, W. W.; Rhee, C. K.; Park, K. B.; Park, S. J.; Shin, H. S.; Shin, Y. J.

2005-06-01

The objective of this project is to experimentally verify and enhance Mo-99 and Sr-89 recovery/purification processes as the key technologies for the medical isotope production from a solution fuel reactor. A joint experiment was planned between KAERI and Kurchatov Institute (KI), Russia. The kinds of experiments planed are, a series of Mo-99 recovery/purification experiments from the ARGUS reactor which uses High Enriched Uranium (HEU) fuel, a series of the same experiments but from the Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) solution target, a demonstration of the mechanism of Sr-89 delivery from the air medium in the reactor vessel. Meanwhile, the survey and legalistic interpretation of relevant patents shows a possibility of infringement of TCI Inc.'s patents in case of exporting medical isotopes produced at the MIP to Japan and the US so far as the MIP adopts the concept of the Russian ARGUS and recovery/purification process. Eliminating, not minor changing, step(s) or condition(s) of patent processes would help to avoid the patent infringement. Because of a difficulty in the KAERI-KI full-time co-experiments at KI labs, a different idea between two parties about the depth of background information to be provided to KAERI, and other reasons, the experiment plan was not executed

Uptake and diffusion of medical technology innovation in Europe: what role for funding and procurement policies?

OpenAIRE

Torbica, Aleksandra; Cappellaro, Giulia

2010-01-01

The producers of medical technology constantly strive to innovate and to improve their products for the benefit of patients. With each new generation of devices enabling less invasive techniques, better clinical outcomes and reduced recovery times, patients are direct beneficiaries of this commitment to innovation. Innovation and patient access to technology are inseparably linked with each national health system's respective coverage, procurement and reimbursement policies. If a particular i...

Aequilibrium prudentis: on the necessity for ethics and policy studies in the scientific and technological education of medical professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Misti Ault; Giordano, James

2013-04-23

The importance of strong science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education continues to grow as society, medicine, and the economy become increasingly focused and dependent upon bioscientific and technological innovation. New advances in frontier sciences (e.g., genetics, neuroscience, bio-engineering, nanoscience, cyberscience) generate ethical issues and questions regarding the use of novel technologies in medicine and public life. In light of current emphasis upon science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education (at the pre-collegiate, undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels), the pace and extent of advancements in science and biotechnology, the increasingly technological orientation and capabilities of medicine, and the ways that medicine - as profession and practice - can engage such scientific and technological power upon the multi-cultural world-stage to affect the human predicament, human condition, and perhaps nature of the human being, we argue that it is critical that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education go beyond technical understanding and directly address ethical, legal, social, and public policy implications of new innovations. Toward this end, we propose a paradigm of integrative science, technology, ethics, and policy studies that meets these needs through early and continued educational exposure that expands extant curricula of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs from the high school through collegiate, graduate, medical, and post-graduate medical education. We posit a synthetic approach that elucidates the historical, current, and potential interaction of scientific and biotechnological development in addition to the ethico-legal and social issues that are important to educate and sustain the next generation of medical and biomedical professionals who can appreciate, articulate, and address the realities of scientific and biotechnological progress given the shifting

Rituals in Death and Dying: Modern Medical Technologies Enter the Fray

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Gordon

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In the absence of immortality, the human species has over the millennia developed rites and rituals to help in the passing of life to honor the person who is dying or has died or in some way demonstrate their “courage” and perseverance as well as duty even in the face of almost certain death. The centuries-old traditions of the gathering of loved ones, the chanting of prayers, the ritual religious blessings are in the process of being replaced by the “miracles” of modern medical technology.

Medical Representatives' Intention to Use Information Technology in Pharmaceutical Marketing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Eun-Seon; Chang, Hyejung

2016-10-01

Electronic detailing (e-detailing), the use of electronic devices to facilitate sales presentations to physicians, has been adopted and expanded in the pharmaceutical industry. To maximize the potential outcome of e-detailing, it is important to understand medical representatives (MRs)' behavior and attitude to e-detailing. This study investigates how information technology devices such as laptop computers and tablet PCs are utilized in pharmaceutical marketing, and it analyzes the factors influencing MRs' intention to use devices. This study has adopted and modified the theory of Roger's diffusion of innovation model and the technology acceptance model. To test the model empirically, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 221 MRs who were working in three multinational or eleven domestic pharmaceutical companies in Korea. Overall, 28% and 35% of MRs experienced using laptop computers and tablet PCs in pharmaceutical marketing, respectively. However, the rates were different across different groups of MRs, categorized by age, education level, position, and career. The results showed that MRs' intention to use information technology devices was significantly influenced by perceived usefulness in general. Perceived ease of use, organizational and individual innovativeness, and several MR characteristics were also found to have significant impacts. This study provides timely information about e-detailing devices to marketing managers and policy makers in the pharmaceutical industry for successful marketing strategy development by understanding the needs of MRs' intention to use information technology. Further in-depth study should be conducted to understand obstacles and limitations and to improve the strategies for better marketing tools.

Left to their own devices: medical learners' use of mobile technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellaway, Rachel H; Fink, Patricia; Graves, Lisa; Campbell, Alanna

2014-02-01

Although many medical learners and teachers are using mobile technologies within medical education, there has been little evidence presented describing how they use mobile devices across a whole curriculum. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) introduced a new mobile device program in 2010. Incoming undergraduate medical learners received a laptop and an iPad and learners entering year three of the four-year program received a laptop and an iPhone. A survey was sent to all learners to gather information on their use of and attitudes toward these devices. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to analyze the data and to generate a series of themes that synthesized student behaviors, perceptions and attitudes. Context and learner autonomy were found to be important factors with learners using multiple devices for different purposes and adopting strategic approaches to learning using these devices. The expectation that school-issued devices would be regularly and enthusiastically used to replace more traditional study media was not reflected in practice. Learners' approaches to using mobile devices are heterogeneous as is the extent to which they use them. Learners adapt their use of mobile devices to the learning cultures and contexts they find themselves in.

APA Summit on Medical Student Education Task Force on Informatics and Technology: Steps to Enhance the Use of Technology in Education through Faculty Development, Funding and Change Management

Science.gov (United States)

Hilty, Donald M.; Benjamin, Sheldon; Briscoe, Gregory; Hales, Deborah J.; Boland, Robert J.; Luo, John S.; Chan, Carlyle H.; Kennedy, Robert S.; Karlinsky, Harry; Gordon, Daniel B.; Yellowlees, Peter M.; Yager, Joel

2006-01-01

Objective: This article provides an overview of how trainees, faculty, and institutions use technology for acquiring knowledge, skills, and attitudes for practicing modern medicine. Method: The authors reviewed the literature on medical education, technology, and change, and identify the key themes and make recommendations for implementing…

Using digital technologies to engage with medical research: views of myotonic dystrophy patients in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Coathup, Victoria; Teare, Harriet J A; Minari, Jusaku; Yoshizawa, Go; Kaye, Jane; Takahashi, Masanori P; Kato, Kazuto

2016-08-24

As in other countries, the traditional doctor-patient relationship in the Japanese healthcare system has often been characterised as being of a paternalistic nature. However, in recent years there has been a gradual shift towards a more participatory-patient model in Japan. With advances in technology, the possibility to use digital technologies to improve patient interactions is growing and is in line with changing attitudes in the medical profession and society within Japan and elsewhere. The implementation of an online patient engagement platform is being considered by the Myotonic Dystrophy Registry of Japan. The aim of this exploratory study was to understand patients' views and attitudes to using digital tools in patient registries and engagement with medical research in Japan, prior to implementation of the digital platform. We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional, self-completed questionnaire with a sample of myotonic dystrophy (MD) patients attending an Open Day at Osaka University, Japan. Patients were eligible for inclusion if they were 18 years or older, and were diagnosed with MD. A total of 68 patients and family members attended the Open Day and were invited to participate in the survey. Of those, 59 % submitted a completed questionnaire (n = 40). The survey showed that the majority of patients felt that they were not receiving the information they wanted from their clinicians, which included recent medical research findings and opportunities to participate in clinical trials, and 88 % of patients indicated they would be willing to engage with digital technologies to receive relevant medical information. Patients also expressed an interest in having control over when and how they received this information, as well as being informed of how their data is used and shared with other researchers. Overall, the findings from this study suggest that there is scope to develop a digital platform to engage with patients so that they can receive

Lifelong Learning for Clinical Practice: How to Leverage Technology for Telebehavioral Health Care and Digital Continuing Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Hilty, Donald M; Turvey, Carolyn; Hwang, Tiffany

2018-03-12

Psychiatric practice continues to evolve and play an important role in patients' lives, the field of medicine, and health care delivery. Clinicians must learn a variety of clinical care systems and lifelong learning (LLL) is crucial to apply knowledge, develop skills, and adjust attitudes. Technology is rapidly becoming a key player-in delivery, lifelong learning, and education/training. The evidence base for telepsychiatry/telemental health via videoconferencing has been growing for three decades, but a greater array of technologies have emerged in the last decade (e.g., social media/networking, text, apps). Clinicians are combining telepsychiatry and these technologies frequently and they need to reflect on, learn more about, and develop skills for these technologies. The digital age has solidified the role of technology in continuing medical education and day-to-day practice. Other fields of medicine are also adapting to the digital age, as are graduate and undergraduate medical education and many allied mental health organizations. In the future, there will be more online training, simulation, and/or interactive electronic examinations, perhaps on a monthly cycle rather than a quasi-annual or 10-year cycle of recertification.

Health technology assessment process of a cardiovascular medical device in four different settings.

Science.gov (United States)

Olry de Labry Lima, Antonio; Espín Balbino, Jaime; Lemgruber, Alexandre; Caro Martínez, Araceli; García-Mochón, Leticia; Martín Ruiz, Eva; Lessa, Fernanda

2017-10-01

Health technology assessment (HTA) is a tool to help the decision-making process. The aim is to describe methods and processes used in the reimbursement decision making for drug-eluting stents (DES) in four different settings. DES as a technology under study was selected according to different criteria, all of them agreed by a working group. A survey of key informants was designed. DES was evaluated following well-structured HTA processes. Nonetheless, scope for improvement was observed in relation to the data considered for the final decision, the transparency and inclusiveness of the process as well as in the methods employed. An attempt to describe the HTA processes of a well-known medical device.

Review of early assessment models of innovative medical technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Fasterholdt, Iben; Krahn, Murray; Kidholm, Kristian; Yderstræde, Knud Bonnet; Pedersen, Kjeld Møller

2017-08-01

Hospitals increasingly make decisions regarding the early development of and investment in technologies, but a formal evaluation model for assisting hospitals early on in assessing the potential of innovative medical technologies is lacking. This article provides an overview of models for early assessment in different health organisations and discusses which models hold most promise for hospital decision makers. A scoping review of published studies between 1996 and 2015 was performed using nine databases. The following information was collected: decision context, decision problem, and a description of the early assessment model. 2362 articles were identified and 12 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. An additional 12 studies were identified and included in the review by searching reference lists. The majority of the 24 early assessment studies were variants of traditional cost-effectiveness analysis. Around one fourth of the studies presented an evaluation model with a broader focus than cost-effectiveness. Uncertainty was mostly handled by simple sensitivity or scenario analysis. This review shows that evaluation models using known methods assessing cost-effectiveness are most prevalent in early assessment, but seems ill-suited for early assessment in hospitals. Four models provided some usable elements for the development of a hospital-based model. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medical equipment management

CERN Document Server

Willson, Keith; Tabakov, Slavik

2013-01-01

Know What to Expect When Managing Medical Equipment and Healthcare Technology in Your Organization As medical technology in clinical care becomes more complex, clinical professionals and support staff must know how to keep patients safe and equipment working in the clinical environment. Accessible to all healthcare professionals and managers, Medical Equipment Management presents an integrated approach to managing medical equipment in healthcare organizations. The book explains the underlying principles and requirements and raises awareness of what needs to be done and what questions to ask. I

LLNL medical and industrial laser isotope separation: large volume, low cost production through advanced laser technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Comaskey, B.; Scheibner, K. F.; Shaw, M.; Wilder, J.

