Biomedical subjects

Madhu C Reddy

Publications and source records attributed to Madhu C Reddy.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Technology, work, and information flows: lessons from the implementation of a wireless alert pager system.

The combination of collaborative work practices and information technology affect the flow of information in clinical settings. The introduction of a new technology into these settings can change not only established work practices but also the information flows. In this paper, we examine the introduction of a wireless alerts pager in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). Through a qualitative study, we analyze the effects that this new information tool had on both the work practices in the SICU and the information flow in the unit. We describe four challenges that SICU staff members faced with respect to the alerts pagers. We found that the pager provided new routes of information to SICU staff but in doing so disrupted existing work practices and information flows.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2004

Incorporating ideas from computer-supported cooperative work.

Many information systems have failed when deployed into complex health-care settings. We believe that one cause of these failures is the difficulty in systematically accounting for the collaborative and exception-filled nature of medical work. In this methodological review paper, we highlight research from the field of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) that could help biomedical informaticists recognize and design around the kinds of challenges that lead to unanticipated breakdowns and eventual abandonment of their systems. The field of CSCW studies how people collaborate with each other and the role that technology plays in this collaboration for a wide variety of organizational settings. Thus, biomedical informaticists could benefit from the lessons learned by CSCW researchers. In this paper, we provide a focused review of CSCW methods and ideas-we review aspects of the field that could be applied to improve the design and deployment of medical information systems. To make our discussion concrete, we use electronic medical record systems as an example medical information system, and present three specific principles from CSCW: accounting for incentive structures, understanding workflow, and incorporating awareness.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2003

Challenges to physicians' use of a wireless alert pager.

Pagers, personal data assistants (PDAs) and other devices that have wireless connectivity are becoming a popular method for delivering patient related information to medical decision makers. Although medical informatics research has emphasized the design, and implementation of pagers as event notification mechanisms, researchers have not paid as much attention to how this technology impacts medical work. We present a case study of physicians in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) using wireless alert pagers. The pagers provide a variety of alphanumeric clinical alert messages and are widely used by SICU physicians. However, the use of the pagers has created unanticipated challenges to the physicians' traditional work practices. These challenges include: (1) flattening of hierarchical workflows, (2) coping with information overload and missing context, and (3) lack of feedback. These challenges are tied to both the specific technical design of the system and the traditional structure of medical work.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2002

Asking questions: information needs in a surgical intensive care unit.

Even in the information-rich environment of hospitals, health-care providers face challenges in addressing their various information needs. Through a study of a patient-care team in a tertiary care Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), we expanded our understanding of health-care providers' information needs in two important ways. First, the study focused on a patient-care team instead of individual health-care providers. Second, information needs were examined in a particular organizational setting, the SICU, which had not been previously studied. We found that organizational information was extremely important to SICU team members. Furthermore, the first resource that team members utilized was not electronic or paper but rather human: another team member.

Humans↗