EHR database drastically enhances medical research

Using electronic health record databases for medical research provided a "tremendous" opportunity to "improve medical outcomes." However, she also pointed out the limitations of relying only on health records for research.

"[I]f [a record] is incomplete or flawed, you're stuck with it and you better realize it so that your analysis isn't skewed," Hoffman said.

To learn more:
- here's article in The Plain Dealer
- here's the JAMIA study's abstract

Related Articles:
Computer algorithms can mine EHR free text for information
EHRs hold promise for genetic testing research
Cleveland Clinic backs company selling searchable patient data

Read more about: Cleveland Clinic, database

Screen reader for the visually impaired

Translating text into audio is one of the solutions people with limited or no eyesight employ to overcome that barrier. Thunder is one of many award-winning, free screen-reader program that does just that.

It helps blind and visually impaired people navigate their computers by reading text, menus, links and buttons. Using Thunder, you won't need your mouse. You'll be able to hear buttons and icons to find your way around your computer. Thunder is available in five languages and installs quickly and easily. There are also several manuals for beginning users to help you make the most of this life-changing software.

Cost: Free, Systems: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 www.screenreader.net

GPS navigation for the blind: BlindSquare you can. It's an app designed to help the visually impaired find their way around town.

It uses the iPhone's sophisticated sensors and GPS to track where you are and tell you what's around you. It's voice activated and includes high-quality speech synthesis to help you navigate around the city.

Database of Downloadable Safety and Quality Tools & Resources

Becker's Operating Room Clinical Quality & Infection Control finds and is provided with a wide range of downloadable tools and resources designed to help healthcare providers improve the quality of care they can provide to their patients and ensure a safe working environment for their staff members. Read more

Quality Improvement Interventions to Address Health Disparities

AHRQ:

Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science August 2012  This evidence report is part of a new series, Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. This report evaluates the effectiveness of quality improvement (QI) strategies in reducing disparities in health and health care.  View or download Report

Better Education=Healthier Lives

blog.rwjf.org: Better Education = Healthier Lives tells a visual story on the role of education in the health of our communities.  Read more from the RWJF

When costlier medical care isn’t better

consumerreports.org:  You don’t have to pay the highest prices to get the best quality care  Consumer Reports magazine: October 2012.  Read more

Want To Improve Health Care? Let Nurses Take the Lead

RWJF Initiative on the Future of Nursing: ‎"Nurses are natural leaders. But when it comes to leadership at the highest levels, nurses are thin on the ground." Read more from the Huffington Post

Hospital Using Medical Informatics To Advance Research, Boost Care

Informatics workers at Boston Children's Hospital are helping researchers analyze large volumes of hospital data to find patterns that could be used to develop predictive models. The hospital also is using informatics to boost efficiency in medication delivery, physician documentation and other areas. Boston Herald.

Digital Media and Healthcare Providers

What Percentage of Health Care Professionals Rate the Following Sources as Highly Credible?
	Seventy-eight percent of surveyed physicians rated health websites as highly or very highly credible, compared with 71% of surveyed pharmacists and 69% of surveyed nurses, according to a survey by Enspektos, a health care marketing communications consulting firm.  iHealthBeat

CMS Issues Final Stage 2 Rule for Meaningful Use under HITECH

Healthcare Informatics:  Final Rule Sets Obligations For Meeting “Core" and “Menu” Objectives, Reveals Framework for Reimbursement Cuts After 2015.  On Aug. 23, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the final rule for Stage 2 meaningful use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (ARRA-HITECH) Act.  Read more

91% of docs want mobile-enabled EHRs

FierceMobileHealthcare: ...more clinicians and others will gravitate to mobile-enabled EHRs... Recent research reveals that combining different health information technologies--such as using EHRs that send clinical decision support, reminders and personalized information to patients' phones--increases the number of patients who receive preventive care and screening.
- here's the announcement touting the study
Related Articles:
Interactive record systems boost preventive screening rates
H ospitals seek more integrated, functional EHRs; focus on MU requirements
Integrating Health IT tools will promote preventive care

Algorithm extracts data from free text in EHRs

An algorithm to extract data from free text in electronic health records may be an invaluable aid in conducting research, according to a new study in BMC Medical Informatics & Decision Making. FierceEMR  Read more

Americans Want To Know Their Genetic Code

A personal genetics company, announced earlier this week that it had taken the first steps toward FDA approval of its direct-to-consumer genetic analysis test. Forbes Health