1998-01-01

The goal of this LDRD project was to demonstrate the technical and economical feasibility of applying laser isotope separation technology to the commercial enrichment (>lkg/y) of stable isotopes. A successful demonstration would well position the laboratory to make a credible case for the creation of an ongoing medical and industrial isotope production and development program at LLNL. Such a program would establish LLNL as a center for advanced medical isotope production, successfully leveraging previous LLNL Research and Development hardware, facilities, and knowledge

Health Information Technology Continues to Show Positive Effect on Medical Outcomes: Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruse, Clemens Scott; Beane, Amanda

2018-02-05

Health information technology (HIT) has been introduced into the health care industry since the 1960s when mainframes assisted with financial transactions, but questions remained about HIT's contribution to medical outcomes. Several systematic reviews since the 1990s have focused on this relationship. This review updates the literature. The purpose of this review was to analyze the current literature for the impact of HIT on medical outcomes. We hypothesized that there is a positive association between the adoption of HIT and medical outcomes. We queried the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) and Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) by PubMed databases for peer-reviewed publications in the last 5 years that defined an HIT intervention and an effect on medical outcomes in terms of efficiency or effectiveness. We structured the review from the Primary Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), and we conducted the review in accordance with the Assessment for Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR). We narrowed our search from 3636 papers to 37 for final analysis. At least one improved medical outcome as a result of HIT adoption was identified in 81% (25/37) of research studies that met inclusion criteria, thus strongly supporting our hypothesis. No statistical difference in outcomes was identified as a result of HIT in 19% of included studies. Twelve categories of HIT and three categories of outcomes occurred 38 and 65 times, respectively. A strong majority of the literature shows positive effects of HIT on the effectiveness of medical outcomes, which positively supports efforts that prepare for stage 3 of meaningful use. This aligns with previous reviews in other time frames. ©Clemens Scott Kruse, Amanda Beane. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 05.02.2018.

Space Technology for Medical Aids

Science.gov (United States)

1982-01-01

Under one of the earliest contracts awarded in the Apollo lunar landing program, Parker Hannifin Corporation developed and produced equipment for controlling the flow of propellants into the mammoth engines of the Saturn moonbooster. Today, Parker is supplying the huge valves that control propellant flow from the Space Shuttle's external fuel tank to the engines of the Shuttle Orbiter as well as the "peanut valve," named for its small size. In 1977, NASA, recognizing the company's special expertise in miniature systems, asked Parker to participate in the development of an implantable artificial sphincter for control of urinary incontinence. The company's peanut valve experience provided an ideal base for a new biomedical project, the Programmable Implantable Medication System (PIMS) for continuous, computer-directed delivery of precisely metered medication -- insulin, for example -- within a patient's body. The work on PIMS also inspired development of Micromed, a related programmable medication device for external, rather than implantable use. The Biomedical Products Division has also applied its fluid handling expertise to a drugless therapy system called Cryomax for the treatment of such disorders as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

Current Trends on Medical and Pharmaceutical Applications of Inkjet Printing Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Scoutaris, Nicolaos; Ross, Steven; Douroumis, Dennis

2016-08-01

Inkjet printing is an attractive material deposition and patterning technology that has received significant attention in the recent years. It has been exploited for novel applications including high throughput screening, pharmaceutical formulations, medical devices and implants. Moreover, inkjet printing has been implemented in cutting-edge 3D-printing healthcare areas such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Recent inkjet advances enabled 3D printing of artificial cartilage and skin, or cell constructs for transplantation therapies. In the coming years inkjet printing is anticipated to revolutionize personalized medicine and push the innovation portfolio by offering new paths in patient - specific treatments.

Competencies of Career-Entry Medical Technology Graduates of Lyceum of Batangas: Basis for Enhancement of the Internship Training Program

Science.gov (United States)

Valdez, Anacleta P.

2010-01-01

The role of medical technologists in the years due to changes in the laboratory environment. curriculum is needed to prepare graduates for changes in laboratory medicine. It is the ultimate goal of the College to prepare students for career entry positions as medical technology professionals. The curriculum should be designed to prepare the…

The integration of Information and Communication Technology into medical practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Francisco; Hardey, Michael; Torrent, Joan; Ficapal, Pilar

2010-07-01

To identify doctors' utilization of ICT; to develop and characterise a typology of doctors' utilization of ICT and to identify factors that can enhance or inhibit the use of these technologies within medical practice. An online survey of the 16,531 members of the Physicians Association of Barcelona who had a registered email account in 2006 was carried out. Factor analysis, cluster analysis and binomial logit model were undertaken. Multivariate statistics analysis of the 2199 responses obtained revealed two profiles of adoption of ICT. The first profile (38.61% of respondents) represents those doctors who place high emphasis on ICT within their practice. This group is thus referred to as 'integrated doctors'. The second profile (61.39% of respondents) represents those doctors who make less use of ICT so are consequently labelled 'non-integrated doctors'. From the statistical modelling, it was observed that an emphasis on international information; emphasis on ICT for research and medical practice; emphasis on information systems to consult and prescribe; undertaking teaching/research activities; a belief that the use of the Internet improved communication with patients and practice in both public and private health organizations play a positive and significant role in the probability of being an 'integrated doctor'. The integration of ICT within medical practice cannot be adequately understood and appreciated without examining how doctors are making use of ICT within their own practice, organizational contexts and the opportunities and constraints afforded by institutional, professional and patient expectations and demands. 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ite Boerema--surgeon and engineer with a double-Dutch legacy to medical technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Leopardi, Lisa N; Metcalfe, Matthew S; Forde, Allison; Maddern, Guy J

2004-01-01

Ite Boerema, 1902-1978: a Dutchman with a brilliant academic surgical career, and war hero, decorated for resistance to the Germans in World War II. As a man who regarded surgery as "engineering in medicine," we still feel his legacy in medical technology today, specifically with regard to his work on esophageal anastomoses and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This biography places his major contributions to medicine in context of the man himself and of contemporary medicine.

[Ten years retrospective review of the application of digital medical technology in general surgery in China].

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, C H; Lau, Y Y; Zhou, W P; Cai, W

2017-12-01

Digital medical technology is a powerful tool which has forcefully promoted the development of general surgery in China. In this article, we reviews the application status of three-dimensional visualization and three-dimensional printing technology in general surgery, introduces the development situation of surgical navigation guided by optical and electromagnetic technology and preliminary attempt to combined with mixed reality applied to complicated hepatectomy, looks ahead the development direction of digital medicine in the era of artificial intelligence and big data on behalf of surgical robot and radiomics. Surgeons should proactively master these advanced techniques and accelerate the innovative development of general surgery in China.

A Technology Acceptance Model for Inter-Organisational Electronic Medical Records Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jocelyn Handy

2001-11-01

Full Text Available This article reports the findings of the first stage of an ongoing, longitudinal study into the implementation of an interorganisational electronic medical records (EMR system. The study adapted and expanded Davis' (1993 technology acceptance model (TAM to investigate the attitudes of primary care practitioners towards a proposed system for maternity patients. All doctors and midwives holding maternity care contracts with a large urban hospital in New Zealand were sent a questionnaire soliciting their views on a planned EMR system linking the hospital and the primary care sectors. The results showed that whilst Davis' two key factors of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were important to medical professionals, another key factor, perceived system acceptability, which concerns control and management of information is vitally important to the acceptance of the system. The study also showed that the two groups of professionals had differing requirements due to different levels of experience and practice computerisation. Finally, the research highlights a number of wider organisational issues particularly relevant to the use of inter organisational systems in general and healthcare systems in particular.

Tablet technology in medical education in South Africa: a mixed methods study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarus, L; Sookrajh, R; Satyapal, K S

2017-07-31

The purpose of this study was to establish the use of mobile devices by learners at a selected medical school. Distribution of mobile devices was an inaugural initiative implemented by our college. A mixed methodology design using a questionnaire comprising both open-ended and close-ended questions was analysed from 179 (60 male; 119 female) second year medical students registered for the Anatomy course. Open-ended questions were analysed using a thematic approach by identifying emergent ideas and concepts. Close-ended questions were analysed using SPSS V.21.0. Second year medical students at a medical school in South Africa. Three main themes emerged, namely, (a) mobile device engagement, (b) advantages and (c) challenges affecting use of mobile devices. A majority of learners accessed their tablets for lecture notes; more females were inclined to access these devices than males. Challenges experienced included poor wifi connectivity on and off the university campus; some students were not keen on the idea of mobile devices and preferred traditional methods of teaching. Mobile devices have been adopted by learners at our university. Uses of technology outlined are related to Eraut's intentions of informal learning. Integrating tablets into classes had a positive effect on student access to course material. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Developing eLearning Technologies to Implement Competency Based Medical Education: Experiences from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Nagunwa, Thomas; Lwoga, Edda

2012-01-01

This paper provides the practical experience of developing an eLearning technology as a tool to implement Competency-based Medical Education (CBME) in Tanzania medical universities, with a specific focus on Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. The paper provides a background to eLearning and the early attempt to adopt it in 2006 at…

SMS-Based Medical Diagnostic Telemetry Data Transmission Protocol for Medical Sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Ben; Abawajy, Jemal; Kim, Tai-Hoon

2011-01-01

People with special medical monitoring needs can, these days, be sent home and remotely monitored through the use of data logging medical sensors and a transmission base-station. While this can improve quality of life by allowing the patient to spend most of their time at home, most current technologies rely on hardwired landline technology or expensive mobile data transmissions to transmit data to a medical facility. The aim of this paper is to investigate and develop an approach to increase the freedom of a monitored patient and decrease costs by utilising mobile technologies and SMS messaging to transmit data from patient to medico. To this end, we evaluated the capabilities of SMS and propose a generic communications protocol which can work within the constraints of the SMS format, but provide the necessary redundancy and robustness to be used for the transmission of non-critical medical telemetry from data logging medical sensors. PMID:22163845

SMS-Based Medical Diagnostic Telemetry Data Transmission Protocol for Medical Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tai-Hoon Kim

2011-04-01

Full Text Available People with special medical monitoring needs can, these days, be sent home and remotely monitored through the use of data logging medical sensors and a transmission base-station. While this can improve quality of life by allowing the patient to spend most of their time at home, most current technologies rely on hardwired landline technology or expensive mobile data transmissions to transmit data to a medical facility. The aim of this paper is to investigate and develop an approach to increase the freedom of a monitored patient and decrease costs by utilising mobile technologies and SMS messaging to transmit data from patient to medico. To this end, we evaluated the capabilities of SMS and propose a generic communications protocol which can work within the constraints of the SMS format, but provide the necessary redundancy and robustness to be used for the transmission of non-critical medical telemetry from data logging medical sensors.

Healthcare costs for new technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goyen, Mathias; Debatin, Joerg F.

2009-01-01

Continuous ageing of the population coupled with growing health consciousness and continuous technological advances have fueled the rapid rise in healthcare costs in the United States and Europe for the past several decades. The exact impact of new medical technology on long-term spending growth remains the subject of controversy. By all measures it is apparent that new medical technology is the dominant driver of increases in health-care costs and hence insurance premiums. This paper addresses the impact of medical technology on healthcare delivery systems with regard to medical practice and costs. We first explore factors affecting the growth of medical technology and then attempt to provide a means for assessing the effectiveness of medical technology. Avoidable healthcare cost drivers are identified and related policy issues are discussed. (orig.)

Healthcare costs for new technologies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goyen, Mathias; Debatin, Joerg F. [University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg (Germany)

2009-03-15

Continuous ageing of the population coupled with growing health consciousness and continuous technological advances have fueled the rapid rise in healthcare costs in the United States and Europe for the past several decades. The exact impact of new medical technology on long-term spending growth remains the subject of controversy. By all measures it is apparent that new medical technology is the dominant driver of increases in health-care costs and hence insurance premiums. This paper addresses the impact of medical technology on healthcare delivery systems with regard to medical practice and costs. We first explore factors affecting the growth of medical technology and then attempt to provide a means for assessing the effectiveness of medical technology. Avoidable healthcare cost drivers are identified and related policy issues are discussed. (orig.)

A network collaboration implementing technology to improve medication dispensing and administration in critical access hospitals.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakefield, Douglas S; Ward, Marcia M; Loes, Jean L; O'Brien, John

2010-01-01

We report how seven independent critical access hospitals collaborated with a rural referral hospital to standardize workflow policies and procedures while jointly implementing the same health information technologies (HITs) to enhance medication care processes. The study hospitals implemented the same electronic health record, computerized provider order entry, pharmacy information systems, automated dispensing cabinets (ADC), and barcode medication administration systems. We conducted interviews and examined project documents to explore factors underlying the successful implementation of ADC and barcode medication administration across the network hospitals. These included a shared culture of collaboration; strategic sequencing of HIT component implementation; interface among HIT components; strategic placement of ADCs; disciplined use and sharing of workflow analyses linked with HIT applications; planning for workflow efficiencies; acquisition of adequate supply of HIT-related devices; and establishing metrics to monitor HIT use and outcomes.

The patient experience of high technology medical imaging: A systematic review of the qualitative evidence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munn, Zachary; Jordan, Zoe

2011-01-01

Background: When presenting to an imaging department, the person who is to be imaged is often in a vulnerable state, and can experience the scan in a number of ways. It is the role of the radiographer to produce a high quality image and facilitate patient care throughout the imaging process. A qualitative systematic review was performed to synthesise the existent evidence on the patient experience of high technology medical imaging. Only papers relating to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) were identified. Inclusion criteria: Studies that were of a qualitative design that explored the phenomenon of interest, the patient experience of high technology medical imaging. Participants included anyone who had undergone one of these procedures. Methods: A systematic search of medical and allied health databases was conducted. Articles identified during the search process that met the inclusion criteria were then critically appraised for methodological quality independently by two reviewers. Results: During the search and inclusion process, 15 studies were found that were deemed of suitable quality to be included in the review. From the 15 studies, 127 findings were extracted from the included studies. These were analysed in more detail to observe common themes, and then grouped into 33 categories. From these 33 categories, 11 synthesised findings were produced. The 11 synthesised findings highlight the diverse, unique and challenging ways in which people experience imaging with MRI and CT scanners. Conclusion: The results of the review demonstrate the diverse ways in which people experience medical imaging. All health professionals involved in imaging need to be aware of the different ways each patient may experience imaging.

