Customer Centricity in Medical Affairs Needs Human-centric Artificial Intelligence.

The evolution of healthcare, together with the changing behaviour of healthcare professionals, means that medical affairs functions of pharmaceutical organisations are constantly reinventing themselves. The emergence of digital ways of working, expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, means that pharmaceutical-healthcare relationships are evolving to operate in an increasingly virtual world. The value of the pharmaceutical medical affairs function is dependent on understanding customers' needs and providing the right knowledge at the right time to physicians. This requires a human-centric artificial intelligence (AI) approach for medical affairs, which allows the function to query internal and external data sets in a conversational format and receive timely, accurate and concise intelligence on their customers.

Information specialist collaboration in Europe: collaborative methods, processes, and infrastructure through EUnetHTA.

The history of European health technology assessment (HTA) goes back more than 30 years. Almost as old as HTA agencies themselves is the desire to achieve European collaboration. This gained further impetus with the establishment of the European Network of Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) in 2006. In this context, the field of information management faced specific challenges. Although these services are an integral part of HTA and information specialists play a key role here, this field is often not adequately represented in the HTA agencies within EUnetHTA. Furthermore, the organization of HTA production, including the types of HTAs produced, as well as funding, varies considerably. In order to meet these different conditions, information specialists have created various products and defined processes. With the EUnetHTA guideline, a common methodological understanding for the production of rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessments now exists. Furthermore, the Standard Operating Procedures map the complex information retrieval processes within EUnetHTA in a hands-on manner. The newly established Information Specialist Network (ISN) will in future ensure that information specialists are involved in all EUnetHTA assessments and that the methods are applied consistently in all assessments. In addition, the steering committee of the ISN manages enquiries and can be contacted to discuss methodological issues. Major barriers such as heterogeneity in the daily work of the EUnetHTA members can only be overcome through more collaboration and training.

Health Policy and Privacy Challenges Associated With Digital Technology.

Importance: Digital technology is part of everyday life. Digital interactions generate large amounts of data that can reveal information about the health of individual consumers (the digital health footprint). Objective: Τo describe health privacy challenges associated with digital technology. Design, Setting, and Participants: For this qualitative study, In-depth, semistructured, qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 key experts from diverse fields in the US between January 1 and July 31, 2018. Open-ended questions and hypothetical scenarios were used to identify sources of digital information that contribute to consumers' health-relevant digital footprints and challenges for health privacy. Participants also completed a survey instrument on which they rated the health relatedness of digital data sources. Main Outcomes and Measures: Health policy challenges associated with digital technology based on qualitative responses to expert interviews. Results: Although experts' ratings of digital data sources suggested a possible distinction between health and nonhealth data, qualitative interviews uniformly indicated that all data can be health data, particularly when aggregated across sources and time. Five key characteristics of the digital health footprint were associated with health privacy policy challenges: invisibility (people are unaware of how their data are tracked), inaccuracy (data in the digital health footprint can be inaccurate), immortality (data have no expiration date and are aggregated over time), marketability (data have immense commercial value and are frequently bought and sold), and identifiability (individuals can be readily reidentified and anonymity is nearly impossible to achieve). There are virtually no regulatory structures in the US to protect health privacy in the context of the digital health footprint. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings suggest that a sector-specific approach to digital technology privacy in the US may be associated with inadequate health privacy protections.

Researchers' And Medical Student' Experience in Reference Management Software in a Low-Income Country.

INTRODUCTION: Although the use of Reference Management Software (RMS) is increasing in developed countries, they seem to be unknown and less used in low-income countries. AIM: To discover the major trends in the use of RMS among researchers and Ph.D. students in Tunisia, as a low-income country. METHODS: A hardcopy survey was filled out by researchers and Ph.D. students during an educational seminar at the faculty of medicine of Sfax in 2016 with the aim to collect qualitative data to determine the participants' knowledge and use of RMS. RESULTS: The survey collected 121 participants, among them, 53.7% know RMS. Mendeley proved to be the best-known software (41.5%), followed by Zotero (35.3%) and Endnote (23%). Training sessions in RMS were taken by 5% of participants. Among the 121 participants, 26.5%of them use RMS., Mendeley was the most used (46.9%), followed by EndNote (28.1%) and Zotero (25%). The most commonly popular feature in RMS is inserting citations (66.9%). Therefore, the analysis, of the reasons behind the choice of RMS proves that the software was used because it is convenient (38.4%),  most known (38.4%),  easy (30.7%), or suggested by colleagues (30.7%). The free and open-source software was preferred by 81% of the participants. g. However, 50.4% ignore the fact that Zotero is free. Several types and sources of captured citations were unknown by 53.8% and 59% of the rest of the participants. CONCLUSION: The results clearly show that the lack of awareness about RMS in Tunisia is due to the absence of a formal training. As a result, the need for such training is highly important for researchers to be able to benefit from the different advantages of RMS while conducting their academic medical education.

