Global case management: Scotland. Real-time monitoring of patient flow as an instrument to optimize quality of care in acute receiving units.

Recent audits within our hospital suggest that especially during peak phases the patient flow from our acute admission units downstream into hospital beds is not directed in the most efficient way and patients may be placed inappropriately. This inevitably causes time delays and potentially increases the risk of malpractice as patients have to spend an extended period of time in admission areas with a high workload and very busy staff. Using latest information technology, such as wireless local area networks and handheld devices, can improve the efficiency of patient management and can increase the quality of care by helping to avoid unnecessary treatment delays in overcrowded admission areas.

Wireless local area network in a prehospital environment.

BACKGROUND: Wireless local area networks (WLANs) are considered the next generation of clinical data network. They open the possibility for capturing clinical data in a prehospital setting (e.g., a patient's home) using various devices, such as personal digital assistants, laptops, digital electrocardiogram (EKG) machines, and even cellular phones, and transmitting the captured data to a physician or hospital. The transmission rate is crucial to the applicability of the technology in the prehospital setting. METHODS: We created two separate WLANs to simulate a virtual local are network environment such as in a patient's home or an emergency room (ER). The effects of different methods of data transmission, number of clients, and roaming among different access points on the file transfer rate were determined. RESULTS: The present results suggest that it is feasible to transfer small files such as patient demographics and EKG data from the patient's home to the ER at a reasonable speed. Encryption, user control, and access control were implemented and results discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Implementing a WLAN in a centrally managed and multiple-layer-controlled access control server is the key to ensuring its security and accessibility. Future studies should focus on product capacity, speed, compatibility, interoperability, and security management.

The development of a computerized LAN-based investigational drug information database.

A computerized LAN-based investigational drug information database, IRxBase, was developed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to facilitate healthcare professionals' access to investigational drug information. Healthcare professionals at the medical center were surveyed to identify current problems in accessing investigational drug information. The survey reflected that before the implementation of the database, the medical center lacked a systematic approach to providing protocol-specific investigational drug information. Although investigational drug information software programs are commercially available, they provide limited information and few are protocol-specific. IRxBase offers an efficient means for the widespread provision of investigational drug information with advantages of accessibility, ongoing data entry, and preservation of confidentiality.

Role of information technology in disaster medical response.

This article addresses the importance of information technology (IT) in support of disaster medical response and provides a framework for the use of IT in response to natural disasters or terrorist activities. The appropriate use of IT enhances the effectiveness of the disaster response system, thereby safeguarding the population and the community infrastructure. This study found that most US hospitals have wireless local area networks (LANs) with disaster medical response capabilities. The data indicate that combined with the wireless LAN, many hospitals have acquired personal digital assistants, tablets, and handheld personal computers, which are important disaster medical response resources. This research shows that the wireless LAN networks and remote input devices are in place to ensure a timely medical response to disasters within many US communities.

Use of interactive voice response (IVR) technology in health research with children.

This article reports on the feasibility of using interactive voice response (IVR) technology to obtain daily reports of attitudes toward alcohol and tobacco use among children 9-13 years of age. Two studies were conducted. The first was an investigation of the use of IVR technology to obtain daily data from a sample of primary school children over a period of 8 weeks. The second was an extension of the research to a large sample of primary and secondary school children in urban and rural areas who provided daily data over a 4-week period. Retention and compliance rates comparable to those obtained with adults were evident in both studies, supporting the feasibility of this technology with children. The results are discussed in relation to the benefits of this methodology for health research, particularly for studies of sensitive topics conducted with children and adolescents.

The supply module: recouping lost revenue.

The authors describe how computerization helped to improve materiel management in the OR, including inventory control and purchasing, and how they acutally enabled them to recoup lost revenue.

[Installation of a local information network: case of Pasteur Institute of Madagascar]. / Installation d'un réseau informatique local: cas de l'Institut Pasteur de Madagascar.

The development of computer networks, especially Internet, leads to a new way of working organization. Internet mail represents a real progress in communication management for institutions far away from northern collaborating centres such as Institut Pasteur de Madagascar. The resources sharing capacities (hard disks, printers, back-up systems) induce important economies. Thus, the installation of an Ethernet network within the establishment is completely justified.

Networking computers.

This decade the role of the personal computer has shifted dramatically from a desktop device designed to increase individual productivity and efficiency to an instrument of communication linking people and machines in different places with one another. A computer in one city can communicate with another that may be thousands of miles away. Networking is how this is accomplished. Just like the voice network used by the telephone, computer networks transmit data and other information via modems over these same telephone lines. A network can be created over both short and long distances. Networks can be established within a hospital or medical building or over many hospitals or buildings covering many geographic areas. Those confined to one location are called LANs, local area networks. Those that link computers in one building to those at other locations are known as WANs, or wide area networks. The ultimate wide area network is the one we've all been hearing so much about these days--the Internet, and its World Wide Web. Setting up a network is a process that requires careful planning and commitment. To avoid potential pitfalls and to make certain the network you establish meets your needs today and several years down the road, several steps need to be followed. This article reviews the initial steps involved in getting ready to network.

["Notebook computer" in combination with WWW-technology in multicenter clinical trials and for chronic patient care]. / "Handheld-Computer" in Kombination mit WWW-Technologien bei multizentrischen klinischen Studien und der Betreuung chronisch kranker Patienten.

Our purpose was to determine conditions, under which the use of hand-held computers in the diagnosis and therapy of patients with chronic diseases seems to be handy. Two scenarios are presented showing the employment of these computers in a doctor's office and in multicenter clinical trials. Security-related aspects involved in transferring medical data via the internet are discussed.