Outsourcing medical data analyses: can technology overcome legal, privacy, and confidentiality issues?

Science.gov (United States)

Brumen, Bostjan; Heričko, Marjan; Sevčnikar, Andrej; Završnik, Jernej; Hölbl, Marko

2013-12-16

Medical data are gold mines for deriving the knowledge that could change the course of a single patient's life or even the health of the entire population. A data analyst needs to have full access to relevant data, but full access may be denied by privacy and confidentiality of medical data legal regulations, especially when the data analyst is not affiliated with the data owner. Our first objective was to analyze the privacy and confidentiality issues and the associated regulations pertaining to medical data, and to identify technologies to properly address these issues. Our second objective was to develop a procedure to protect medical data in such a way that the outsourced analyst would be capable of doing analyses on protected data and the results would be comparable, if not the same, as if they had been done on the original data. Specifically, our hypothesis was there would not be a difference between the outsourced decision trees built on encrypted data and the ones built on original data. Using formal definitions, we developed an algorithm to protect medical data for outsourced analyses. The algorithm was applied to publicly available datasets (N=30) from the medical and life sciences fields. The analyses were performed on the original and the protected datasets and the results of the analyses were compared. Bootstrapped paired t tests for 2 dependent samples were used to test whether the mean differences in size, number of leaves, and the accuracy of the original and the encrypted decision trees were significantly different. The decision trees built on encrypted data were virtually the same as those built on original data. Out of 30 datasets, 100% of the trees had identical accuracy. The size of a tree and the number of leaves was different only once (1/30, 3%, P=.19). The proposed algorithm encrypts a file with plain text medical data into an encrypted file with the data protected in such a way that external data analyses are still possible. The results

The effects of health information technology on the costs and quality of medical care.

Science.gov (United States)

Agha, Leila

2014-03-01

Information technology has been linked to productivity growth in a wide variety of sectors, and health information technology (HIT) is a leading example of an innovation with the potential to transform industry-wide productivity. This paper analyzes the impact of health information technology (HIT) on the quality and intensity of medical care. Using Medicare claims data from 1998 to 2005, I estimate the effects of early investment in HIT by exploiting variation in hospitals' adoption statuses over time, analyzing 2.5 million inpatient admissions across 3900 hospitals. HIT is associated with a 1.3% increase in billed charges (p-value: 5.6%), and there is no evidence of cost savings even five years after adoption. Additionally, HIT adoption appears to have little impact on the quality of care, measured by patient mortality, adverse drug events, and readmission rates. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An assessment of technology-based service encounters & network security on the e-health care systems of medical centers in Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Ching

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Enhancing service efficiency and quality has always been one of the most important factors to heighten competitiveness in the health care service industry. Thus, how to utilize information technology to reduce work load for staff and expeditiously improve work efficiency and healthcare service quality is presently the top priority for every healthcare institution. In this fast changing modern society, e-health care systems are currently the best possible way to achieve enhanced service efficiency and quality under the restraint of healthcare cost control. The electronic medical record system and the online appointment system are the core features in employing e-health care systems in the technology-based service encounters. Methods This study implemented the Service Encounters Evaluation Model, the European Customer Satisfaction Index, the Attribute Model and the Overall Affect Model for model inference. A total of 700 copies of questionnaires from two authoritative southern Taiwan medical centers providing the electronic medical record system and the online appointment system service were distributed, among which 590 valid copies were retrieved with a response rate of 84.3%. We then used SPSS 11.0 and the Linear Structural Relationship Model (LISREL 8.54 to analyze and evaluate the data. Results The findings are as follows: (1 Technology-based service encounters have a positive impact on service quality, but not patient satisfaction; (2 After experiencing technology-based service encounters, the cognition of the service quality has a positive effect on patient satisfaction; and (3 Network security contributes a positive moderating effect on service quality and patient satisfaction. Conclusion It revealed that the impact of electronic workflow (online appointment system service on service quality was greater than electronic facilities (electronic medical record systems in technology-based service encounters. Convenience and

An assessment of technology-based service encounters & network security on the e-health care systems of medical centers in Taiwan.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Hsin Hsin; Chang, Ching Sheng

2008-04-17

Enhancing service efficiency and quality has always been one of the most important factors to heighten competitiveness in the health care service industry. Thus, how to utilize information technology to reduce work load for staff and expeditiously improve work efficiency and healthcare service quality is presently the top priority for every healthcare institution. In this fast changing modern society, e-health care systems are currently the best possible way to achieve enhanced service efficiency and quality under the restraint of healthcare cost control. The electronic medical record system and the online appointment system are the core features in employing e-health care systems in the technology-based service encounters. This study implemented the Service Encounters Evaluation Model, the European Customer Satisfaction Index, the Attribute Model and the Overall Affect Model for model inference. A total of 700 copies of questionnaires from two authoritative southern Taiwan medical centers providing the electronic medical record system and the online appointment system service were distributed, among which 590 valid copies were retrieved with a response rate of 84.3%. We then used SPSS 11.0 and the Linear Structural Relationship Model (LISREL 8.54) to analyze and evaluate the data. The findings are as follows: (1) Technology-based service encounters have a positive impact on service quality, but not patient satisfaction; (2) After experiencing technology-based service encounters, the cognition of the service quality has a positive effect on patient satisfaction; and (3) Network security contributes a positive moderating effect on service quality and patient satisfaction. It revealed that the impact of electronic workflow (online appointment system service) on service quality was greater than electronic facilities (electronic medical record systems) in technology-based service encounters. Convenience and credibility are the most important factors of service quality

SMS-Based Medical Diagnostic Telemetry Data Transmission Protocol for Medical Sensors

OpenAIRE

Townsend, Ben; Abawajy, Jemal; Kim, Tai-Hoon

2011-01-01

People with special medical monitoring needs can, these days, be sent home and remotely monitored through the use of data logging medical sensors and a transmission base-station. While this can improve quality of life by allowing the patient to spend most of their time at home, most current technologies rely on hardwired landline technology or expensive mobile data transmissions to transmit data to a medical facility. The aim of this paper is to investigate and develop an approach to increase...

Retention factors in relation to organisational commitment in medical and information technology services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeannette van Dyk

2012-07-01

Research purpose: The objectives of the study were to investigate empirically: (1 the relationship between employees’ satisfaction with organisational retention factors (measured by the Retention Factors Scale and their organisational commitment (measured by the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire and (2 whether gender, age, race and tenure groups differ significantly in terms of these variables. Motivation for the study: Medical and information technology professionals have specialised and hard to replace skills. They also have strong tendencies to leave their organisations and countries. Understanding the retention factors that will increase their organisational commitment may benefit the organisations who want to retain their valuable talent. Research design, approach and method: The researchers used a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from a purposive sample of 206 staff members who had scarce skills in a South African medical and information technology services company. Correlational and inferential statistics were computed to achieve the objectives. Main findings: The results showed that the participants’ satisfaction with retention factors has a significant relationship with their organisational commitment and that the biographical groups differ significantly in terms of the variables. Practical/managerial implications: The measured retention factors were all associated with human resource management practices that influence employees’ intentions to leave. Contribution/value-add: The results are important to managers who are interested in retaining staff who have scarce skills and provide valuable pointers for designing effective retention strategies.

Research on cultivating medical students' self-learning ability using teaching system integrated with learning analysis technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Hong; Wu, Cheng; He, Qian; Wang, Shi-Yong; Ma, Xiu-Qiang; Wang, Ri; Li, Bing; He, Jia

2015-01-01

Along with the advancement of information technology and the era of big data education, using learning process data to provide strategic decision-making in cultivating and improving medical students' self-learning ability has become a trend in educational research. Educator Abuwen Toffler said once, the illiterates in the future may not be the people not able to read and write, but not capable to know how to learn. Serving as educational institutions cultivating medical students' learning ability, colleges and universities should not only instruct specific professional knowledge and skills, but also develop medical students' self-learning ability. In this research, we built a teaching system which can help to restore medical students' self-learning processes and analyze their learning outcomes and behaviors. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system in supporting medical students' self-learning, an experiment was conducted in 116 medical students from two grades. The results indicated that problems in self-learning process through this system was consistent with problems raised from traditional classroom teaching. Moreover, the experimental group (using this system) acted better than control group (using traditional classroom teaching) to some extent. Thus, this system can not only help medical students to develop their self-learning ability, but also enhances the ability of teachers to target medical students' questions quickly, improving the efficiency of answering questions in class.

Medical student case presentation performance and perception when using mobile learning technology in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Tews, Matthew; Brennan, Kimberly; Begaz, Tomer; Treat, Robert

2011-01-01

Hand-held mobile learning technology provides opportunities for clinically relevant self-instructional modules to augment traditional bedside teaching. Using this technology as a teaching tool has not been well studied. We sought to evaluate medical students' case presentation performance and perception when viewing short, just-in-time mobile learning videos using the iPod touch prior to patient encounters. Twenty-two fourth-year medical students were randomized to receive or not to receive instruction by video, using the iPod Touch, prior to patient encounters. After seeing a patient, they presented the case to their faculty, who completed a standard data collection sheet. Students were surveyed on their perceived confidence and effectiveness after using these videos. Twenty-two students completed a total of 67 patient encounters. There was a statistically significant improvement in presentations when the videos were viewed for the first time (p=0.032). There was no difference when the presentations were summed for the entire rotation (p=0.671). The reliable (alpha=0.97) survey indicated that the videos were a useful teaching tool and gave students more confidence in their presentations. Medical student patient presentations were improved with the use of mobile instructional videos following first time use, suggesting mobile learning videos may be useful in medical student education. Clinical educators should consider whether, in an instance where live bedside or direct interactive teaching is unavailable, using just-in-time educational videos on a handheld device might be useful as a supplemental instructional strategy.

Medical imaging technology shock and volatility of macro economics: Analysis using a three-sector dynamical stochastic general equilibrium REC model.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Shurong; Huang, Yeqing

2017-07-07

The study analysed the medical imaging technology business cycle from 1981 to 2009 and found that the volatility of consumption in Chinese medical imaging business was higher than that of the developed countries. The volatility of gross domestic product (GDP) and the correlation between consumption and GDP is also higher than that of the developed countries. Prior to the early 1990s the volatility of consumption is even higher than GDP. This fact makes it difficult to explain the volatile market using the standard one sector real economic cycle (REC) model. Contrary to the other domestic studies, this study considers a three-sector dynamical stochastic general equilibrium REC model. In this model there are two consumption sectors, whereby one is labour intensive and another is capital intensive. The more capital intensive investment sector only introduces technology shocks in the medical imaging market. Our response functions and Monte-Carlo simulation results show that the model can explain 90% of the volatility of consummation relative to GDP, and explain the correlation between consumption and GDP. The results demonstrated the significant correlation between the technological reform in medical imaging and volatility in the labour market on Chinese macro economy development.

Parents', nurses', and educators' perceptions of risks and benefits of school attendance by children who are medically fragile/technology-dependent.

Science.gov (United States)

Rehm, Roberta S; Rohr, Julie A

2002-10-01

Few studies have focused on school activities of children who are medically fragile/technology-dependent. This article reports on an exploratory, interpretive study that examined the perceptions of parents, nurses, and educators with regard to their school concerns and strategies for ensuring the safety and health of these students. Informants all believed that attending school provided benefits to most children who are medically fragile/technology-dependent, including opportunities for skill acquisition, socialization, and respite care for families. However, they also perceived that there were real risks involved, including obtaining appropriate care, exposure to infection, and social isolation or teasing. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Evolution and acceptability of medical applications of RFID implants among early users of technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Alan D

2007-01-01

RFID as a wireless identification technology that may be combined with microchip implants have tremendous potential in today's market. Although these implants have their advantages and disadvantages, recent improvements how allowed for implants designed for humans. Focus was given to the use of RFID tags and its effects on technology and CRM through a case study on VeriChip, the only corporation to hold the rights and the patent to the implantable chip for humans, and an empirically based study on working professionals to measure perceptions by early adopters of such technology. Through hypotheses-testing procedures, it was found that although some resistance to accept microchip implants was found in several applications, especially among gender, it was totally expected that healthcare and medical record keeping activities would be universally treated in a positive light and the use of authorities (namely governmental agencies) would be equally treated in a negative light by both sexes. Future trends and recommendations are presented along with statistical results collected through personal interviews.

