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Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed2006

Enhancing communication in the 21st century.

Quality communication is a critical component in all aspects of public health and clinical care. The quality of the process of communication between the patient/family and the physician affects the quality of the patient/family-physician relationship, patient behavior, and health outcomes. Advances in communication and information technologies can enhance the quality of communication, not only between patients/families and their physicians but also between clinicians and public health professionals. Communication and integration between the domains of personal health and public health have the potential to improve the delivery of health care and public health services and to yield the desired seamless continuum of health care. This article discusses some of the advances and efforts in the use of information technology to facilitate enhanced communication for quality health care.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Training synergies between medical informatics and health services research: successes and challenges.

Stanford's two decades of success in linking medical informatics and health services research in both training and investigational activities reflects advantageous geography and history as well as natural synergies in the two areas. Health services research and medical informatics at Stanford have long shared a quantitative, analytic orientation, along with linked administration, curriculum, and clinical activities. Both the medical informatics and the health services research curricula draw on diverse course offerings throughout the university, and both the training and research overlap in such areas as outcomes research, large database analysis, and decision analysis/decision support. The Stanford experience suggests that successful integration of programs in medical informatics and health services research requires areas of overlapping or synergistic interest and activity among the involved faculty and, hence, in time, among the students. This is enhanced by a mixture of casual and structured contact among students from both disciplines, including social interactions. The challenges to integration are how to overcome any geographic separation that may exist in a given institution; the proper management of relationships with those sub-areas of medical informatics that have less overlap with health services research; and the need to determine how best to exploit opportunities for collaboration that naturally occur.

California↗
PubMed2004

Health information privacy and syndromic surveillance systems.

The development of syndromic surveillance systems to detect potential terrorist-related outbreaks has the potential to be a useful public health surveillance activity. However, the perception of how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy Rule applies to the disclosure of certain public health information might affect the ability of state and local health departments to implement syndromic surveillance systems within their jurisdictions. To assess this effect, a multiple-question survey asked respondents to share their experiences regarding patient confidentiality and HIPAA Privacy Rule requirements when implementing syndromic surveillance systems. This assessment summarizes the results of a national survey of state terrorism-preparedness coordinators and state epidemiologists and reflects the authors' and others' experiences with implementation.

Bioterrorism↗
PubMed2000

Outreach to public health professionals: lessons learned from a collaborative Iowa public health project.

In 1995, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and the Public Health Service (PHS) recommended that special attention be given to the information needs of unaffiliated public health professionals. In response, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) Greater Midwest Region initiated a collaborative outreach program for public health professionals working in rural east and central Iowa. Five public health agencies were provided equipment, training, and support for accessing the Internet. Key factors in the success of this project were: (1) the role of collaborating agencies in the implementation and ongoing success of information access outreach projects; (2) knowledge of the socio-cultural factors that influence the information-seeking habits of project participants (public health professionals); and (3) management of changing or varying technological infrastructures. Working with their funding, personnel from federal, state, and local governments enhanced the information-seeking skills of public health professionals in rural eastern and central Iowa communities.

Computer Communication Networks↗
PubMed2006

[Analysis of the nursing interventions performed by public health nurses in health centers using the NIC].

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify nursing interventions performed by public health nurses in health centers. METHOD: Data was collected by the taxonomy of Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC 3rd: 486 nursing interventions) from 131 public health nurses in health centers and analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULT: As its result, more than 50% of public health nurses performed 137 nursing interventions at least monthly. The most frequently used intervention class was "activity and exercise management", followed by "physical comfort promotion", "community health promotion", "life span care", "coping assistance", "self care facilitation", "information management", "nutrition support", "community risk management" and "patient education". One hundred twenty nursing interventions were rarely performed by 90% or more of the nurses. Most of them were in the physical complex domain. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, 137 interventions were performed by public health nurses at least monthly. NIC is helpful to build a standardized language for public health nursing.

Hospitals, Community↗
PubMed2006

Log files analysis to assess the use and workload of a dynamic web server dedicated to end-stage renal disease.

A Multi-Source Information System (MSIS), has been designed for the Renal Epidemiology and Information Network (REIN) dedicated to End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). MSIS aims at providing reliable follow-up data for ESRD patients. It is based on an n-tier architecture, made out of a universal client, a dynamic Web server connected to a production database and to a data warehouse. MSIS is operational since 2002 and progressively deployed in 9 regions in France. It includes 16,677 patients. We show that the analysis of MSIS web log files allows evaluating the use of the system and the workload in a public-health perspective.

France↗
PubMed2004

[The application of GIS to environmental health informatics].

In order to improve the management of environment and human health, this paper presented the new concept of human health, and developed the environmental health informatics. Its features, structure and major approach for application have been summarized. The future development of environmental health informatics was discussed.

Environmental Health↗
PubMed2004

Visualizing the infrastructure of US healthcare using Internet GIS: a community health informatics approach for reducing health disparities.