Exploring the research culture in the health information management profession in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Research is an important activity that informs knowledge and practice. The research culture within the Australian Health Information Management (HIM) profession has not been previously reported. OBJECTIVE: This study explored the perceptions of HIM practitioners about research in their role to establish if there is a research culture in the Australian HIM profession. METHOD: An online survey was distributed to the HIM community using a snowball recruitment strategy. RESULTS: Of the 149 respondents, more than half (54%) identified they possessed research skills from prior education, whilst 40% considered they had a strong knowledgebase in conducting research. However, only a quarter of respondents indicated that they should undertake research in their role. Barriers to undertaking research included recognition, organisational support and time. DISCUSSION: The findings from this study reflected other studies within clinical workforces. The lack of recognition and support to incorporate research into practitioner roles has implications for the profession and its body of knowledge. CONCLUSION: Advocating for research to be incorporated into practitioner roles is required to inform knowledge and practice. Increased professional development opportunities may create a stronger research culture within the HIM profession in Australia and strengthen the position of the profession within health.

[Discussion on Information-based Management of Medical Device Standard].

The information-based management of medical device standards is of great significance for promoting the development of the medical device standardization. Here we analyzed the important role of the information-based management of medical device standards in the delicacy management of the whole process of establishing and modifying medical device standards, introduced its present situation and upgrade of information-based management system of medical device standards, and put forward work ideas and suggestions for it.

Health informatics competencies in postgraduate medical education and training in the UK: a mixed methods study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess health informatics (HI) training in UK postgraduate medical education, across all specialties, against international standards in the context of UK digital health initiatives (eg, Health Data Research UK, National Health Service Digital Academy and Global Digital Exemplars). DESIGN: A mixed methods study of UK postgraduate clinician training curricula (71 specialties) against international HI standards: scoping review, curricular content analysis and expert consultation. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A scoping literature review (PubMed until March 2017) informed development of a contemporary framework of HI competency domains for doctors. National training curricula for 71 postgraduate medical specialties were obtained from the UK General Medical Council and were analysed. Seven UK HI experts were consulted regarding findings. OUTCOMES: The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Recommendations for Biomedical and Health Informatics Education were used to develop a framework of competency domains. The number (maximum 50) of HI competency domains included in each of the 71 UK postgraduate medical specialties was investigated. After expert review, a universal HI competency framework was proposed. RESULTS: A framework of 50 HI competency domains was developed using 21 curricula from a scoping review, curricular content analysis and expert consultation. All 71 UK postgraduate medical curricula documents were mapped across 29 of 50 framework domains; that is, 21 domains were unrepresented. Curricula mapped between 0 (child and adolescent psychiatry and core surgical training) and 16 (chemical pathology and paediatric and perinatal pathology) of the 50 domains (median=7). Expert consultation found that HI competencies should be universal and integrated with existing competencies for UK clinicians and were under-represented in current curricula. Additional universal HI competencies were identified, including information governance and security and secondary use of data. CONCLUSIONS: Postgraduate medical education in the UK neglects HI competencies set out by international standards. Key HI competencies need to be urgently integrated into training curricula to prepare doctors for work in increasingly digitised healthcare environments.

Demands for multidimensional information on the work environment: A methodological framework for regular studies.