The Promise of E-Platform Technology in Medical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Dawd, Siraj

2016-03-01

Increasing the number as well as improving the capacity and quality of medical professionals to achieve an equitable health care for all is a global priority and a global challenge. In developing countries, which are facing the largest burden of disease, to achieve the above stated objective, there is a big need for more well-trained, competent and dedicated health care providers. Currently, there is a well-documented shortage of trained health workers globally, with the poorest countries having the greatest shortfalls. The time tested, traditional approach of training health care force by importing professionals from overseas is not only prohibitively expensive but also not sufficient to achieve the scale and pace of the required human capacity building. Considering this fact, distance learning programs, which include m-Health as well as other information technology (IT) platforms and tools, can provide unique, timely, cost-effective, easily scalable and valuable opportunities to expand access to training health care manpower in developing countries where the shortage is critical.

QUALITY OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT REPORTS PREPARED FOR THE MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Martin; Boonstra, Tristan; Kelly, Patrick J; Wilson, Andrew; Craig, Jonathan C; Webster, Angela C

2016-01-01

The Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) makes recommendations to the Australian Government for funding health technologies under the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS). Differences in public, clinical, commercial, and political opinions on health expenditure emphasize the importance of defensible funding decisions. We aimed to evaluate the quality of health technology assessment (HTA) reports over time and among health technologies assessed for MSAC. A cohort study was performed of HTA reports prepared for MSAC between 1998 and 2013. We measured the quality of HTA reports using reporting guidelines proposed by the European Collaboration for Assessment of Health Interventions. Individual component scores across eleven domains were calculated, and summed for an overall aggregate score. We used linear regression to investigate any change in quality over time and among the types of technologies assessed. We included 110 HTA reports. The safety (80 percent), effectiveness (84 percent), economic (74 percent), and organizational (99 percent) domains were better reported than the psychological, social, and ethical considerations (34 percent). The basic (75 percent), methodological (62 percent), background (82 percent), contextual (46 percent), status quo (54 percent), and technical information (66 percent) that framed each assessment were inconsistently reported. On average, overall quality scores increased by 2 percent (p technologies (p = 0.22). HTA reports prepared for MSAC are a key tool in allocating scarce health resources. The overall quality of these reports has improved, but the reporting of specific domains and subthemes therein could be better addressed.

Medical technology in Japan the politics of regulation

CERN Document Server

Altenstetter, Christa

2014-01-01

Compared to its American and European counterparts, Japan lags in adopting innovative medical devices and making new treatments and procedures available. Christa Altenstetter examines the contextual conditions of Japan's medical profession and its regulatory framework. Altenstetter looks into how physicians and device companies connect to the government and bureaucracy, the relationships connecting Japanese patients to their medical system and governmental bureaucracy, and how relationships between policymakers and the medical profession are changing.

History of medical radionuclide production.

Science.gov (United States)

Ice, R D

1995-11-01

Radionuclide production for medical use originally was incidental to isotope discoveries by physicists and chemists. Once the available radionuclides were identified they were evaluated for potential medical use. Hevesy first used 32P in 1935 to study phosphorous metabolism in rats. Since that time, the development of cyclotrons, linear accelerators, and nuclear reactors have produced hundreds of radionuclides for potential medical use. The history of medical radionuclide production represents an evolutionary, interdisciplinary development of applied nuclear technology. Today the technology is represented by a mature industry and provides medical benefits to millions of patients annually.

[Development and evaluation of the medical imaging distribution system with dynamic web application and clustering technology].

Science.gov (United States)

Yokohama, Noriya; Tsuchimoto, Tadashi; Oishi, Masamichi; Itou, Katsuya

2007-01-20

It has been noted that the downtime of medical informatics systems is often long. Many systems encounter downtimes of hours or even days, which can have a critical effect on daily operations. Such systems remain especially weak in the areas of database and medical imaging data. The scheme design shows the three-layer architecture of the system: application, database, and storage layers. The application layer uses the DICOM protocol (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) and HTTP (Hyper Text Transport Protocol) with AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript+XML). The database is designed to decentralize in parallel using cluster technology. Consequently, restoration of the database can be done not only with ease but also with improved retrieval speed. In the storage layer, a network RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) system, it is possible to construct exabyte-scale parallel file systems that exploit storage spread. Development and evaluation of the test-bed has been successful in medical information data backup and recovery in a network environment. This paper presents a schematic design of the new medical informatics system that can be accommodated from a recovery and the dynamic Web application for medical imaging distribution using AJAX.

Medical device integration: CIOs must bridge the digital divide between devices and electronic medical records.

Science.gov (United States)

Raths, David

2009-02-01

To get funding approved for medical device integration, ClOs suggest focusing on specific patient safety or staff efficiency pain points. Organizations that make clinical engineering part of their IT team report fewer chain-of-command issues. It also helps IT people understand the clinical goals because the engineering people have been working closely with clinicians for years. A new organization has formed to work on collaboration between clinical engineers and IT professionals. For more information, go to www.ceitcollaboration.org. ECRI Institute has written a guide to handling the convergence of medical technology and hospital networks. Its "Medical Technology for the IT Professional: An Essential Guide for Working in Today's Healthcare Setting" also details how IT professionals can assist hospital technology planning and acquisition, and provide ongoing support for IT-based medical technologies. For more information, visit www.ecri.org/ITresource.

Nano-enabled medical devices based on biosensing principles: technology basis and new concepts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christina G. Siontorou

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Research and development in the biosensors for medical applications remain a focused area benefiting industry, society and knowledge production alike. The framework established is conducive to innovation and rapid assimilation of technological change. At the advent of nanotechnology, the various biosensor classes have been benefited in different ways, scales and rates. This paper studies the nanotechnology-driven shifting of the biosensor innovation system towards new concepts and the broadening, in depth and extent, of its science base. The scientific domain of (nanobiosensors has been studied using a roadmapping framework, especially developed to handle the dynamics and scopes of academic research. The results indicate that the sector seized the opportunities that nanotools offered to solve technology problems and revisit old concepts for optimizing the traditional platforms. Yet, the ability to control nanoeffects fuels a new transition towards bioelectronic integration that sets entirely new horizons for future trajectories.

Technology in nephrology

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Repro

The areas of technology reviewed in this article pertain to .... Dialysis technologies have advanced ..... date pocket on the spine for easy reference. A set of 2 ... South African Medical Association Health and Medical Publishing Group tel (021) ...

Closing the loop of the medication use process using electronic medication administration registration.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenderink, Bertil W; Egberts, Toine C G

2004-08-01

Recent reports and studies of errors in the medication process have raised the awareness of the threat to public health. An essential step in this multi-stage process is the actual administration of a medicine to the patient. The closed loop system is thought to be a way of preventing medication errors. Current information technology can facilitate this process. This article describes the way barcode technology is being used to facilitate medication administration registration on several wards in our hospital and nursing home.

Medical imaging technology

CERN Document Server

Haidekker, Mark A

2013-01-01

Biomedical imaging is a relatively young discipline that started with Conrad Wilhelm Roentgen’s discovery of the x-ray in 1885. X-ray imaging was rapidly adopted in hospitals around the world. However, it was the advent of computerized data and image processing that made revolutionary new imaging modalities possible. Today, cross-sections and three-dimensional reconstructions of the organs inside the human body is possible with unprecedented speed, detail and quality. This book provides an introduction into the principles of image formation of key medical imaging modalities: X-ray projection imaging, x-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, and radionuclide imaging. Recent developments in optical imaging are also covered. For each imaging modality, the introduction into the physical principles and sources of contrast is provided, followed by the methods of image formation, engineering aspects of the imaging devices, and a discussion of strengths and limitations of the modal...

Trends in Health Information Technology Safety: From Technology-Induced Errors to Current Approaches for Ensuring Technology Safety

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Objectives Health information technology (HIT) research findings suggested that new healthcare technologies could reduce some types of medical errors while at the same time introducing classes of medical errors (i.e., technology-induced errors). Technology-induced errors have their origins in HIT, and/or HIT contribute to their occurrence. The objective of this paper is to review current trends in the published literature on HIT safety. Methods A review and synthesis of the medical and life sciences literature focusing on the area of technology-induced error was conducted. Results There were four main trends in the literature on technology-induced error. The following areas were addressed in the literature: definitions of technology-induced errors; models, frameworks and evidence for understanding how technology-induced errors occur; a discussion of monitoring; and methods for preventing and learning about technology-induced errors. Conclusions The literature focusing on technology-induced errors continues to grow. Research has focused on the defining what an error is, models and frameworks used to understand these new types of errors, monitoring of such errors and methods that can be used to prevent these errors. More research will be needed to better understand and mitigate these types of errors. PMID:23882411

Evaluating the Impact of Information Technology Tools to Support the Asthma Medical Home.

Science.gov (United States)

Matiz, L Adriana; Robbins-Milne, Laura; Krause, M Christine; Peretz, Patricia J; Rausch, John C

2016-02-01

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of information technology tools on the outcomes of children with asthma in the medical home. A registry was established for children aged 4 to 18 years with an ICD-9 code for asthma. Changes to the electronic health record included modifications to notes, care plans, and orders. A retrospective analysis of emergency department and in-patient utilization for a cohort of patients was conducted from July 2009 through June 2013. Of the study population (n = 1217), 65% had a classification of asthma severity and 63% were risk-stratified. Seventy percent had a control assessment at least once. Care plan use increased from 5% to 22% and enrollment in care coordination increased from 0.1% to 4%. After 3 years, there was a reduction of emergency department and inpatient admissions for asthma (P information technology tools was associated with improved asthma outcomes. © The Author(s) 2015.

[The Role of Psychological and Technology-related Personality Traits and Knowledge Levels as Factors Influencing Adoption of Telemonitoring by Medical Professionals].

Science.gov (United States)

Dockweiler, C; Hornberg, C

2017-12-01

Information and communication technologies are becoming increasingly important in health care. Randomized clinical trials have shown that telemonitoring in particular leads to improved quality of care as well as shortened hospital stays and reduced health care costs. For its long-term anchoring in medical care, user-oriented technology needs to be developed, taking into account the complex structures of technology acceptance METHODS:: Knowledge of and attitudes towards telemonitoring amongst medical professionals were investigated using an online-based approach with a random sample of n=614; the response rate was 21% (n=133). The emergence of positive attitude patterns towards telemonitoring was analyzed using the relationships between psychological and technology-related personality traits, and perceived knowledge was determined using a regression model. Positive attitudes towards telemonitoring are significantly influenced by the individual's knowledge and agreeableness, which is strongly characterized by altruistic traits and interpersonal trust. There is a strong association with an improvement in the quality of care, while there are differences in attitudes towards telemonitoring between health care sectors and gender. Overall, only 57% of the physicians surveyed feel sufficiently informed about the use of telemonitoring. Medical evidence is crucial for the further development of telemedicine in general and telemonitoring in particular. Improvements need to be made in knowledge transfer, the exchange of best practice solutions and the anchoring of telemedicine in education and training. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Advancements in Undergraduate Medical Education: Meeting the Challenges of an Evolving World of Education, Healthcare, and Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Shelton, P G; Corral, Irma; Kyle, Brandon

2017-06-01

Restructuring of undergraduate medical education (UGME) has occurred from time to time over the past century. Many influences, including the persuasive report of Abraham Flexner in 1910, acted to reorganize medical education in the early twentieth century [1, 2]. In his report, Flexner called on American medical schools to enact higher graduation standards and to stringently adhere to the protocols of mainstream science in their teaching. Prior to this report, UGME had changed little over the previous century but over the last several decades, reform within medical education has become routine. This increasing rate of change has been challenging for those within the realm of undergraduate medical education and can be frustrating to those outside this sphere. Today, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) are typically the driving forces behind such changes, along with acceleration of advances in medical care and technology. The number of changes in the last decade is significant and warrants review by those interested or involved in education of medical students. This article aims to provide a summary of recent changes within UGME. Within the article, changes in both the pre-clerkship (1st and 2nd years) and clinical years (3rd and 4th) will be discussed. Finally, this review will attempt to clarify new terminology and concepts such as the recently released Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). The goal of these UGME changes, as with Flexner's reform, is to ensure future physicians are better prepared for patient care.

Quality management of medical education at the Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, University of Technology Dresden, Germany.

Science.gov (United States)

Dieter, Peter Erich

2008-12-01

The Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, University of Technology Dresden, Germany, was founded in 1993 after the reunification of Germany. In 1999, a reform process of medical education was started together with Harvard Medical International. The traditional teacher and discipline-centred curriculum was replaced by a student-centred, interdisciplinary and integrative curriculum which has been named DIPOL (Dresden Integrative Patient/Problem- Oriented Learning). The reform process was accompanied and supported by a parallel-ongoing Faculty Development Program. In 2004, a Quality Management Program in medical education was implemented, and in 2005 medical education received DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 certification. Quality Management Program and DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 certification were/are unique for the 34 medical schools in Germany. The students played a very important strategic role in all processes. They were/are members in all committees like the Faculty Board, the Board of Study Affairs (with equal representation) and the ongoing audits in the Quality Management Program. Students are the only ones who experience all years of the curriculum and are capable of detecting, for example gaps, overlaps, inconsistencies of the curriculum and assessments. Therefore, the in-depth knowledge of students about the medical school's curriculum is a very helpful and essential tool in curriculum reform processes and Quality Management Programs of medical education. The reform in medical education, the establishment of the Quality Management program and the certification resulted in an improvement of quality and output of medical education and medical research.