Policy makers and healthcare providers often lack the resources or information to make effective healthcare decisions that impact their communities. Information must therefore be delivered to in a way that maximizes healthcare decision making. This paper examines the infrastructure of U.S. Healthcare using an Internet-based geographic information system (GIS). Internet GIS assists communities in accessing health information via the Internet, thereby leveling the playing field between urban and less affluent rural communities in the United States. A Community Health Informatics approach of incorporating "place" in identifying and reducing health dis-parities and transforming patients to active consumers of health care may ameliorate the impact of devolution and provide a foundation for effective decision support. The Internet GIS includes data visualization tools that provide the public, health care providers, and policy makers with tools to examine socio-economic and demographic factors that impact the distribution of health services

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2006

Surveillance of methadone-related adverse drug events using multiple public health data sources.

Healthcare safety and quality surveillance is increasingly conducted by public health agencies. We describe a biomedical informatics method that uses multiple public health data sources to perform surveillance of methadone-related adverse drug events. Data from Utah medical examiner records, vital statistics, emergency department encounter administrative data and a database of controlled substances prescriptions are used to examine trends in state-wide adverse events related to methadone. From 1997 to 2004, population-adjusted methadone prescriptions increased 727%, with evidence to suggest the rise in the methadone prescription rate is for treatment of pain, not addiction therapy. During the same period of time, population adjusted, accidental methadone-related deaths in medical examiner data increased 1770%. Population adjusted methadone-related emergency department encounters rose 612% from 1997 to 2003. Our results suggest that the increase in methadone prescription rates from 1997 to 2004 was accompanied by a concurrent increase in methadone-related morbidity and mortality. Although patient data is not linked between data sources, our results demonstrate that utilizing multiple public health data sources captures more cases and provides more clinical detail than individual data sources alone. Our approach is a successful biomedical informatics approach for surveillance of adverse events and utilizes widely available public health data sources, as well as an emerging source of public health data, controlled substance prescription registries.

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗
PubMed2004

Vaccinovigilance in Europe--need for timeliness, standardization and resources.

OBJECTIVE: To identify gaps in the systems for reporting adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in Europe by means of an interactive database constructed using a standardized approach. METHODS: A comparative survey was conducted in 1999-2000, using structured questionnaires addressed to the government authorities responsible for national immunization programmes and drug safety surveillance in all European Union (EU) Member States and in Norway and Switzerland. FINDINGS: The reporting of adverse vaccine reactions (AVRs) is covered by regulations in 13 of the 17 countries. Four countries have a specialized expert group with responsibility for vaccine safety. Only six professionals work full-time on vaccine safety in the 17 countries; in four of these countries the person is medically qualified. Fourteen countries have centralized reporting systems; in 14 countries the responsible authority is the drug regulatory agency. AEFI are reported using the procedure used for adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in all except four countries. The reporting form is not usually designed for vaccines and important details may therefore not be requested. Clinical definitions for vaccine reactions are not available. Twelve countries have appropriate official definitions for events or reactions, but the list of reportable events varies considerably between countries. The assessment of adverse vaccine reactions (AVRs) is hampered by lack of exact denominator data. Feedback to the rapporteurs was provided in 13 countries, but its quality was highly variable. CONCLUSION: The database facilitated a simple comparison of vaccinovigilance systems across participating countries. Most of the problems identified related to the reporting and analysis of AEFI could be solved through standardization and intensified international collaboration. On a national level, functional vaccinovigilance systems should be the shared responsibility of the drug regulatory authority and the national immunization programme. The resources for development and management of vaccine safety systems should be urgently improved.

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗
PubMed2005

ICD coding changes and discontinuities in trends in cause-specific mortality in six European countries, 1950-99.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate how often coding changes between and within revisions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) complicate the description of long-term trends in cause-specific mortality. METHODS: Data on cause-specific mortality between 1950 and 1999 for men and women aged 60 and older were obtained from Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Data were obtained by five-year age groups. We constructed a concordance table using three-digit ICD codes. In addition we evaluated the occurrence of mortality discontinuities by visually inspecting cause-specific trends and country-specific background information. Evaluation was also based on quantification of the discontinuities using a Poisson regression model (including period splines). We compared the observed trends in cause-specific mortality with the trends after adjustment for the discontinuities caused by changes to coding. FINDINGS: In 45 out of 416 (10.8 %) instances of ICD revisions to cause-specific mortality codes, significant discontinuities that were regarded as being due to ICD revisions remained. The revisions from ICD-6 and ICD-7 to ICD-8 and a wide range of causes of death, with the exception of the specific cancers, were especially affected. Incidental changes in coding rules were also important causes of discontinuities in trends in cause-specific mortality, especially in England and Wales, Finland and Sweden. Adjusting for these discontinuities can lead to significant changes in trends, although these primarily affect only limited periods of time. CONCLUSION: Despite using a carefully constructed concordance table based on three-digit ICD codes, mortality discontinuities arising as a result of coding changes (both between and within revisions) can lead to substantial changes in long-term trends in cause-specific mortality. Coding changes should therefore be evaluated by researchers and, where necessary, controlled for.

Aged↗