BACKGROUND: Development of methodologies for making economic decisions on designing work environment studies is a theoretical challenge for researchers in occupational health sciences. There are well-defined tools available in the relevant literature for analysis of cost-efficiency associated with the assessment of an occupational exposure of interest. However, these analytical tools are not appropriate for holistic studies of the work environment as a multidimensional reality. OBJECTIVE: This article introduces an appropriate methodology for designing cross-sectional comprehensive studies of the work environment, in order to optimize the production of information on the psychosocial, ergonomic, and physical dimensions of the work environment in regular studies. METHODS: The employment of a translog cost-utility function is suggested as a suitable way to provide cost-minimized designs for regular studies which are aimed at providing or developing multidimensional information systems of the work environment. RESULTS: The translog cost-utility function is not subject to predetermined restrictions, but has a flexibility property allowing it to be transformed to any specification that is adaptable to the specific work environmental characteristics and research requirements. CONCLUSION: The translog cost-utility function is an appropriate econometric model for optimizing the production of multidimensional information on occupational exposures in regular cross-sectional workplace studies.

Development of a data collection and management system in West Africa: challenges and sustainability.

BACKGROUND: Developing and sustaining a data collection and management system (DCMS) is difficult in malaria-endemic countries because of limitations in internet bandwidth, computer resources and numbers of trained personnel. The premise of this paper is that development of a DCMS in West Africa was a critically important outcome of the West African International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research. The purposes of this paper are to make that information available to other investigators and to encourage the linkage of DCMSs to international research and Ministry of Health data systems and repositories. METHODS: We designed and implemented a DCMS to link study sites in Mali, Senegal and The Gambia. This system was based on case report forms for epidemiologic, entomologic, clinical and laboratory aspects of plasmodial infection and malarial disease for a longitudinal cohort study and included on-site training for Principal Investigators and Data Managers. Based on this experience, we propose guidelines for the design and sustainability of DCMSs in environments with limited resources and personnel. RESULTS: From 2012 to 2017, we performed biannual thick smear surveys for plasmodial infection, mosquito collections for anopheline biting rates and sporozoite rates and year-round passive case detection for malarial disease in four longitudinal cohorts with 7708 individuals and 918 households in Senegal, The Gambia and Mali. Major challenges included the development of uniform definitions and reporting, assessment of data entry error rates, unstable and limited internet access and software and technology maintenance. Strengths included entomologic collections linked to longitudinal cohort studies, on-site data centres and a cloud-based data repository. CONCLUSIONS: At a time when research on diseases of poverty in low and middle-income countries is a global priority, the resources available to ensure accurate data collection and the electronic availability of those data remain severely limited. Based on our experience, we suggest the development of a regional DCMS. This approach is more economical than separate data centres and has the potential to improve data quality by encouraging shared case definitions, data validation strategies and analytic approaches including the molecular analysis of treatment successes and failures.

Gestión de información y percepción organizacional en el Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas de Cuba / Information management and organizational perception in the National Information Center of Medical Sciences, Cuba

El presente artículo tuvo como objetivo identificar los elementos de la gestión de información que contribuyen a generar capacidades para una adecuada percepción organizacional. Con este propósito, se contextualizó la investigación al Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas (Infomed) por su desarrollo y principales resultados en el sector de la salud desde el ámbito de las Ciencias de la Información. Entre los métodos y técnicas se utilizó el análisis documental y de contenido para la caracterización de la institución, y la encuesta a directivos y especialistas de nivel estratégico. Entre los principales resultados del estudio se encontraron el carácter informacional de la percepción organizacional y sus procesos específicos. Se identificaron los elementos informacionales de la gestión de información que incidían en el desarrollo de las capacidades perceptivas, enfocados principalmente hacia el análisis y el uso de la información estratégica, su monitoreo y la vigilancia sistemática, los escenarios de construcción de significados compartidos, los procesos informacionales y gerenciales que se desarrollaban en el proceso, y la cultura informacional. El estudio concluyó que la gestión de información incide directamente en la percepción organizacional, y presenta elementos informacionales que -articulados de forma estratégica- pueden favorecer las capacidades de percepción de una organización(AU)