Undergraduate medical education in emergency medical care: a nationwide survey at German medical schools.

Science.gov (United States)

Beckers, Stefan K; Timmermann, Arnd; Müller, Michael P; Angstwurm, Matthias; Walcher, Felix

2009-05-12

Since June 2002, revised regulations in Germany have required "Emergency Medical Care" as an interdisciplinary subject, and state that emergency treatment should be of increasing importance within the curriculum. A survey of the current status of undergraduate medical education in emergency medical care establishes the basis for further committee work. Using a standardized questionnaire, all medical faculties in Germany were asked to answer questions concerning the structure of their curriculum, representation of disciplines, instructors' qualifications, teaching and assessment methods, as well as evaluation procedures. Data from 35 of the 38 medical schools in Germany were analysed. In 32 of 35 medical faculties, the local Department of Anaesthesiology is responsible for the teaching of emergency medical care; in two faculties, emergency medicine is taught mainly by the Department of Surgery and in another by Internal Medicine. Lectures, seminars and practical training units are scheduled in varying composition at 97% of the locations. Simulation technology is integrated at 60% (n = 21); problem-based learning at 29% (n = 10), e-learning at 3% (n = 1), and internship in ambulance service is mandatory at 11% (n = 4). In terms of assessment methods, multiple-choice exams (15 to 70 questions) are favoured (89%, n = 31), partially supplemented by open questions (31%, n = 11). Some faculties also perform single practical tests (43%, n = 15), objective structured clinical examination (OSCE; 29%, n = 10) or oral examinations (17%, n = 6). Emergency Medical Care in undergraduate medical education in Germany has a practical orientation, but is very inconsistently structured. The innovative options of simulation technology or state-of-the-art assessment methods are not consistently utilized. Therefore, an exchange of experiences and concepts between faculties and disciplines should be promoted to guarantee a standard level of education in emergency medical care.

Undergraduate medical education in emergency medical care: A nationwide survey at German medical schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Timmermann Arnd

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since June 2002, revised regulations in Germany have required "Emergency Medical Care" as an interdisciplinary subject, and state that emergency treatment should be of increasing importance within the curriculum. A survey of the current status of undergraduate medical education in emergency medical care establishes the basis for further committee work. Methods Using a standardized questionnaire, all medical faculties in Germany were asked to answer questions concerning the structure of their curriculum, representation of disciplines, instructors' qualifications, teaching and assessment methods, as well as evaluation procedures. Results Data from 35 of the 38 medical schools in Germany were analysed. In 32 of 35 medical faculties, the local Department of Anaesthesiology is responsible for the teaching of emergency medical care; in two faculties, emergency medicine is taught mainly by the Department of Surgery and in another by Internal Medicine. Lectures, seminars and practical training units are scheduled in varying composition at 97% of the locations. Simulation technology is integrated at 60% (n = 21; problem-based learning at 29% (n = 10, e-learning at 3% (n = 1, and internship in ambulance service is mandatory at 11% (n = 4. In terms of assessment methods, multiple-choice exams (15 to 70 questions are favoured (89%, n = 31, partially supplemented by open questions (31%, n = 11. Some faculties also perform single practical tests (43%, n = 15, objective structured clinical examination (OSCE; 29%, n = 10 or oral examinations (17%, n = 6. Conclusion Emergency Medical Care in undergraduate medical education in Germany has a practical orientation, but is very inconsistently structured. The innovative options of simulation technology or state-of-the-art assessment methods are not consistently utilized. Therefore, an exchange of experiences and concepts between faculties and disciplines should be promoted to guarantee a standard

Teaching Biochemistry to Medical Technology Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Gomez-Silva, Benito; And Others

1997-01-01

Describes the biochemistry component of study to become a medical technologist in a Chilean university. Provides details of program structure, course content descriptions, and teaching strategies. (DDR)

Utilization of information technology in medical education: a questionnaire survey of students in a Malaysian institution.

Science.gov (United States)

Nurjahan, M I; Lim, T A; Yeong, S W; Foong, A L S; Ware, J

2002-12-01

The objective of this survey was to obtain a self-reported assessment of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by medical students at the International Medical University, Malaysia. Students' perceived skills and extent of usage of ICT were evaluated using a questionnaire. Chi-square analysis were performed to ascertain the association between variables. Further statistical testing using Chi-square test for trend was done when one of the variables was ordered, and Spearman rank correlation when both variables were ordered. Overall, (98%) of students responded to the questionnaire. Twenty seven students (5.7%) did not use a computer either in the university or at home. Most students surveyed reported adequate skills at word processing (55%), e-mailing (78%) and surfing the internet (67%). The results suggests that in order to increase the level of computer literacy among medical students, positive steps would need to be taken, for example the formal inclusion of ICT instruction in the teaching of undergraduate medicine. This will enhance medical students' ability to acquire, appraise, and use information in order to solve clinical and other problems quickly and efficiently in the course of their studies, and more importantly when they graduate.

Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) Projects

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jimmy; Watkins, Sharmila; Baumann, David

2010-01-01

During missions to the Moon or Mars, the crew will need medical capabilities to diagnose and treat disease as well as for maintaining their health. The Exploration Medical Capability Element develops medical technologies, medical informatics, and clinical capabilities for different levels of care during space missions. The work done by team members in this Element is leading edge technology, procedure, and pharmacological development. They develop data systems that protect patient's private medical information, aid in the diagnosis of medical conditions, and act as a repository of relevant NASA life sciences experimental studies. To minimize the medical risks to crew health the physicians and scientists in this Element develop models to quantify the probability of medical events occurring during a mission. They define procedures to treat an ill or injured crew member who does not have access to an emergency room and who must be cared for in a microgravity environment where both liquids and solids behave differently than on Earth. To support the development of these medical capabilities, the Element manages the development of medical technologies that prevent, monitor, diagnose, and treat an ill or injured crewmember. The Exploration Medical Capability Element collaborates with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), the Department of Defense, other Government-funded agencies, academic institutions, and industry.

Digital radiography - usability of experience in medical technology with fluorescent storage material for technical X-ray testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattis, A.; Winterberg, K.H.

1992-01-01

In nearly 100 years' development of X-ray technique, synergy effects between medical technology and non-destructive material testing (NDT) have repeatedly led to new applications. Thus digital radiography in medicine is a 'low dose' process introduced years ago which, by using a specially developed storage foil technique, offers extensive possibilities of application for NDT. (orig.) [de

Development of Motivate4Change Using the Intervention Mapping Protocol: An Interactive Technology Physical Activity and Medication Adherence Promotion Program for Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Oosterom-Calo, Rony; Te Velde, Saskia J; Stut, Wim; Brug, Johannes

2015-07-20

It is important that heart failure (HF) patients adhere to their medication regimen and engage in physical activity. Evidence shows that adherence to these HF self-management behaviors can be improved with appropriate interventions. To further promote medication adherence and physical activity among HF patients, we developed an intervention for hospitalized HF patients. The intervention mapping protocol was applied in the development of the intervention. This entailed performing a needs assessment, defining change objectives, selecting determinants and strategies, and developing the materials. The resulting intervention, Motivate4Change, makes use of interactive technology and provides HF patients with personalized feedback and advice. Specific change objectives were defined. The relevant behavioral determinants for the physical activity program were practical knowledge on physical activity performance and self-efficacy for, and perceived benefits of, physical activity. For medication-taking, the selected determinants were practical knowledge on medication-taking, perceived barriers to medication-taking, beliefs about the necessity and harm regarding the medication prescribed, and beliefs about overprescribing and harm of medication in general. The change objectives and behavior change determinants were translated in feedback and advice strategies in an interactive technology program that included tailored feedback and advice, and role models in videos in which the behaviors and overcoming barriers were demonstrated. Relevant stakeholders were involved in the interventions development process. The intervention was pretested among HF patients and adjustments were made accordingly. The interactive technology physical activity and medication adherence promotion program for hospitalized HF patients was systematically developed using the intervention mapping protocol and was based on the available theory and evidence regarding HF self-management behavior change. The

Methods for studying medical device technology and practitioner cognition: the case of user-interface issues with infusion pumps.

Science.gov (United States)

Schraagen, Jan Maarten; Verhoeven, Fenne

2013-02-01

The aims of this study were to investigate how a variety of research methods is commonly employed to study technology and practitioner cognition. User-interface issues with infusion pumps were selected as a case because of its relevance to patient safety. Starting from a Cognitive Systems Engineering perspective, we developed an Impact Flow Diagram showing the relationship of computer technology, cognition, practitioner behavior, and system failure in the area of medical infusion devices. We subsequently conducted a systematic literature review on user-interface issues with infusion pumps, categorized the studies in terms of methods employed, and noted the usability problems found with particular methods. Next, we assigned usability problems and related methods to the levels in the Impact Flow Diagram. Most study methods used to find user interface issues with infusion pumps focused on observable behavior rather than on how artifacts shape cognition and collaboration. A concerted and theory-driven application of these methods when testing infusion pumps is lacking in the literature. Detailed analysis of one case study provided an illustration of how to apply the Impact Flow Diagram, as well as how the scope of analysis may be broadened to include organizational and regulatory factors. Research methods to uncover use problems with technology may be used in many ways, with many different foci. We advocate the adoption of an Impact Flow Diagram perspective rather than merely focusing on usability issues in isolation. Truly advancing patient safety requires the systematic adoption of a systems perspective viewing people and technology as an ensemble, also in the design of medical device technology. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Manned Spacecraft Center and medical technology

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, R. S.; Pool, S. L.

1974-01-01

A number of medically oriented research and hardware development programs in support of manned space flights have been sponsored by NASA. Blood pressure measuring systems for use in spacecraft are considered. In some cases, complete new bioinstrumentation systems were necessary to accomplish a specific physiological study. Plans for medical research during the Skylab program are discussed along with general questions regarding space-borne health service systems and details concerning the Health Services Support Control Center.

Medically relevant ElectroNeedle technology development.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmidt, Carrie Frances; Thomas, Michael Loren; McClain, Jaime L.; Harper, Jason C.; Achyuthan, Komandoor E.; Ten Eyck, Gregory A.

2008-11-01

ElectroNeedles technology was developed as part of an earlier Grand Challenge effort on Bio-Micro Fuel Cell project. During this earlier work, the fabrication of the ElectroNeedles was accomplished along with proof-of-concept work on several electrochemically active analytes such as glucose, quinone and ferricyanide. Additionally, earlier work demonstrated technology potential in the field of immunosensors by specifically detecting Troponin, a cardiac biomarker. The current work focused upon fabrication process reproducibility of the ElectroNeedles and then using the devices to sensitively detect p-cresol, a biomarker for kidney failure or nephrotoxicity. Valuable lessons were learned regarding fabrication assurance and quality. The detection of p-cresol was accomplished by electrochemistry as well as using fluorescence to benchmark ElectroNeedles performance. Results from these studies will serve as a guide for the future fabrication processes involving ElectroNeedles as well as provide the groundwork necessary to expand technology applications. One paper has been accepted for publication acknowledging LDRD funding (K. E. Achyuthan et al, Comb. Chem. & HTS, 2008). We are exploring the scope for a second paper describing the applications potential of this technology.

Academic medical product development: an emerging alliance of technology transfer organizations and the CTSA.

Science.gov (United States)

Rose, Lynn M; Everts, Maaike; Heller, Caren; Burke, Christine; Hafer, Nathaniel; Steele, Scott

2014-12-01

To bring the benefits of science more quickly to patient care, the NIH National Center Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) supports programs that enhance the development, testing, and implementation of new medical products and procedures. The NCATS clinical and translational science award (CTSA) program is central to that mission; creating an academic home for clinical and translational science and supporting those involved in the discovery and development of new health-related inventions. The technology transfer Offices (TTO) of CTSA-funded universities can be important partners in the development process; facilitating the transfer of medical research to the commercial sector for further development and ultimately, distribution to patients. The Aggregating Intellectual Property (IP) Working Group (AWG) of the CTSA public private partnerships key function committee (PPP-KFC) developed a survey to explore how CTSA-funded institutions currently interface with their respective TTOs to support medical product development. The results suggest a range of relationships across institutions; approximately half have formal collaborative programs, but only a few have well-connected programs. Models of collaborations are described and provided as examples of successful CTSA/TTO partnerships that have increased the value of health-related inventions as measured by follow-on funding and industry involvement; either as a consulting partner or licensee. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Safety problems with the use of medical equipment/devices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rademakers, C.

