ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pain trajectories have been described in numerous surgical settings where preoperative characteristics have been used to predict trajectory membership. Suboptimal pain intensity trajectories have been linked to poor longitudinal outcomes. However, numerous biopsychosocial modulators of postoperative pain may also have distinct longitudinal trajectories that may inform additional targets to improve postoperative recovery. METHODS: Patients undergoing total joint arthroplasty, thoracic surgery, spine surgery, major abdominal surgery, or mastectomy completed Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) measures and additional scales preoperatively and at 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively. A k-means clustering for longitudinal data was utilized to explore and describe distinct pain impact (PROMIS Pain Interference and Physical Function) trajectories and associated changes in additional biopsychosocial measures. Follow-up analyses examined participant demographics and clinical characteristics associated with trajectory memberships. RESULTS: Three postoperative biopsychosocial symptom clusters were identified across all patients (n = 402): low (35%), average (47%), and high (18%) performance cluster trajectories. Participants undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), spinal surgery, reporting presurgical opioid use, and higher pain catastrophizing scale scores were found to be associated with the low performance trajectory. Patients within the low performance trajectory, while demonstrating small improvements by 6 months, remained mild to moderately impaired in both pain impact and physical health outcomes. Alternatively, participants in the average performance trajectory demonstrated improvement in pain impact to population norms compared to baseline and demonstrated continued improvement across physical and psychological outcomes. Patients within the high performance cluster started within population norms across all measures at baseline and returned to baseline or exceeded baseline values by 6 months postoperatively. Self-reported opioid utilization was significantly higher in the low performance cluster across all time points. While a larger proportion of average performance patients reported opioid utilization during the first postoperative month compared to the high performance cluster, no differences were detected at 6 months postoperatively between these 2 clusters. CONCLUSIONS: These pain impact trajectories build upon previous unidimensional pain intensity trajectories and suggest that additional distinct biopsychosocial measures may have unique trajectories related to cluster assignment. Additionally, these findings highlight the importance of continued pain impact surveillance through the perioperative recovery period to detect patients at risk of experiencing a poor trajectory and subsequently poor longitudinal health outcomes.
Subject(s)
Anesthesia Recovery Period , Information Systems/trends , National Institutes of Health (U.S.)/trends , Pain Measurement/trends , Pain, Postoperative/epidemiology , Patient Reported Outcome Measures , Adult , Cluster Analysis , Cohort Studies , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Pain Measurement/methods , Pain, Postoperative/diagnosis , Prospective Studies , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Satellite communication has played an important part in many different industries because of its advantages of wide coverage, strong disaster tolerance and high flexibility. The security of satellite communication systems has always been the concern of many scholars. Without authentication, user should not obtain his/her required services. Beyond that, the anonymity also needs to be protected during communications. In this study, we design an efficient and provably secure key agreement scheme for satellite communication systems. In each session, we replace user's true identity by a temporary identity, which will be updated for each session, to guarantee the anonymity. Because the only use of lightweight algorithms, our proposed scheme has high performance. Furthermore, the security of the proposed scheme is proved in the real-or-random model and the performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme is more efficient than some other schemes for satellite communication systems.
Subject(s)
Computer Security/standards , Computer Security/trends , Satellite Communications/trends , Algorithms , Communication , Computer Security/statistics & numerical data , Confidentiality , Humans , Industry , Information Systems/economics , Information Systems/trends , Satellite Communications/economics , TelemedicineABSTRACT
This study is based on Philippe van der Voorn's master's dissertation at the Utrecht University, Department of Science, Information and Computing Sciences. The problem identified was a lack of an integrated information chain and clear governance structure for information flow in the Netherlands' health care sector. The method of Design Science was followed to construct an overview model of the chain, and towards a business process model that is intuitive for both technical and business users. An initial declaration chain was identified in the literature and presented, to be confirmed and elaborated on via eight interviews at seven different organisations in the medical specialist health care sector. Based on these interviews, the draft overview was adjusted and a Business Process Model and Notation model created that indicates the shared understanding of the data elements and activities between the organisations. The contribution of the overview of the declaration chain, in particular, can help medical specialist staff obtain an understanding of the administrative side of their work, and with a clear information infrastructure lead to better working processes and information quality. F.J.
