Chad Lin

Key Health Information Systems Outsourcing Issues from Six Hospital Cases

Cases on ICT Utilization, Practice and Solutions: Tools for Managing Day-to-Day Issues presents past, present and future research directions within the field. This book includes cases on the latest advances in Information Communication Technology. The authors have provided in-depth insight into the current state of research in ICT as well as identified successful approaches, tools and methodologies in ICT research. They explore points of good practices, while addressing potential pitfalls to avoid, and examining and evaluating solutions to some of ICT researchers’ toughest challenges.Email has been considered as one of the most efficient and convenient ways of communication since the users of the Internet has increased rapidly. E-mail spam, known as junk e-mail, UBE (unsolicited bulk e-mail) or UCE (unsolicited commercial e-mail), is the act of sending unwanted e-mail messages to e-mail users. Spam is becoming a huge problem to most users since it clutter their mailboxes and waste their time to delete all the spam before reading the legitimate ones. They also cost the user money with dial up connections, waste network bandwidth and disk space and make available harmful and offensive materials. In this chapter, initially we would like to discuss on existing spam technologies and later focus on a case study. Though many anti-spam solutions have been implemented, the Bayesian spam detection approach looks quite promising. A case study for spam detection algorithm is presented and its implementation using Java is discussed, along with its performance test results on two independent spam corpuses – Ling-spam and Enron-spam. We use the Bayesian calculation for single keyword sets and multiple keywords sets, along with its keyword contexts to improve the spam detection and thus to get good accuracy. The use of porter stemmer algorithm is also discussed to stem keywords which can improve spam detection efficiency by reducing keyword searches.ExEcutIvE Summary Traditionally, little attention has been paid by hospitals to the key issues in the health information systems (HIS) outsourcing decision-making process. This is important given that the HIS outsourcing can play a key role in assisting hospitals in achieving its business objectives. However, the decision-making process of HIS outsourcing in hospitals is under-studied, especially in the management of their HIS outsourcing contracts. Therefore, the main objectives of this book chapter are to: (1) examine key issues surrounding the management and implementation of HIS outsourcing in Taiwanese hospitals; and (2) identify issues that are crucial in managing and implementing HIS outsourcing in hospitals. Four key issues and problems were identified in the HIS outsourcing process: lack of implementation in IS investment evaluation process, problems in managing HIS outsourcing contracts, lack of user involvement and participation in HIS outsourcing process, and failure to retain critical HIS contract management skills and project management capabilities in-house. Solutions and recommendations are provided to deal with key issues that are critical in the management and implementation of HIS outsourcing in hospitals.

The Importance of Public Education Campaigns in Raising Awareness and Support for Smoke-free Car Legislation in Western Australia

Recent research has highlighted that smoking in cars is a source of significant second-hand smoke exposure for children leading to calls from health groups for the introduction of laws to ban smoking in vehicles in which children are passengers. There has, however, been considerable debate about the merits of legislation versus public education on the issue. In 2007 and 2008, the Cancer Council Western Australia received a boost in funding from the Western Australian Department of Health to run a series of media campaigns drawing attention to the health effects of second-hand smoke and addressing common myths and misconceptions about how to protect children from exposure to it. The main message of the campaigns was ‘Make your home and car smoke-free’. The campaigns achieved some positive results with parents interviewed post-campaigns taking extra care to protect their kids from exposure to second hand smoke and, in some cases reducing or quitting smoking altogether. Prior to the campaigns, parents who smoked were surveyed (n=101). A minority (9%) claimed to smoke inside their homes but a much higher proportion (50%) reported smoking inside vehicles regardless of whether children were present leaving greater scope for behavioural change. Surveys of parents who smoked conducted after each wave of media advertising (n=194; n=193; n=200) found a drop in reported smoking in vehicles ‘at all’ compared to 50% pre-campaign (wave 1: 37%; wave 2: 40%; wave 3: 44%). The differences in these proportions in the three waves were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Behaviour change of this order, particularly that seen after the first wave of advertising, is unusual for public education campaigns given the limited budgets. Consistent with data on smoking behaviour in the home, the vast majority of respondents did not allow smoking inside the vehicle when non-smokers were present (wave 1: 88%; wave 2: 86%; wave 3: 84%), especially children (wave 1: 95%; wave 2: 94%; wave 3: 92%). There were no significant differences in these proportions in the three waves. outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are topics taken up in further research. We do not claim (point four) that poorer Indigenous outcomes from cancer are only a result of different belief systems; what we have argued is that beliefs influence health behaviours and health care seeking. For example, Indigenous Australians as a group are not reaping the benefits that have occurred as a result of modern cancer interventions where cancer mortality rates in the Australian population overall have dropped by 12% between 1993 and 2003. Addressing this discrepancy is more likely to come from engagement with Indigenous people to better understand their beliefs and their barriers to accessing care than from ongoing investment in new chemotherapeutic drugs and high technology treatments, where most investment in cancer research goes. We agree that access to appropriate services underpins better outcomes. We were astounded at the dearth of published studies on Indigenous beliefs in relation to cancer from the four countries. Publication of qualitative studies is always selective in terms of the quotations drawn upon, and we reported only common beliefs across more than one of the Indigenous populations under consideration, as described in the methodology. Finally, we are well-acquainted with the requirements upon researchers when undertaking research with Indigenous Australians, and a strong focus of our work has been on research that can make a difference, build the capacity of researchers (Indigenous and nonIndigenous) and strengthen partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and organisations.

Trends in Australian adolescents’ sun‐protection behaviours: implications for health campaigns

Objective: Protecting the skin from ultraviolet (UV) radiation is critical during adolescence to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer later in life, but adolescents tend to be less likely to engage in sun‐protective behaviours than adults. The present study examined changes and trends (2001/02–2011/12) in sun‐protection behaviours among adolescents living in Western Australia – a region with high levels of UV radiation.