Biomedical subjects

Kathy A Johnson-Throop

Publications and source records attributed to Kathy A Johnson-Throop.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Human-centered design of a distributed knowledge management system.

Many healthcare technology projects fail due to the lack of consideration of human issues, such as workflow, organizational change, and usability, during the design and implementation stages of a project's development process. Even when human issues are considered, the consideration is typically on designing better user interfaces. We argue that human-centered computing goes beyond a better user interface: it should include considerations of users, functions and tasks that are fundamental to human-centered computing. From this perspective, we integrated a previously developed human-centered methodology with a Project Design Lifecycle, and we applied this integration in the design of a complex distributed knowledge management system for the Biomedical Engineer (BME) domain in the Mission Control Center at NASA Johnson Space Center. We analyzed this complex system, identified its problems, generated systems requirements, and provided specifications of a replacement prototype for effective organizational memory and knowledge management. We demonstrated the value provided by our human-centered approach and described the unique properties, structures, and processes discovered using this methodology and how they contributed in the design of the prototype.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2004

An information flow analysis of a distributed information system for space medical support.

In this study, we applied the methodology grounded in human-centered distributed cognition principles to the information flow analysis of a highly intensive, distributed and complex environment--the Biomedical Engineer (BME) console system at NASA Johnson Space Center. This system contains disparate human and artificial agents and artifacts. Users and tasks of this system were analyzed. An ethnographic study and a detailed communication pattern analysis were conducted to gain deeper insight and better understanding of the information flow patterns and the organizational memory of the current BME console system. From this study, we identified some major problems and offered recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this system. We believe that this analysis methodology can be used in other distributed information systems, such as a healthcare environment.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed2004

A framework of interruptions in distributed team environments.

In this study, we developed a framework for the study of interruptions in distributed team environments from the perspectives of distributed cognition and activity theory. The core of this framework is the Action Coding System (ACS) that provides a language for the description, representation, categorization, and analysis of interruptions at the level of activities that are meaningful for team performance. We demonstrated the practical utility and theoretical significance of ACS in an its application to a real-world, complex, dynamic, and mission critical environment--the Biomedical Engineer (BME) console in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center. We discussed the potentials of our framework for the design of interruption management systems that could potentially eliminate some interruptions by information redesign, delegate others to autonomous agents, and help human agents to better manage the rest.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

PubMed2003

Outcomes and methods in telemedicine evaluation.

One hundred and four articles, published from 1966 to 2000, were reviewed to investigate telemedicine evaluation studies in terms of methods and outcomes. A total of 112 evaluations were reported in these 104 articles. Two types of evaluations were evaluated: clinical and nonclinical. Within the clinical evaluations, three were on clinical effectiveness, 26 on patient satisfaction, 49 on diagnostic accuracy, and nine on cost. In the non-clinical evaluations, 15 articles discussed technical issues relating to digital images, such as bandwidth, resolution, and color, and 10 articles assessed management issues concerning efficiency of care, such as avoiding unnecessary patient transfer, or saving time. Of the 112 evaluations, 72 were descriptive in nature. The main methods used in the remaining 40 articles used quantitative methods. Nineteen articles employed statistical techniques, such as receiver operating characteristics curve (three evaluations) and kappa values (seven evaluations). Only one article utilized a qualitative approach to describe a telemedicine system. Currently, there are a number of good reports on diagnostic accuracy, satisfaction, and technological evaluation. However, clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are important parameters, and they have received limited attention. Since telemedicine evaluations tend to explore various outcomes, it may be appropriate to evaluate from a multidisciplinary perspective, and to utilize various methodologies.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

Designing a knowledge management system for distributed activities: a human centered approach.

In this study we use the principles of distributed cognition and the methodology of human-centered distributed information design to analyze a complex distributed human-computer system, identify its problems, and generate design requirements and implementation specifications of a replacement prototype for effective organizational memory and knowledge management. We argue that a distributed human-computer information system has unique properties, structures and processes that are best described in the language of distributed cognition. Distributed cognition provides researchers a richer theoretical understanding of human-computer interactions and enables re-searchers to capture the phenomenon that emerges in social interactions as well as the interactions between people and structures in their environment.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2003

Decision support systems to identify different species of malarial parasites.

In this project, medical expert systems were designed to aid technicians, students and scientists in identifying various species of malarial parasite from blood smears. The rule based system was found to intelligently ask pertinent questions to accurately and efficiently identify the species of malarial parasite. The probabilistic system provided quantitative feedback as to the likelihood of a diagnosis of a species of malaria. Medical expert systems can potentially streamline the process of malarial species identification, and can aid in training new technicians and scientists in this important skill.

Animals↗