2009-01-01

In the past decennia medical technology has rapidly developed. Nowadays it plays an important role in all medical fields. It introduced technologic solutions for many medical problems and it definitely increased the possibilities in the medical field to increase the quality of life. However with

Global Budgets and Technology-Intensive Medical Services.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Zirui; Fendrick, A Mark; Safran, Dana Gelb; Landon, Bruce; Chernew, Michael E

2013-06-01

In 2009-2010, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts entered into global payment contracts (the Alternative Quality contract, AQC) with 11 provider organizations. We evaluated the impact of the AQC on spending and utilization of several categories of medical technologies, including one considered high value (colonoscopies) and three that include services that may be overused in some situations (cardiovascular, imaging, and orthopedic services). Approximately 420,000 unique enrollees in 2009 and 180,000 in 2010 were linked to primary care physicians whose organizations joined the AQC. Using three years of pre-intervention data and a large control group, we analyzed changes in utilization and spending associated with the AQC with a propensity-weighted difference-in-differences approach adjusting for enrollee demographics, health status, secular trends, and cost-sharing. In the 2009 AQC cohort, total volume of colonoscopies increased 5.2 percent (p=0.04) in the first two years of the contract relative to control. The contract was associated with varied changes in volume for cardiovascular and imaging services, but total spending on cardiovascular services in the first two years decreased by 7.4% (p=0.02) while total spending on imaging services decreased by 6.1% (pservices, these decreases were also attributable to shifting care to lower-priced providers. No effect was found in orthopedics. As one example of a large-scale global payment initiative, the AQC was associated with higher use of colonoscopies. Among several categories of services whose value may be controversial, the contract generally shifted volume to lower-priced facilities or services.

Medical photography: current technology, evolving issues and legal perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Harting, M T; DeWees, J M; Vela, K M; Khirallah, R T

2015-04-01

Medical photographic image capture and data management has undergone a rapid and compelling change in complexity over the last 20 years. This is because of multiple factors, including significant advances in ease of photograph capture, alongside an evolution of mechanisms of data portability/dissemination, combined with governmental focus on health information privacy. Literature to guide medical, legal, governmental and business professionals when dealing with issues related to medical photography is virtually nonexistent. Herein, we will address the breadth of uses of medical photography, device properties/specific devices utilised for image capture, methods of data transfer and dissemination and patient perceptions and attitudes regarding photography in a medical setting. In addition, we will address the legal implications, including legal precedent, copyright and privacy law, informed consent, protected health information and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as they pertain to medical photography. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Changing Medical School IT to Support Medical Education Transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Spickard, Anderson; Ahmed, Toufeeq; Lomis, Kimberly; Johnson, Kevin; Miller, Bonnie

2016-01-01

Many medical schools are modifying curricula to reflect the rapidly evolving health care environment, but schools struggle to provide the educational informatics technology (IT) support to make the necessary changes. Often a medical school's IT support for the education mission derives from isolated work units employing separate technologies that are not interoperable. We launched a redesigned, tightly integrated, and novel IT infrastructure to support a completely revamped curriculum at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. This system uses coordinated and interoperable technologies to support new instructional methods, capture students' effort, and manage feedback, allowing the monitoring of students' progress toward specific competency goals across settings and programs. The new undergraduate medical education program at Vanderbilt, entitled Curriculum 2.0, is a competency-based curriculum in which the ultimate goal is medical student advancement based on performance outcomes and personal goals rather than a time-based sequence of courses. IT support was essential in the creation of Curriculum 2.0. In addition to typical learning and curriculum management functions, IT was needed to capture data in the learning workflow for analysis, as well as for informing individual and programmatic success. We aligned people, processes, and technology to provide the IT infrastructure for the organizational transformation. Educational IT personnel were successfully realigned to create the new IT system. The IT infrastructure enabled monitoring of student performance within each competency domain across settings and time via personal student electronic portfolios. Students use aggregated performance data, derived in real time from the portfolio, for mentor-guided performance assessment, and for creation of individual learning goals and plans. Poorly performing students were identified earlier through online communication systems that alert the appropriate instructor or coach of

Radiation sterilization of medical products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khurshid, S.J.; Hussain, A.M.

1989-01-01

Radiation sterilization is the best method of sterilization, essentially for single use medical and surgical products. Pakistan has established a commercial gamma irradiation plant for this purpose. This article overviews the advantages and benefits of radiation sterilization to stimulate the interest of industrialists and the users in this technology. This technology can give a better medical care in the country and the growing demand can only be met by bulk sterilization. The radiation sterilized medical products can also compete well with the products sterilized by other methods in the international market, gamma sterilization is accepted internationally and if adopted it can boost our export of medical products. (author)

WE-E-213AB-01: Medical Physics Challenges for Implementation of New Technologies in External Beam Radiotherapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Boiras, C; Bourland, J; Gonzalez, L Brualla; Bulychkin, P; Ford, E; Kazantsev, P; Krylova, T; Medina, A Lopez; Prusova, M; Romanov, D; Ferrando, J Rosello; Willoughby, T; Yan, D; Yu, C; Zvereva, A

2012-06-01

The AAPM has signed two formal Educational Exchange Agreements with the Spanish (SEFM) and the Russian (AMPR) medical physics societies. While the primary purpose of the Agreements is to provide educational opportunities for young medical physicists, the Agreements also contemplate holding joint sessions at scientific congresses. The purpose of this professional AAPM/SEFM/AMPR Joint Symposium is to explore the challenges that medical physicists in the three countries face when new external beam radiotherapy technologies are introduced in their facilities and to suggest potential solutions to limitations in testing equipment and lack of familiarity with protocols. Speakers from the three societies will present reviews of the technical aspects of IMRT, Arc EVIRT (IMAT/VMAT/Rapid Arc), SRS/SRBT, and IGRT/Adaptive radiotherapy, and will describe the status of these technologies in their countries, including the challenges found in tasks such as developing anatomical and biological dose optimization techniques and implementing QA management, risk assessment and patient safety programs. The SEFM will offer AAPM and AMPR members the possibility to participate in collaborative proposals for future research bids in UE and USA based on an ongoing Spanish project for adaptive radiotherapy using functional imaging. A targeted discussion will debate three propositions: the cost/benefit ratio of IGRT, whether IMRT requires IGRT, and the use of non-ionizing radiation technologies for realtime monitoring of prostate IGRT. For these debates, each society has designated one speaker to present and defend either "For" or "Against" the proposition, followed by discussion by all participants. The Symposium presentations and the country-tailored recommendations drawn will be made available to each society for inclusion in their websites. The WGNIMP, the AAPM Work Group charged with executing the AAPM/SEFM and AAPM/AMPR Agreements, will follow up on the commitments made by the AAPM.Di Yan

Adaptive Learning in Medical Education: The Final Piece of Technology Enhanced Learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, Neel; Doherty, Iain; Dong, Chaoyan

2017-09-01

Technology enhanced learning (TEL) is now common practice in the field of medical education. One of the primary examples of its use is that of high fidelity simulation and computerised mannequins. Further examples include online learning modules, electronic portfolios, virtual patient interactions, massive open online courses and the flipped classroom movement. The rise of TEL has occurred primarily due to the ease of internet access enabling the retrieval and sharing of information in an instant. Furthermore, the compact nature of internet ready devices such as smartphones and laptops has meant that access to information can occur anytime and anywhere. From an educational perspective however, the current utilisation of TEL has been hindered by its lack of understanding of learners' needs. This is concerning, particularly as evidence highlights that during medical training, each individual learner has their own learning requirements and often achieves competency at different rates. In view of this, there has been interest in ensuring TEL is more learner aware and that the learning process should be more personalised. Adaptive learning can aim to achieve this by ensuring content is delivered according to the needs of the learner. This commentary highlights the move towards adaptive learning and the benefits of such an intervention.

Enabling medication management through health information technology (Health IT).

Science.gov (United States)

McKibbon, K Ann; Lokker, Cynthia; Handler, Steve M; Dolovich, Lisa R; Holbrook, Anne M; O'Reilly, Daria; Tamblyn, Robyn; J Hemens, Brian; Basu, Runki; Troyan, Sue; Roshanov, Pavel S; Archer, Norman P; Raina, Parminder

2011-04-01

The objective of the report was to review the evidence on the impact of health information technology (IT) on all phases of the medication management process (prescribing and ordering, order communication, dispensing, administration and monitoring as well as education and reconciliation), to identify the gaps in the literature and to make recommendations for future research. We searched peer-reviewed electronic databases, grey literature, and performed hand searches. Databases searched included MEDLINE®, Embase, CINAHL (Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Compendex, Inspec (which includes IEEE Xplore), Library and Information Science Abstracts, E-Prints in Library and Information Science, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, and Business Source Complete. Grey literature searching involved Internet searching, reviewing relevant Web sites, and searching electronic databases of grey literatures. AHRQ also provided all references in their e-Prescribing, bar coding, and CPOE knowledge libraries. Paired reviewers looked at citations to identify studies on a range of health IT used to assist in the medication management process (MMIT) during multiple levels of screening (titles and abstracts, full text and final review for assignment of questions and data abstrction). Randomized controlled trials and cohort, case-control, and case series studies were independently assessed for quality. All data were abstracted by one reviewer and examined by one of two different reviewers with content and methods expertise. 40,582 articles were retrieved. After duplicates were removed, 32,785 articles were screened at the title and abstract phase. 4,578 full text articles were assessed and 789 articles were included in the final report. Of these, 361 met only content criteria and were listed without further abstraction. The final report included data from 428 articles across the seven key

Cost-Effectiveness of Treatment of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia With Chemotherapy Only: The Influence of New Medication and Diagnostic Technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Litsenburg, R.R.L.; Uyl-de Groot, C.A.; Raat, H.; Kaspers, G.J.L.; Gemke, R.J.B.J.

2011-01-01

Background: Survival for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has reached 80-90%. Future improvement in treatment success will involve new technologies and medication, adding to the pressure on limited financial resources. Therefore a retrospective cost-effectiveness analysis of ALL

Perspectives on electronic medical records adoption: electronic medical records (EMR in outcomes research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Belletti

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Dan Belletti1, Christopher Zacker1, C Daniel Mullins21Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, East Hanover, NJ, USA; 2University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, USAAbstract: Health information technology (HIT is engineered to promote improved quality and efficiency of care, and reduce medical errors. Healthcare organizations have made significant investments in HIT tools and the electronic medical record (EMR is a major technological advance. The Department of Veterans Affairs was one of the first large healthcare systems to fully implement EMR. The Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA began by providing an interface to review and update a patient’s medical record with its computerized patient record system. However, since the implementation of the VistA system there has not been an overall substantial adoption of EMR in the ambulatory or inpatient setting. In fact, only 23.9% of physicians were using EMRs in their office-based practices in 2005. A sample from the American Medical Association revealed that EMRs were available in an office setting to 17% of physicians in late 2007 and early 2008. Of these, 17% of physicians with EMR, only 4% were considered to be fully functional EMR systems. With the exception of some large aggregate EMR databases the slow adoption of EMR has limited its use in outcomes research. This paper reviews the literature and presents the current status of and forces influencing the adoption of EMR in the office-based practice, and identifies the benefits, limitations, and overall value of EMR in the conduct of outcomes research in the US.Keywords: electronic medical records, health information technology, medical errors

Improvement of the training system of medical and pharmaceutical specialists at medical college of Saratov State Medical University

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Popkov V.M.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The development of high-technological medical care in Russia has improved the quality of rendering of medical aid to the population, but at the same time the lack of efficient, qualified specialists has been revealed. Today graduates of professional educational institution are characterized by the knowledge in theory and inefficient practical experience, while the employer is interested in the optimal combination of these qualities. All of these facts lead to the necessity of introducing into the educational process technologies of dual training as a tool of approximation theory to practice Saratov. Medical University may share the experience of introduction and organization of elements of the complex educational system in the process of realization of the programs of secondary professional education through the creation of educational-productive cluster on the bases of clinics.

Judicious Use of Simulation Technology in Continuing Medical Education

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Curtis, Michael T.; DiazGranados, Deborah; Feldman, Moshe

2012-01-01

Use of simulation-based training is fast becoming a vital source of experiential learning in medical education. Although simulation is a common tool for undergraduate and graduate medical education curricula, the utilization of simulation in continuing medical education (CME) is still an area of growth. As more CME programs turn to simulation to…

Ethical issues in the application of medical technology to paediatric intensive care: two views of the newborn.

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Wyatt, J S

1996-04-01

Recent advances in medical technology have led to a marked improvement in the chances of survival of sick or preterm infants, thereby stimulating renewed ethical debate on the status of the newborn. Two contradictory attitudes to the medical care of preterm or congenitally malformed newborn infants can be discerned in our pluralistic society. The two attitudes have their historical roots in the classical Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian ethical traditions respectively. The former views newborn infants as of potential value only whereas the latter emphasises the intrinsic worth and dignity of the individual made in God's image. Recent secular philosophical reflection has provided a rationale for infanticide of the sick or abnormal newborn. A Christian approach to the care of the newborn prohibits intentional killing yet may encompass the withdrawal of treatment that is inappropriate or unduly burdensome. Medical care should be based upon respect for the value of the individual, protection of the defenceless from abuse or exploitation, and wise stewardship of limited health-care resources.

