Marion J. Ball

E-health: transforming the physician/patient relationship

Healthcare delivery is being transformed by advances in e-health and by the empowered, computer-literate public. Ready to become partners in their own health and to take advantage of online processes, health portals, and physician web pages and e-mail, this new breed of consumer is slowly redefining the physician/patient relationship. Such changes can effect positive results like improved clinical decision-making, increased efficiency, and strengthened communication between physicians and patients. First, however, physicians and the organizations that support them must fully understand their role in the e-health revolution. Both must advance their awareness of the new consumers and their needs and define specific action items that will help them realize the benefits of e-health. Through a combination of timely research and advice, this article will aid them in fulfilling both tasks.

Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet

From the Publisher: Since publication of the first edition in 1988, Nursing Informatics: Where Caring and Technology Meet has established itself as the premier reference text for nurses, nursing administrators, nursing students, and other health care professionals who seek a state-of-the-art review of the role of information technology in the nursing profession. The third edition of this seminal work will keep readers at the forefront of the rapidly evolving field of nursing informatics, examining new trends and thoroughly updating and revising all content. New chapters include: Selecting a Nursing Informatics Consultant; Project Management; Consumer Informatics; Data Mining; Education (CME, Patient); Electronic Medical Imaging; Nursing Informatics Competencies; Telehealth and Implications; Business Process Reengineering; Nursing?s Role in Telehealth.

Enabling technologies promise to revitalize the role of nursing in an era of patient safety

The application of information technology (IT) in health care has the potential to transform the delivery of care, as well as the health care work environment, by streamlining processes, making procedures more accurate and efficient, and reducing the risk of human error. For nurses, a major aspect of this transformation is the refocusing of their work on direct patient care and away from being a conduit of information and communication among departments. Several of the technologies discussed, such as physician order entry and bar code technology, have existed for years as standalone systems. Many others are just being developed and are being integrated into complex clinical information systems (CISs) with clinical decision support at their core. While early evaluation of these systems shows positive outcome measurements, financial, technical, and organizational hurdles to widespread implementation still remain. One major issue is defining the role nurses, themselves, will play in the selection and implementation of these systems as they become more steeped in the knowledge of nursing informatics. Other challenges revolve around issues of job satisfaction and the attraction and retention of nursing staff in the midst of a serious nursing shortage. Despite these concerns, it is expected that, in the long run, the creation of an electronic work environment with systems that integrate all functions of the health care team will positively impact cost-effectiveness, productivity, and patient safety while helping to revitalize nursing practice.

Hospital information systems: perspectives on problems and prospects, 1979 and 2002

PURPOSE To assess progress made in hospital information systems (HIS) since 1979, when the forerunner of the International Medical Informatics Association Working Group on HIS first met. METHODS A review of the recommendations made in 1979 identified core concerns, which were analyzed in light of the state of the art in 2002. RESULTS Despite significant changes over the years, the underlying concerns identified in 1979 are still valid today. In 2002 as in 1979, HIS must be integrated into the hospitals organizational structure; financial and economic benefits depend upon using technology as an enabler of improved clinical outcomes; and education and training remain critical to the successful use of technology solutions. The tools available for addressing these concerns have changed enormously. Where there were dumb terminals, there are the World Wide Web and handheld devices. As a result, we are raising our expectations and changing the terms of our discussions. Today the focus is shifting to patient safety, decision support, and evidence-based practice; the concerns voiced in 1979 have become medical informatics cornerstones. New tools and new approaches now available can improve the quality of care. Using them appropriately requires careful planning and education for patients as well as healthcare professionals.

Using Computers in Nursing

No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading using computers in nursing is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.

The health record banking imperative: a conceptual model

No unified, functioning system currently exists for the exchange of comprehensive health-care information across the wide spectrum of health-care networks. Regional health information organizations (RHIOs) and a national health information network (NHIN) have been proposed as vital building blocks in providing such a system, but these face many challenges, including delineation and implementation of accepted standards for health-care data, accurate patient identification and record matching, and the definition of incentives for accelerated deployment of health information technology. In response to these challenges, we present in this paper an alternative option, the Health Record Banking (HRB) system. Emulating commercial banking, this approach uses health-record banks to serve the need for immediately accessible and secure data for diverse stakeholders. It provides a means for financial independence for these banks and a mechanism for fostering medical research. We conclude with 10 critical issues associated with the development and implementation of an HRB system, which require public discussion.

Effects and detection of intermittent failures in digital systems

A great deal has been written during the past few years on the subject of diagnostic test procedures for digital systems. Almost without exception, however, the investigators have limited their interest to the detection and location of solid faults, and their test procedures are usually based on the assumption that either the fault exists for the running time of the test procedure or the time interval between the fault occurrence is less than the required time to run the test.

The History of Medical Informatics in the United States

This is a meticulously detailed chronological record of significant events in the history of medical informatics and their impact on direct patient care and clinical research, offering a representative sampling of published contributions to the field. The History of Medical Informatics in the United States has been restructured within this new edition, reflecting the transformation medical informatics has undergone in the years since 1990. The systems that were once exclusively institutionally driven hospital, multihospital, and outpatient information systems are today joined by systems that are driven by clinical subspecialties, nursing, pathology, clinical laboratory, pharmacy, imaging, and more. At the core is the person not the clinician, not the institution whose health all these systems are designed to serve. A group of world-renowned authors have joined forces with Dr Marion Ball to bring Dr Collens incredible work to press. These recognized leaders in medical informatics, many of whom are recipients of the Morris F. Collen Award in Medical Informatics and were friends ofor mentored by Dr Collen, carefully reviewed, editing and updating his draft chapters. This has resulted in the most thorough history of the subject imaginable,and also provides readers with a roadmap for the subject well into later in the century.

Health information systems: challenges for the 21st century.

No longer focused on mere automation of manual processes, healthcare technology is poised to transform practice. Healthcare information systems can extend and enhance the memory; streamline administrative processes; provide access to information where, when, and how it is needed; and manage the cost of care while protecting and improving clinical quality and customer satisfaction. To reap the benefits of information systems, healthcare professionals must take stock of the industrys current position on the road to transformation and determine how to manage the journey ahead. This article explores healthcare information technology trends, discusses emerging technologies such as the Internet and the computerized patient record, and offers future recommendations for achieving technology integration and acceptance. Key to this discussion is the belief that people-based skills such as cooperation, leadership, and creative thinking are just as important as--if not more important than--the actual technology.

Health informatics: Managing information to deliver value

Can informatics improve health? This paper answers yes, exploring its components, benefits, and effect on a wide variety of health-related activities. We first examine how information technology enables health informatics, supporting information management and knowledge creation through its four cornerstones. Success factors in using informatics are covered next, including human factors, the role of trained health informaticians, and the importance of matching informatics initiatives with business goals and establishing and measuring value. We demonstrate the potential effect of the Internet on health services through such e-health applications as enterprise-wide patient records, state-of-the-art call centers, and data repositories. For current evidence that informatics is already improving health, we turn to such topics as disease management, telehealth, patient safety, and decision support. As more organizations move informatics from theory into practice and realize its value, they will transform inefficient processes and improve care for all.