From Strategy to Synergy: Paving Ontario's Proactive Path in Precision Medicine with Collaboration and Visionary Leadership.

Ontario is shifting to a Precision Medicine (PM) model, which emphasizes tailored patient care, an initiative reflected in the formation of Ontario Health Teams. However, this shift faces significant data governance, policy formulation, and technology integration hurdles. To overcome these barriers, we advocate for a comprehensive PM framework to orchestrate collaboration among healthcare providers, policymakers, and technologists. This framework enhances data management, propels digital health innovations, and uphold ethical standards in AI applications. Effective deployment of this framework is crucial for actualizing PM's promise in Ontario, potentially revolutionizing healthcare delivery.

From Blueprint to Best Practice: Gauging the Efficacy of Digital Health Solutions.

The surge of AI-driven technologies in the digital health market demands a concurrent evolution in evaluation standards, a pace currently lagging behind innovation. This paper explores the pivotal inadequacies within existing evaluation models, highlighting the necessity for refined methodologies that align with the unique complexities of digital health. We critically examine the initiatives of key entities such as Health Canada, CADTH, and CNDHE, pinpointing the deficiencies in addressing the volatility and intricacies of AI applications. To bridge these gaps, we advocate for a nuanced evaluation paradigm, proposing the establishment of an oversight body, implementing detailed category-specific criteria, and a robust six-step evaluation framework tailored for AI health solutions. The paper culminates by underscoring the indispensable role of strategic leadership and agile policymaking in cultivating a resilient digital health environment that prioritizes patient care without compromising the ingenuity of technological advances.

Multi-EMR Structured Data Entry Form: User-Acceptance Testing of a Prototype.

Capturing standardized data from multiple EMRs at the point of care is highly desirable for a variety of uses, including quality improvement programs, multi-centered clinical trials and clinical decision support. In this paper, we describe the design, development and user acceptance testing of a prototype web-based form (the Form) that can integrate with multiple EMRs. We used the validated UTAUT questionnaire to assess the likelihood of uptake of the Form into clinical practice. The Form was found to be easy to use, elicits low anxiety, supports productivity and is perceived to have good support. Users would benefit from training and from better social signaling about the importance of using the Form in their practice. Making the Form more fun and interesting could help increase uptake.

Smoking among high school students of an area with medium socioeconomic status.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the smoking patterns among high school students in Sarakhs County, Iran. METHODS: This is a cross sectional school based survey. The study population was 943 high school students grade 9-12, from Sarakhs County in study year 2010-2011. Study tool was a self-administrated questionnaire. RESULTS: From 943 participating students, 181(19.2%) had history of smoking. The mean age of smokers was 16.59 +/- 1.1, and the mean age of initiating smoking was 14.35 +/- 2.1 years. Of the smokers, 121 (66.9%) were male and 124 (68.7%) students were aware of smoking hazards. Public broadcasting, family, and newspapers were the most common sources of students' knowledge about smoking. Recreation and entertainment, peer group impact, and curiosity were the most frequent predisposing factors for smoking from students' perspectives. The relationship between smoking and school type, field of study, school failing, and having a smoker father, brother or friend was significant (p < 0.001). The concomitant use of illegal drugs was more common between smoker students; marijuana 4.9, alcohol 1.2, Psychoactive Pills 2.5 and Betel Nut (Nas) 3.4 times were more common. CONCLUSION: This study showed that smoking prevalence among high school students of an area with average socioeconomic status (Sarakhs County) is similar to that reported by most of the other Iranian studies, and compared to a few studies it was even lower. Our results are supportive for the programmes that aim to change high risk behaviours simultaneously.

The relation of self-esteem and illegal drug usage in high school students.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is the period of stress and strain. Researchers have shown that adolescents without strong social supports would have tendency towards smoking and drug abuse. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between low self-esteem and illegal drug abuse. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Participants were 943 grades nine to 12 high school students, from Sarakhs during 2010 - 2011. Adolescents participated in the study, completed two self-report questionnaires. The first questionnaire included questions about individual and family information, smoking and illegal drug abuse history, and the second was the Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. RESULTS: 53.8% of participants were male (507 individuals). The mean Rosenberg self-esteem score was 19.8 + 5.2, and the most frequent obtained scores were from 22 to 30. The difference of Rosenberg self-esteem score test between students who did not use any substance and those who had a history of smoking or drug abuse like heroin, pills, alcohols, betel nut (Nas) and other drugs (such as Pan and Hookah) was significant (P < 0.001). But this difference was not significant for marijuana (hashish) and opium. The difference of mean self-esteem scores between adolescents who lived with both or one of the parents, and those who did not live with any of parents, was significant (P = 0.04). There was also a significant association between the number of children in the family and self-esteem score. CONCLUSIONS: The current study showed significant association between the Rosenberg self-esteem test results and smoking, and illegal drug abuse like heroin, pills, alcohol, Nas, and other substances. Therefore, increasing self-esteem is essential for preventing the adolescents' emotional and behavioral disorders. This fact could guide us to the new approaches for smoking and drug-abuse prevention in adolescents.