A new model for graduate education and innovation in medical technology.

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Yazdi, Youseph; Acharya, Soumyadipta

2013-09-01

We describe a new model of graduate education in bioengineering innovation and design- a year long Master's degree program that educates engineers in the process of healthcare technology innovation for both advanced and low-resource global markets. Students are trained in an iterative "Spiral Innovation" approach that ensures early, staged, and repeated examination of all key elements of a successful medical device. This includes clinical immersion based problem identification and assessment (at Johns Hopkins Medicine and abroad), team based concept and business model development, and project planning based on iterative technical and business plan de-risking. The experiential, project based learning process is closely supported by several core courses in business, design, and engineering. Students in the program work on two team based projects, one focused on addressing healthcare needs in advanced markets and a second focused on low-resource settings. The program recently completed its fourth year of existence, and has graduated 61 students, who have continued on to industry or startups (one half), additional graduate education, or medical school (one third), or our own Global Health Innovation Fellowships. Over the 4 years, the program has sponsored 10 global health teams and 14 domestic/advanced market medtech teams, and launched 5 startups, of which 4 are still active. Projects have attracted over US$2.5M in follow-on awards and grants, that are supporting the continued development of over a dozen projects.

Nanobots The Future Of Medical Treatments

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Somanna M B

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Nanobots will help bridge the technological gaps between physics chemistry and biology on the nano-scale. This will lead to many innovative approaches which will result in new methods and products for both technological and medical-pharmaceutical applications. In this report the following questions are addressed How a nanobot works and how nanobots can contribute to medical technology. Advancement in technology is essential for the treatment of many problems such as implants related to bones and membranes. Furthermore nanobots are good candidates for these complex treatments with their size being very small. Nanobots are also considered and some are already in use as drug delivery systems and contrast agents. It is argued that coated nanobots functionalized with target molecules are interacting with external devices offering real prospective for medical applications.

Role of accelerator science and technology in medical science

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uesaka, Mitsuru

2006-01-01

Updated status of compact and advanced-compact medical accelerator development is reviewed. In their applications, medical physics and medical physicist are necessary. Their educational programs have started in several universities and institutes. As one important new trend on life-science, the research on the synergy of DDS (Drug Delivery System) and physical energies are proposed. (author)

Aerospace Technology Innovation. Volume 10

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, Janelle (Editor); Cousins, Liz (Editor); Bennett, Evonne (Editor); Vendette, Joel (Editor); West, Kenyon (Editor)

2002-01-01

Whether finding new applications for existing NASA technologies or developing unique marketing strategies to demonstrate them, NASA's offices are committed to identifying unique partnering opportunities. Through their efforts NASA leverages resources through joint research and development, and gains new insight into the core areas relevant to all NASA field centers. One of the most satisfying aspects of my job comes when I learn of a mission-driven technology that can be spun-off to touch the lives of everyday people. NASA's New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging is one such initiative. Not only does it promise to provide greater dividends for the country's investment in aerospace research, but also to enhance the American quality of life. This issue of Innovation highlights the new NASA-sponsored initiative in medical imaging. Early in 2001, NASA announced the launch of the New Partnerships in Medical Diagnostic Imaging initiative to promote the partnership and commercialization of NASA technologies in the medical imaging industry. NASA and the medical imaging industry share a number of crosscutting technologies in areas such as high-performance detectors and image-processing tools. Many of the opportunities for joint development and technology transfer to the medical imaging market also hold the promise for future spin back to NASA.

Probability Elicitation to Inform Early Health Economic Evaluations of New Medical Technologies : A Case Study in Heart Failure Disease Management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cao, Qi; Postmus, Douwe; Hillege, Hans L.; Buskens, Erik

Objectives: Early estimates of the commercial headroom available to a new medical device can assist producers of health technology in making appropriate product investment decisions. The purpose of this study was to illustrate how this quantity can be captured probabilistically by combining

Accelerator development for medical applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanabe, Eiji

2007-01-01

Electron linear accelerators have been widely used in medical applications, especially in radiation therapy for cancer treatment. There are more than 7,000 medical electron linear accelerators in the world, treating over 250,000 patients per day. This paper reviews the current status of accelerator applications and technologies in radiation therapy, and presents the anticipated requirements for advanced radiation therapy technology in the foreseeable future. (author)

Modeling nurses' attitude toward using automated unit-based medication storage and distribution systems: an extension of the technology acceptance model.

Science.gov (United States)

Escobar-Rodríguez, Tomás; Romero-Alonso, María Mercedes

2013-05-01

This article analyzes the attitude of nurses toward the use of automated unit-based medication storage and distribution systems and identifies influencing factors. Understanding these factors provides an opportunity to explore actions that might be taken to boost adoption by potential users. The theoretical grounding for this research is the Technology Acceptance Model. The Technology Acceptance Model specifies the causal relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward using, and actual usage behavior. The research model has six constructs, and nine hypotheses were generated from connections between these six constructs. These constructs include perceived risks, experience level, and training. The findings indicate that these three external variables are related to the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of automated unit-based medication storage and distribution systems, and therefore, they have a significant influence on attitude toward the use of these systems.

Antimicrobial Treatment of Polymeric Medical Devices by Silver Nanomaterials and Related Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Polívková, Markéta; Hubáček, Tomáš; Staszek, Marek; Švorčík, Václav; Siegel, Jakub

2017-02-15

Antimicrobial biocompatible polymers form a group of highly desirable materials in medicinal technology that exhibit interesting thermal and mechanical properties, and high chemical resistance. There are numerous types of polymers with antimicrobial activity or antimicrobial properties conferred through their proper modification. In this review, we focus on the second type of polymers, especially those whose antimicrobial activity is conferred by nanotechnology. Nanotechnology processing is a developing area that exploits the antibacterial effects of broad-scale compounds, both organic and inorganic, to form value-added medical devices. This work gives an overview of nanostructured antimicrobial agents, especially silver ones, used together with biocompatible polymers as effective antimicrobial composites in healthcare. The bactericidal properties of non-conventional antimicrobial agents are compared with those of conventional ones and the advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

Antimicrobial Treatment of Polymeric Medical Devices by Silver Nanomaterials and Related Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markéta Polívková

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Antimicrobial biocompatible polymers form a group of highly desirable materials in medicinal technology that exhibit interesting thermal and mechanical properties, and high chemical resistance. There are numerous types of polymers with antimicrobial activity or antimicrobial properties conferred through their proper modification. In this review, we focus on the second type of polymers, especially those whose antimicrobial activity is conferred by nanotechnology. Nanotechnology processing is a developing area that exploits the antibacterial effects of broad-scale compounds, both organic and inorganic, to form value-added medical devices. This work gives an overview of nanostructured antimicrobial agents, especially silver ones, used together with biocompatible polymers as effective antimicrobial composites in healthcare. The bactericidal properties of non-conventional antimicrobial agents are compared with those of conventional ones and the advantages and disadvantages are discussed.

[Display technologies for augmented reality in medical applications].

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Eck, Ulrich; Winkler, Alexander

2018-04-01

One of the main challenges for modern surgery is the effective use of the many available imaging modalities and diagnostic methods. Augmented reality systems can be used in the future to blend patient and planning information into the view of surgeons, which can improve the efficiency and safety of interventions. In this article we present five visualization methods to integrate augmented reality displays into medical procedures and the advantages and disadvantages are explained. Based on an extensive literature review the various existing approaches for integration of augmented reality displays into medical procedures are divided into five categories and the most important research results for each approach are presented. A large number of mixed and augmented reality solutions for medical interventions have been developed as research prototypes; however, only very few systems have been tested on patients. In order to integrate mixed and augmented reality displays into medical practice, highly specialized solutions need to be developed. Such systems must comply with the requirements with respect to accuracy, fidelity, ergonomics and seamless integration into the surgical workflow.

Health Economic Data in Reimbursement of New Medical Technologies: Importance of the Socio-Economic Burden as a Decision-Making Criterion.

Science.gov (United States)

Iskrov, Georgi; Dermendzhiev, Svetlan; Miteva-Katrandzhieva, Tsonka; Stefanov, Rumen

2016-01-01

Assessment and appraisal of new medical technologies require a balance between the interests of different stakeholders. Final decision should take into account the societal value of new therapies. This perspective paper discusses the socio-economic burden of disease as a specific reimbursement decision-making criterion and calls for the inclusion of it as a counterbalance to the cost-effectiveness and budget impact criteria. Socio-economic burden is a decision-making criterion, accounting for diseases, for which the assessed medical technology is indicated. This indicator is usually researched through cost-of-illness studies that systematically quantify the socio-economic burden of diseases on the individual and on the society. This is a very important consideration as it illustrates direct budgetary consequences of diseases in the health system and indirect costs associated with patient or carer productivity losses. By measuring and comparing the socio-economic burden of different diseases to society, health authorities and payers could benefit in optimizing priority setting and resource allocation. New medical technologies, especially innovative therapies, present an excellent case study for the inclusion of socio-economic burden in reimbursement decision-making. Assessment and appraisal have been greatly concentrated so far on cost-effectiveness and budget impact, marginalizing all other considerations. In this context, data on disease burden and inclusion of explicit criterion of socio-economic burden in reimbursement decision-making may be highly beneficial. Realizing the magnitude of the lost socio-economic contribution resulting from diseases in question could be a reasonable way for policy makers to accept a higher valuation of innovative therapies.

An Analysis of Information Technology Adoption by IRBs of Large Academic Medical Centers in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Shan; Botkin, Jeffrey R; Hurdle, John F

2015-02-01

The clinical research landscape has changed dramatically in recent years in terms of both volume and complexity. This poses new challenges for Institutional Review Boards' (IRBs) review efficiency and quality, especially at large academic medical centers. This article discusses the technical facets of IRB modernization. We analyzed the information technology used by IRBs in large academic institutions across the United States. We found that large academic medical centers have a high electronic IRB adoption rate; however, the capabilities of electronic IRB systems vary greatly. We discuss potential use-cases of a fully exploited electronic IRB system that promise to streamline the clinical research work flow. The key to that approach utilizes a structured and standardized information model for the IRB application. © The Author(s) 2014.

[Conceptual foundations of creation of branch database of technology and intellectual property rights owned by scientific institutions, organizations, higher medical educational institutions and enterprises of healthcare sphere of Ukraine].

Science.gov (United States)

Horban', A Ie

2013-09-01

The question of implementation of the state policy in the field of technology transfer in the medical branch to implement the law of Ukraine of 02.10.2012 No 5407-VI "On Amendments to the law of Ukraine" "On state regulation of activity in the field of technology transfers", namely to ensure the formation of branch database on technology and intellectual property rights owned by scientific institutions, organizations, higher medical education institutions and enterprises of healthcare sphere of Ukraine and established by budget are considered. Analysis of international and domestic experience in the processing of information about intellectual property rights and systems implementation support transfer of new technologies are made. The main conceptual principles of creation of this branch database of technology transfer and branch technology transfer network are defined.

Telemedicine technologies information technologies in medicine and telehealth

CERN Document Server

Fong, Bernard; Li, CK

2010-01-01

This book brings together a broad range of topics demonstrating how information and wireless technologies can be used in healthcare. In this book, the authors focus on how medical information can be reliably transmitted through wireless communication networks. It explains how they can be optimized to carry medical information in various situations by utilizing readily available traditional wireless local area network (WLAN) and broadband wireless access (BWA) systems. In addition, the authors discuss consumer healthcare technology, which is becoming more popular as reduction in manufacturing c

Access, attitudes and training in information technologies and evidence-based medicine among medical students at University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Parve, Swapnil; Ershadi, Ali; Karimov, Alexandr; Dougherty, Anne; Ndhlovu, Chiratidzo E; Chidzonga, Midion M; Sadigh, Majid

2016-09-01

The Medical Education Partnership Initiative, has helped to mitigate the digital divide in Africa. The aim of the study was to assess the level of access, attitude, and training concerning meaningful use of electronic resources and EBM among medical students at an African medical school. The study involved medical students at the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences, Harare. The needs assessment tool consisted of a 21-question, paper-based, voluntary and anonymous survey. A total of 61/67 (91%), responded to the survey. 60% of the medical students were 'third-year medical students'. Among medical students, 85% of responders had access to digital medical resources, but 54% still preferred printed medical textbooks. Although 25% of responders had received training in EBM, but only 7% found it adequate. 98% of the participants did not receive formal training in journal club presentation or analytical reading of medical literature, but 77 % of them showed interest in learning these skills. Lack of training in EBM, journal club presentation and analytical reading skills have limited the impact of upgraded technology in enhancing the level of knowledge. This impact can be boosted by developing a curriculum with skills necessary in using EBM.