Social Media for Professional Networking

Take steps to establish a positive web presence.  Advance for Nurses Click here 

Public Health Agencies Could Better Leverage Social Media

A BMC Public Health study finds that public health agencies are not using social media platforms to their full potential. According to the study, health agencies often use social media websites to distribute information rather than to engage with an audience. FierceHealthIT.  Read more

Health Games Research

RWJF:

• See articles in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
• Read a Pioneering Ideas blog post by Debra Lieberman about the five studies.
• Read about Pioneer’s investments in advancing the field of health games.
• Find these studies and more on the Health Games Research Database.

Research Shows Health IT Enables Quality Measurement, but Obstacles Remain

Research funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), made advances in measuring quality using health information technologies.  They examined the development of electronic quality measures, methods of capturing and integrating quality data in EHRs, the accuracy of IT enabled measurements, methods for providing meaningful feedback to clinicians, and ways that health IT could improve the efficiency of quality measurement.

To learn more about the  projects that tested new quality measurement methods, please see their success stories available at http://healthit.ahrq.gov/ASQ. For the full synthesis report, please visit http://healthit.ahrq.gov/ASQEQMRPT2012.pdf

Web-Based Weight-Loss Programs Less Effective Than In-Person Sessions

A report published in the Cochrane Review suggests that online programs are less effective for helping patients lose weight than in-person interventions. However, Web-based programs were more effective than paper pamphlets and other minimal interventions. MedPage Today.

Take the ONC Consumer Campaign Pledge Bookmark and Share rss email print

ANA has joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology’s Consumer Campaign and pledged to “engage and empower individuals to be partners in their health through information technology.” Read more.

Rural Health Pilot Program Boosts Care Quality, Curbs Costs

The Federal Communications Commission released a report, 8/13/12, stating that its pilot project to build broadband networks for rural health care providers has improved care quality and cut costs. The report also notes that the project reduced wait times for certain health care services by providing patients with access to telehealth consultations. Modern Healthcare, FCC report.  Read more

PRIVACY LAWS SEEN COMPLICATING DATA-SHARING

Strong state privacy laws continue to complicate health information exchanges' efforts to ease data sharing, a federal official says, but use of meta-data tags may help overcome such obstacles. (MODERN HEALTHCARE) Read more

Many boomers trust doctors to recommend health apps

By Neil Versel

It’s long been said that baby boomers are the ones who will challenge the archaic notion that the doctor always knows best. At least when it comes to mobile apps, that does not seem to be the case, a survey suggests.  Read more

NQF Measures Target Health Disparities, Cultural Sensitivity to Care

The National Quality Forum has endorsed the collection of 12 quality measures to better understand health care disparities and the degree of culturally competent care given across racial and ethnic minority populations. Read more

Five Essentials to Having Your Hospital Go Mobile

Wi-Fi, according to a July PwC Health Research Institute report, can play a vital part in boosting patient satisfaction... Consumers, the PwC report says, want to be able to exchange information through online and mobile channels of communication. Wi-Fi enables such exchanges.

5 general areas which deserve consideration when going mobile....Click for more

ONC Aims To Automate Patient Use of 'Blue Button' Application

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's Automate Blue Button initiative aims to make it easier for U.S. residents to download their health data to their personal health record or other preferred data storage location. This week, ONC will hold a webinar inviting stakeholders to help develop standards and technical specifications for the project. Government Health IT. Read more

Essential Apps for Clinicians

Medscape:  15 More Smartphone Apps to Improve Your Practice Click here 

Medscape Rheumatology  Nine Smartphone Apps to Improve Your Practice:   Read more

• Problem 1: File Organization and Access
• Problem 2: Information Capture
• Problem 3: Information Overload
• Problem 4: Effective Time Management
• Problem 5: Outdated Phone and Voicemail
• Problem 6: Password Management
• Bringing It all Together: Case Examples 

Student BMJ  There's a Medical App for That  Read more

• Increasing Use
• Dangers of Medical Apps
• Patient Privacy
• Clinical Decision Making
• Conflict of Interest
• How to Recognise a High Quality Medical App
• Draft US FDA Guideline for Mobile Medical Applications

 

Assessment and Management of Youth Mental Health Problems in Primary Care

A Randomised Controlled Trial

This mobiletype program is a mental health assessment and management mobile phone application which monitors mood, stress, coping strategies, activities, eating, sleeping, exercise patterns, and alcohol and cannabis use at least daily, and transmits this information to providers. Read more

Sophie C Reid; Sylvia D Kauer; Stephen JC Hearps; Alexander HD Crooke; Angela S Khor; Lena A Sanci; George C Patton

Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 02/08/2012; BMC Fam Pract. 2011;12(131) © 2011 BioMed Central, Ltd.