Subject(s)
Bibliometrics , Information Systems/standards , Medicine/instrumentation , Humans , Information Systems/instrumentation , Information Systems/trends , Medicine/trends , NetherlandsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: With the advancement of technology, more countries are now adopting the use of electronic product information (ePI), which refer to an electronic version of physical product inserts in a semistructured format optimized for electronic manipulation. The successful implementation of ePI has led to advantages and convenience to patients, health care professionals, and pharmaceutical companies in many regions and countries. In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), there is currently no citywide implementation of ePI. The SAR exhibits conditions that would favor the implementation of an ePI system, as well as existing barriers hindering its implementation. However, no study has been performed to examine the specific situation in Hong Kong. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to explore working pharmacists' overall perception of ePI and to identify potential challenges to the implementation of an ePI system in Hong Kong. METHODS: This mixed-method study involved a structured survey and interview with practicing pharmacists in Hong Kong. Pharmacists were eligible if they were licensed to practice in Hong Kong, and currently working locally in any pharmacy-related sectors and institutions. Respondents completed a survey to indicate their level of agreement with statements regarding the potential advantages of ePI over paper PI. A structured interview was conducted to gather respondents' perceived advantages of ePI over paper PI in different aspects, such as professionalism, usability, presentation, and environment, as well as challenges of citywide ePI implementation in Hong Kong. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyze the qualitative data. Grounded theory was used to generate themes and identify specific outcomes. RESULTS: A total of 16 pharmacists were recruited, comprising 4 community pharmacists, 5 hospital pharmacists, and 7 industrial pharmacists. All of them used electronic platforms at least once per month on average. Respondents identified many flaws in physical package inserts that can potentially be mitigated using ePI. The speed with which drug information can be retrieved and the degree to which the drug information can be readily updated and disseminated were considered the greatest strengths of ePI. The clarity with which ePI present drug information to patients was considered as the weakest aspect of ePI. Many respondents highlighted concerns about the security risks and high cost associated with system maintenance and that certain subpopulations may not be sufficiently computer literate to navigate the ePI system. Respondents also voiced many concerns about the implementation and maintenance of a local ePI system. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that an ePI system is generally supported by pharmacists but concerns about implementation process and maintenance of the system has been raised. The perceived benefits of ePI gathered from this study, as well as collective evidence from other countries with mature ePI systems, confirm that more efforts should be made to promote optimized development and implementation of an ePI system in Hong Kong.
Subject(s)
Attitude of Health Personnel , Electronics/trends , Information Systems/trends , Pharmacists/psychology , Female , Hong Kong , Humans , Male , Perception , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The popularity of Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has made people's driving environment more comfortable and convenient. However, with the integration of external networks and the vehicle networks, the vulnerabilities of the Controller Area Network (CAN) are exposed, allowing attackers to remotely invade vehicle networks through external devices. Based on the remote attack model for vulnerabilities of the in-vehicle CAN, we designed an efficient and safe identity authentication scheme based on Feige-Fiat-Shamir (FFS) zero-knowledge identification scheme with extremely high soundness. We used the method of zero-one reversal and two-to-one verification to solve the problem that FFS cannot effectively resist guessing attacks. Then, we carried out a theoretical analysis of the scheme's security and evaluated it on the software and hardware platform. Finally, regarding time overhead, under the same parameters, compared with the existing scheme, the scheme can complete the authentication within 6.1ms without having to go through multiple rounds of interaction, which reduces the additional authentication delay and enables all private keys to participate in one round of authentication, thereby eliminating the possibility that a private key may not be involved in the original protocol. Regarding security and soundness, as long as private keys are not cracked, the scheme can resist guessing attacks, which is more secure than the existing scheme.
Subject(s)
Automation/methods , Computer Security/instrumentation , Computer Security/trends , Algorithms , Automobile Driving , Automobiles , China , Confidentiality , Crime Victims , Excipients , Humans , Information Systems/instrumentation , Information Systems/trends , Internet , Knowledge , Research Design , SoftwareABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To give an overview of recent research and to propose a selection of best papers published in 2019 in the field of Clinical Information Systems (CIS). METHOD: Each year, we apply a systematic process to retrieve articles for the CIS section of the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics. For six years now, we use the same query to find relevant publications in the CIS field. Each year we retrieve more than 2,000 papers. As CIS section editors, we categorize the retrieved articles in a multi-pass review to distill a pre-selection of 15 candidate best papers. Then, Yearbook editors and external reviewers assess the selected candidate best papers. Based on the review results, the IMIA Yearbook Editorial Committee chooses the best papers during the selection meeting. We used text mining, and term co-occurrence mapping techniques to get an overview of the content of the retrieved articles. RESULTS: We carried out the query in mid-January 2020 and retrieved a de-duplicated result set of 2,407 articles from 1,023 different journals. This year, we nominated 14 papers as candidate best papers, and three of them were finally selected as best papers in the CIS section. As in previous years, the content analysis of the articles revealed the broad spectrum of topics covered by CIS research. CONCLUSIONS: We could observe ongoing trends, as seen in the last years. Patient benefit research is in the focus of many research activities, and trans-institutional aggregation of data remains a relevant field of work. Powerful machine-learning-based approaches, that use readily available data now often outperform human-based procedures. However, the ethical perspective of this development often comes too short in the considerations. We thus assume that ethical aspects will and should deliver much food for thought for future CIS research.