The objective of this article was to identify what elements of information management contribute to generating capacities for an adequate organizational perception. With this purpose, the research was contextualized to the National Information Center of Medical Sciences (Infomed) for its development and main results in the health sector from the field of information sciences. Among the methods and techniques, documentary and content analysis was used for the characterization of the institution, and the survey of managers and specialists at the strategic level. Among the main results of the study were the informational nature of the organizational perception and its specific processes. The informational elements of information management that influenced the development of perceptual capacities were identified, focused mainly on the analysis and use of strategic information, its monitoring and systematic surveillance, the settings for the construction of shared meanings, the informational and managerial processes that were developed in the process, and informational culture. The study concluded that information management directly affects the organizational perception, and presents informational elements that, strategically articulated, can favor the perception capacities of an organization(AU)

Datos e información pública sobre dengue en la perspectiva de la Teoría de la Agencia / Data and public information about dengue from the perspective of Agency Theory

Este artículo reflexiona sobre los problemas de gestión de la información en salud pública que afectan a los servidores públicos durante los estados epidémicos de dengue y enfermedades parecidas, por medio de la aplicación de la Teoría de la Agencia. Se busca ampliar la perspectiva de los estudios en esta área. De esta forma se busca ampliar la perspectiva de los estudios sobre salud pública, y brindar una perspectiva fresca sobre este asunto. Esta discusión está basada en una revisión bibliográfica extensa en las áreas de Teoría de la Agencia, estudios de caso sobre dengue y salud pública. La aplicación de la Teoría de la Agencia a la Salud Pública y a la situación de epidemia anticipa una contradicción intrínseca dentro del modelo tradicional de gestión de salud, que afecta peligrosamente la eficacia de los sistemas de vigilancia, e incide en los resultados poco satisfactorios en la lucha contra los vectores. Es posible controlar este fenómeno usando tecnología de la información, bajo la perspectiva de auto-organización e Informática Comunitaria, para capacitar y empoderar al ciudadano y a las organizaciones no gubernamentales con datos transparentes, de libre acceso. La tecnología móvil ofrece posibilidades para este tipo de emprendimientos(AU)

The paper reflects on public health information management problems affecting public servants during epidemic outbreaks of dengue and similar diseases, based on the application of Agency Theory. It aims to broaden the scope of studies in this field, approaching the subject from a new perspective. The discussion is based on a broad bibliographic review of areas related to Agency Theory, case studies about dengue and public health. Application of Agency Theory to public health and to epidemic situations anticipates an intrinsic contradiction within the traditional health management model, dangerously affecting the efficacy of surveillance systems and impacting the insufficiently satisfactory results of the combat against vectors. It is possible to control this phenomenon using information technology from the perspective of self-organization and community information, with a view to training and empowering both citizens and non-governmental organizations with transparent, open-access data. Mobile technology offers possibilities for this type of endeavor(AU)

Gestión de información y percepción organizacional en el Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas de Cuba / Information management and organizational perception in the National Information Center of Medical Sciences, Cuba

El presente artículo tuvo como objetivo identificar los elementos de la gestión de información que contribuyen a generar capacidades para una adecuada percepción organizacional. Con este propósito, se contextualizó la investigación al Centro Nacional de Información de Ciencias Médicas (Infomed) por su desarrollo y principales resultados en el sector de la salud desde el ámbito de las Ciencias de la Información. Entre los métodos y técnicas se utilizó el análisis documental y de contenido para la caracterización de la institución, y la encuesta a directivos y especialistas de nivel estratégico. Entre los principales resultados del estudio se encontraron el carácter informacional de la percepción organizacional y sus procesos específicos. Se identificaron los elementos informacionales de la gestión de información que incidían en el desarrollo de las capacidades perceptivas, enfocados principalmente hacia el análisis y el uso de la información estratégica, su monitoreo y la vigilancia sistemática, los escenarios de construcción de significados compartidos, los procesos informacionales y gerenciales que se desarrollaban en el proceso, y la cultura informacional. El estudio concluyó que la gestión de información incide directamente en la percepción organizacional, y presenta elementos informacionales que -articulados de forma estratégica- pueden favorecer las capacidades de percepción de una organización(AU)