Machine medical ethics

CERN Document Server

Pontier, Matthijs

2015-01-01

The essays in this book, written by researchers from both humanities and sciences, describe various theoretical and experimental approaches to adding medical ethics to a machine in medical settings. Medical machines are in close proximity with human beings, and getting closer: with patients who are in vulnerable states of health, who have disabilities of various kinds, with the very young or very old, and with medical professionals. In such contexts, machines are undertaking important medical tasks that require emotional sensitivity, knowledge of medical codes, human dignity, and privacy. As machine technology advances, ethical concerns become more urgent: should medical machines be programmed to follow a code of medical ethics? What theory or theories should constrain medical machine conduct? What design features are required? Should machines share responsibility with humans for the ethical consequences of medical actions? How ought clinical relationships involving machines to be modeled? Is a capacity for e...

[VR and AR Applications in Medical Practice and Education].

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Min-Chai; Lin, Yu-Hsuan

2017-12-01

As technology advances, mobile devices have gradually turned into wearable devices. Furthermore, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) are being increasingly applied in medical fields such as medical education and training, surgical simulation, neurological rehabilitation, psychotherapy, and telemedicine. Research results demonstrate the ability of VR, AR, and MR to ameliorate the inconveniences that are often associated with traditional medical care, reduce incidents of medical malpractice caused by unskilled operations, and reduce the cost of medical education and training. What is more, the application of these technologies has enhanced the effectiveness of medical education and training, raised the level of diagnosis and treatment, improved the doctor-patient relationship, and boosted the efficiency of medical execution. The present study introduces VR, AR, and MR applications in medical practice and education with the aim of helping health professionals better understand the applications and use these technologies to improve the quality of medical care.

The role of the women's foreign missions in Serbia during the Great War: Transfer of medicalized technologies and the birth of biopolitics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinković Dušan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is theoretically and methodologically limited to one narrow aspect of the First World War - to the role of the women's foreign missions. The case of Serbia in this context is of particular importance not just in terms of the weight, dramatic and tragic consequences of the Great war, but because the international engagement of women in foreign missions served as a latent social mechanism - the transfer of medicalized political and social technologies and practices that at the time did not existed. In this paper we analyze the conditions and causes of the changes in social roles of women that were related to their activism, professionalism, mobilization and engagement in medical and humanitarian missions during the Great War. This historical event was also the turning point in regard to the social participation of women as well as the milestone for the changes in the culture of gender relations. The Second front as the front of missionary struggle with epidemics, contagious diseases, the sick, the wounded, poverty, hunger, refugees and orphans took more than a third of total war victims in Serbia. We conclude that social events on this front, especially with the help of the medical campaign, represented the transfer of medicalized technologies of control, medication and prevention over the population. Those were the strategic needs of Serbia at the time but also the foundations of the new biopolitics.

The agency of patients and carers in medical care and self-care technologies for interacting with doctors.

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Nunes, Francisco; Andersen, Tariq; Fitzpatrick, Geraldine

2017-06-01

People living with Parkinson's disease engage in self-care for most of the time but, two or three times a year, they meet with doctors to re-evaluate the condition and adjust treatment. Patients and (informal) carers participate actively in these encounters, but their engagement might change as new patient-centred technologies are integrated into healthcare infrastructures. Drawing on a qualitative study that used observations and interviews to investigate consultations, and digital ethnography to understand interactions in an online community, we describe how patients and carers living with Parkinson's participate in the diagnosis and treatment decisions, engage in discussions to learn about certain topics, and address inappropriate medication. We contrast their engagement with a review of self-care technologies that support interactions with doctors, to investigate how these artefacts may influence the agency of patients and carers. Finally, we discuss design ideas for improving the participation of patients and carers in technology-mediated scenarios.

Endangered Literacies? Affordances of Paper-Based Literacy in Medical Practice and Its Persistence in the Transition to Digital Technology

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Sterponi, Laura; Zucchermaglio, Cristina; Alby, Francesca; Fatigante, Marilena

2017-01-01

Under the rapid advances of digital technology, traditional paper-based forms of reading and writing are steadily giving way to digital-based literacies, in theory as well as in application. Drawing on a study of literacy in a medical workplace context, this article examines critically the shift toward computer-mediated textual practices. While a…

The evolution of telemedicine and nano-technology

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Dong Kyun; Young Jung, Eun; Chan Moon, Byung

2012-10-01

This paper will cover definition and history of telemedicine, changes in medical paradigm and roll of telemedicine and roll of nano-technology for evolution of telemedicine. Hypothetically, telemedicine is distance communication for medical purpose and modern definition explains telemedicine as `a system of health care delivery in which physicians examine distant patients through the use of telecommunications technology. Medical service will change to personalized medicine based on gene information to prevent and manage diseases due to decrease of acute diseases, population aging and increase of prevalence in chronic diseases, which means current medical services based on manualized treatment for diseases will change to personalized medicine based on individual gene information. Also, international healthcare will be activated to provide high quality medical services with low cost using developed transportation. Moreover, hospital centered medical services will change to patients centered medical service due to increase of patient's rights. Development in sensor technology is required for telemedicine to be applied as basic infrastructure for medical services. Various researches in nano-biosensor field are conducted due to introduction of new technologies. However, most researches are in fundamental levels that requires more researches for stability and clinical usefulness. Nano technology is expected to achieve innovative development and define new criteria for disease prevention and management.

Video chat technology to remotely quantify dietary, supplement and medication adherence in clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Courtney M; Apolzan, John W; Wright, Courtney; Martin, Corby K

2016-11-01

We conducted two studies to test the validity, reliability, feasibility and acceptability of using video chat technology to quantify dietary and pill-taking (i.e. supplement and medication) adherence. In study 1, we investigated whether video chat technology can accurately quantify adherence to dietary and pill-taking interventions. Mock study participants ate food items and swallowed pills, while performing randomised scripted 'cheating' behaviours to mimic non-adherence. Monitoring was conducted in a cross-over design, with two monitors watching in-person and two watching remotely by Skype on a smartphone. For study 2, a twenty-two-item online survey was sent to a listserv with more than 20 000 unique email addresses of past and present study participants to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the technology. For the dietary adherence tests, monitors detected 86 % of non-adherent events (sensitivity) in-person v. 78 % of events via video chat monitoring (P=0·12), with comparable inter-rater agreement (0·88 v. 0·85; P=0·62). However, for pill-taking, non-adherence trended towards being more easily detected in-person than by video chat (77 v. 60 %; P=0·08), with non-significantly higher inter-rater agreement (0·85 v. 0·69; P=0·21). Survey results from study 2 (n 1076 respondents; ≥5 % response rate) indicated that 86·4 % of study participants had video chatting hardware, 73·3 % were comfortable using the technology and 79·8 % were willing to use it for clinical research. Given the capability of video chat technology to reduce participant burden and outperform other adherence monitoring methods such as dietary self-report and pill counts, video chatting is a novel and promising platform to quantify dietary and pill-taking adherence.

Factors that influence the recognition, reporting and resolution of incidents related to medical devices and other healthcare technologies: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Polisena, Julie; Gagliardi, Anna; Urbach, David; Clifford, Tammy; Fiander, Michelle

2015-03-29

Medical devices have improved the treatment of many medical conditions. Despite their benefit, the use of devices can lead to unintended incidents, potentially resulting in unnecessary harm, injury or complications to the patient, a complaint, loss or damage. Devices are used in hospitals on a routine basis. Research to date, however, has been primarily limited to describing incidents rates, so the optimal design of a hospital-based surveillance system remains unclear. Our research objectives were twofold: i) to explore factors that influence device-related incident recognition, reporting and resolution and ii) to investigate interventions or strategies to improve the recognition, reporting and resolution of medical device-related incidents. We searched the bibliographic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and PsycINFO database. Grey literature (literature that is not commercially available) was searched for studies on factors that influence incident recognition, reporting and resolution published and interventions or strategies for their improvement from 2003 to 2014. Although we focused on medical devices, other health technologies were eligible for inclusion. Thirty studies were included in our systematic review, but most studies were concentrated on other health technologies. The study findings indicate that fear of punishment, uncertainty of what should be reported and how incident reports will be used and time constraints to incident reporting are common barriers to incident recognition and reporting. Relevant studies on the resolution of medical errors were not found. Strategies to improve error reporting include the use of an electronic error reporting system, increased training and feedback to frontline clinicians about the reported error. The available evidence on factors influencing medical device-related incident recognition, reporting and resolution by healthcare professionals can inform data collection and

USE AND KNOWLEDGE ON THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICAL EDUCATION -BOSNIAN AND HERZEGOVINIAN EXPERIENCE.

Science.gov (United States)

Masic, Izet; Begic, Edin; Begic, Nedim

2016-04-01

Information technologies (IT) are becoming a tool without which further education of both medical students and doctors would not be possible. The aim of this paper was to analyze the use of IT in the prism of two systems, the old system and the Bologna system. Answers from questionnaires from total of 459 students (2012/13-2015/16 generation) were analyzed. The presence of large number of female students, in both systems is significant (p education, information (via Internet) and for communication (e-mail, chat, social networks) (68.5% of the old system and 84% of students of the Bologna system have chosen all 4 offered answers). MS Word and MS Power Point are significantly more used compared to the use of MS Excel in both systems (p Education in software solutions that are connected to databases processing, must be imperative in reform of the teaching process. IT can only improve the teaching process, the organization of the education system in most eminent universities is undeniably linked to information technologies.

Medical Imaging System

Science.gov (United States)

1991-01-01

The MD Image System, a true-color image processing system that serves as a diagnostic aid and tool for storage and distribution of images, was developed by Medical Image Management Systems, Huntsville, AL, as a "spinoff from a spinoff." The original spinoff, Geostar 8800, developed by Crystal Image Technologies, Huntsville, incorporates advanced UNIX versions of ELAS (developed by NASA's Earth Resources Laboratory for analysis of Landsat images) for general purpose image processing. The MD Image System is an application of this technology to a medical system that aids in the diagnosis of cancer, and can accept, store and analyze images from other sources such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

A dual use case study of space technologies for terrestrial medical applications (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Cozmuta, Ioana

2017-05-01

Many challenges exist in understanding the human body as a whole, its adaptability, its resilience, its immunological response, its healing and regeneration power. New knowledge is usually obtained by exploring unique conditions and environments and space is one such variable. Primarily, these attributes have been studied in space for the purpose of understanding the effect of the space environment on long duration space travel. However a myriad of lessons learned have emerged that are important for terrestrial medicine problems such as cardiovascular changes, intracranial pressure changes, vision changes, reduced immunity, etc. For medical study purposes, the changes induced by the space environment on the human body are in general fast and predictable; they persist while in the space environment but also revert to the initial pre-flight healthy state upon return to Earth. This provides a unique cycle to study wellness and disease prediction as well as to develop more effective countermeasures for the benefit of people on earth. At a scientific level, the environment of space can be used to develop new lines of investigations and new knowledge to push the terrestrial state of the art (i.e. study of phase diagrams, identification of new system's states, etc). Moreover, the specialized requirements for space medicine have driven advances in terrestrial medical technologies in areas such as monitoring, diagnostic, prevention and treatment. This talk will provide an overview of compelling examples in key areas of interest for terrestrial medical applications.

Medical Simulations for Exploration Medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes, David; Suresh, Rahul; Pavela, James; Urbina, Michelle; Mindock, Jennifer; Antonsen, Erik

2018-01-01

Medical simulation is a useful tool that can be used to train personnel, develop medical processes, and assist cross-disciplinary communication. Medical simulations have been used in the past at NASA for these purposes, however they are usually created ad hoc. A stepwise approach to scenario development has not previously been used. The NASA Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) created a medical scenario development tool to test medical procedures, technologies, concepts of operation and for use in systems engineering (SE) processes.

Health economic data in reimbursement of new medical technologies: importance of the socio-economic burden as a decision-making criterion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Georgi Iskrov

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Background: Assessment and appraisal of new medical technologies require a balance between the interests of different stakeholders. Final decision should take into account the societal value of new therapies.Objective: This perspective paper discusses the socio-economic burden of disease as a specific reimbursement decision-making criterion and calls for the inclusion of it as a counterbalance to the cost-effectiveness and budget impact criteria.Results/Conclusions: Socio-economic burden is a decision-making criterion, accounting for diseases, for which the assessed medical technology is indicated. This indicator is usually researched through cost-of-illness studies that systematically quantify the socio-economic burden of diseases on the individual and on the society. This is a very important consideration as it illustrates direct budgetary consequences of diseases in the health system and indirect costs associated with patient or carer productivity losses. By measuring and comparing the socio-economic burden of different diseases to society, health authorities and payers could benefit in optimizing priority setting and resource allocation.New medical technologies, especially innovative therapies, present an excellent case study for the inclusion of socio-economic burden in reimbursement decision-making. Assessment and appraisal have been greatly concentrated so far on cost-effectiveness and budget impact, marginalizing all other considerations. In this context, data on disease burden and inclusion of explicit criterion of socio-economic burden in reimbursement decision-making may be highly beneficial. Realizing the magnitude of the lost socio-economic contribution resulting from diseases in question could be a reasonable way for policy makers to accept a higher valuation of innovative therapies.