Chronic Health Conditions using Internet Technology

First sentence of the authors discussion of their research: "This research identified two characteristics contributing to Internet interventions that engage users: (1) the intervention targets participants with pressing health concerns, and (2) the intervention adapts to individual needs." 

http://journals.lww.com/

cinjournal/Fulltext/2011/
02001/Chronic_Health_Conditions_and_Internet_Behavioral.4.aspx

Schubart, J. R., H. L. Stuckey, et al. "Chronic health conditions and internet behavioral interventions: a review of factors to enhance user engagement." Comput Inform Nurs 29(2 Suppl): TC9-20.

The interventions need tailoring to the individual's needs, possibly the use of a "clinical coach."  Also need a motivated patient. Nevertheless, these programs are tools in our toolbox for behavior change.

 

Non-compliance complicates remote monitoring

fiercehealthit.com - Remote checks of patients' cardiovascular implantable electronic devices can save time and be more convenient for patients, but only if they dutifully participate, Cleveland Clinic researchers have found. Read more

Duke cancer clinics cut physician documentation time with iPads

Dr. Amy Abernethy, founder and director of the Duke Cancer Care Research Program: “Combining tablet technology with clinical care has been great for our doctors and our patients. Tablets enable doctors to spend more time with patients, and patients to lead fuller lives through the creation of personalized education...”  Read more

Multiple tech interventions boost patient engagement

There are plenty of online healthcare sites and scores of mobile apps that aim to engage patients in healthy behaviors. But challenges have include making online health and wellness programs "sticky"--not only getting patients to sign up for the programs but to keep them engaged in them long-term.

And using technology to engage patients in their health through technology can also boost patient loyalty, as FierceHealthIT recently reported.  

Patients do seem to want tech tools to keep them healthy, according to another recent study. But engaging patients who most need to improve their health--such as those with chronic conditions--is still a huge challenge.
Although prompting can increase self-monitoring rates, the decrease in self-monitoring after the promoting period suggests that additional and online reminder prompts would be useful, the authors concluded. And the use of technical assistance calls appeared to have a greater effect in promoting self-monitoring at a therapeutic threshold than email reminders and the tailored self-monitoring reports alone.
To learn more:
- see the JMIR study report
- check out the 2010 study

AHRQ Social Media Policies and Tools

The AHRQ Social Media Policies and Tools page outlines the standards for Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and provides guidance on how to create and maintain several social media applications. It also provides links to the various tools available through AHRQ to help users share health information.   Social Media Standards and Policies  Twitter Policy YouTube Policy Facebook Policy Blogging Policy Comment Policy Social Media Checklist (PDF File, 25 KB; Plugin Software Help  Social Media Tools   Current as of August 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/socmedia/index.htm

Telementoring : the Newest Frontier in Surgical Training

Surgeons at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) health system are pioneering an innovative new practice, "telementoring," in which surgeons are providing live online support to colleagues performing groundbreaking new surgeries in other countries.  healthcare-informatics.com  Read more

Nearly 21M Affected by Large Health Data Breaches Since 2009

Since September 2009, HHS' Office for Civil Rights has received reports of 477 health data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals. According to OCR data, a total of 20,970,222 individuals have had their medical records compromised in such large-scale breaches. About 21% of the large breaches reported to OCR involved a business associate of a covered entity. Modern Healthcare. Read more

40% of Adults Say EHR Systems Can Improve Patient Care

A survey conducted for Xerox by Harris Interactive finds that 40% of surveyed U.S. adults believe that electronic health record systems can improve patient care. About 85% of the survey respondents said that they have concerns about EHR systems. Rochester Business Journal et al.  Read more

Pentagon, VA Release Mobile App for Service Members With PTSD

A no-cost mobile application from the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs aims to help service members and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. The app would let individuals continue prolonged exposure therapy between clinical sessions. Healthcare IT News.  Read more