The objective of this article was to identify what elements of information management contribute to generating capacities for an adequate organizational perception. With this purpose, the research was contextualized to the National Information Center of Medical Sciences (Infomed) for its development and main results in the health sector from the field of information sciences. Among the methods and techniques, documentary and content analysis was used for the characterization of the institution, and the survey of managers and specialists at the strategic level. Among the main results of the study were the informational nature of the organizational perception and its specific processes. The informational elements of information management that influenced the development of perceptual capacities were identified, focused mainly on the analysis and use of strategic information, its monitoring and systematic surveillance, the settings for the construction of shared meanings, the informational and managerial processes that were developed in the process, and informational culture. The study concluded that information management directly affects the organizational perception, and presents informational elements that, strategically articulated, can favor the perception capacities of an organization(AU)

Datos e información pública sobre dengue en la perspectiva de la Teoría de la Agencia / Data and public information about dengue from the perspective of Agency Theory

Este artículo reflexiona sobre los problemas de gestión de la información en salud pública que afectan a los servidores públicos durante los estados epidémicos de dengue y enfermedades parecidas, por medio de la aplicación de la Teoría de la Agencia. Se busca ampliar la perspectiva de los estudios en esta área. De esta forma se busca ampliar la perspectiva de los estudios sobre salud pública, y brindar una perspectiva fresca sobre este asunto. Esta discusión está basada en una revisión bibliográfica extensa en las áreas de Teoría de la Agencia, estudios de caso sobre dengue y salud pública. La aplicación de la Teoría de la Agencia a la Salud Pública y a la situación de epidemia anticipa una contradicción intrínseca dentro del modelo tradicional de gestión de salud, que afecta peligrosamente la eficacia de los sistemas de vigilancia, e incide en los resultados poco satisfactorios en la lucha contra los vectores. Es posible controlar este fenómeno usando tecnología de la información, bajo la perspectiva de auto-organización e Informática Comunitaria, para capacitar y empoderar al ciudadano y a las organizaciones no gubernamentales con datos transparentes, de libre acceso. La tecnología móvil ofrece posibilidades para este tipo de emprendimientos(AU)

The paper reflects on public health information management problems affecting public servants during epidemic outbreaks of dengue and similar diseases, based on the application of Agency Theory. It aims to broaden the scope of studies in this field, approaching the subject from a new perspective. The discussion is based on a broad bibliographic review of areas related to Agency Theory, case studies about dengue and public health. Application of Agency Theory to public health and to epidemic situations anticipates an intrinsic contradiction within the traditional health management model, dangerously affecting the efficacy of surveillance systems and impacting the insufficiently satisfactory results of the combat against vectors. It is possible to control this phenomenon using information technology from the perspective of self-organization and community information, with a view to training and empowering both citizens and non-governmental organizations with transparent, open-access data. Mobile technology offers possibilities for this type of endeavor(AU)

The effect of data-entry template design and anesthesia provider workload on documentation accuracy, documentation efficiency, and user-satisfaction.

INTRODUCTION: Currently, there are few evidence-based guidelines to inform optimal clinical data-entry template design that maximizes usability while reducing unintended consequences. This study explored the impact of data-entry template design and anesthesia provider workload on documentation accuracy, documentation efficiency, and user-satisfaction to identify the most beneficial data-entry methods for use in future documentation interface design. METHODOLOGY: A study using observational data collection and psychometric instruments (for perceived workload and user-satisfaction) was conducted at three hospitals using different methods of data-entry for perioperative documentation (auto-filling with unstructured data, computer-assisted data selection with semi-structured documentation, and paper-based documentation). Nurse anesthetists at each hospital (N = 30) were observed completing documentation on routine abdominal surgical cases. RESULTS: Auto-filling (61.2%) had the lowest documentation accuracy scores compared to computer-assisted (81.3%) and paper-based documentation (76.2%). Computer-assisted data-entry had the best documentation efficiency scores and required the least percentage of the nurse anesthetists' time (9.65%) compared to auto-filling (11.43%) and paper-based documentation (15.23%). Paper-based documentation had the highest perceived workload scores (M = 288, SD = 88) compared to auto-filling (M = 160, SD = 93, U = 16.5, p < 0.01) and computer assisted data-entry (M = 93, SD = 50, U = 4.0, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Auto-filling with unstructured data needs to be used sparingly because of its low documentation accuracy. Computer-assisted data entry with semi-structured data needs to be further study because of its better documentation accuracy, documentation efficiency, and perceived workload.