Subject(s)
Biomedical Research/trends , Information Systems/trends , Medical Informatics/trends , Computer Security , Confidentiality , Electronic Health Records , HumansABSTRACT
Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, a variety of public health strategies have been implemented by governments worldwide. However, the fact that strict government mandates focus on physical distancing does not mean that social connectedness for voluntary risk communication among citizens should be sacrificed. Furthermore, we lack an understanding of citizens' behaviors regarding the voluntary adoption of public health measures and the control of mental wellbeing in the age of physical distancing. Key variables in the response to the global pandemic are the emergence of risk deliberation networks, voluntary compliance with government guidelines, and the restoration of citizens' subjective health. However, little is known about how citizens' health-related behaviors coevolve with social connections for sharing information and discussing urgent pandemic issues. The findings show that selection and social influence mechanisms coexist by affecting each citizen's health-related behaviors and community-led risk discourses in the face of the urgent health crisis.
Subject(s)
Computer Communication Networks/trends , Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology , Information Systems/trends , Pandemics , Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology , COVID-19 , Communication , Community Participation , Coronavirus Infections/psychology , Health Behavior , Humans , Information Seeking Behavior , Pneumonia, Viral/psychology , Public HealthABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: This study provides a systematic review of EU-funded mHealth projects. METHODS: The review was conducted based mainly on the Projects and Results service provided by the EU Open Data Portal. Even though the search strategy yielded a large number of results, only 45 projects finally met all the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: The review results reveal useful information regarding mHealth solutions and trends that emerge nowadays in the EU, the diseases addressed, the level of adoption by users and providers, the technological approaches, the projects' structure, and the overall impact. New areas of application, like behavioral intervention approaches as well as an apparent trend towards affective computing, big data, cloud computing, open standards and platforms have also been recognized and recorded. Core legal issues with regard to data security and privacy still pose challenges to mHealth projects, while commercialization of the developed solutions is slow. Interdisciplinary consortia with the participation of a significant number of SMEs and public healthcare organizations are also key factors for a successful project. CONCLUSION: The study provides researchers and decision-makers with a complete and systematically organized knowledge base in order to plan new mHealth initiatives.
Subject(s)
Information Systems/trends , Research/economics , Research/trends , Telemedicine/economics , Telemedicine/trends , Computer Security , Computers, Handheld/trends , Confidentiality , Europe , Financing, Government/statistics & numerical data , HumansABSTRACT
The quality of information on race/color is a necessary condition for knowing the impact of inequality on mortality. This study aims to analyze the trend and inequality in completeness of race/color in death records of elderly in Brazil's Mortality Information System (SIM in Portuguese) from 2000 to 2015. The study analyzes the completeness of this variable according to different geographic areas, the race or color most affected by poor completeness of records, and the association between excellent completion of race/color and the municipalities' territoriality and socioeconomic status. Data on deaths of elderly individuals were obtained from the SIM and information on the population from censuses and Ministry of Health estimates. The study estimates the percent variation in the proportion of incompleteness. The percent variation of black and brown individuals was estimated from 2000 to 2010 from the SIM and censuses. Crude and adjusted logistic regression (95%CI) were used to estimate completeness of race/color as the outcome and territorial and socioeconomic characteristics as independent variables. We found a sharp improvement in quality of completion during the period, especially up to 2006, with an excellent average since 2007. The findings showed territorial inequality at the municipal level. Municipalities with low/medium HDI (with a high proportion of poverty and inequality) showed lower odds of excellent completeness. The adjusted model shows that the region and size of the municipality are characteristics that explain the excellent quality of the race/color variable. Municipalities in Northeast Brazil and small municipalities have the lowest odds of excellent completeness. In conclusion, race/color in the SIM has sufficient quality to be used in studies on inequality of mortality in the elderly, with exceptions at the municipal level.
A qualidade da informação sobre raça/cor é condição necessária para conhecer o impacto da desigualdade na mortalidade. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a tendência e a desigualdade na completude da raça/cor dos óbitos de idosos no Sistema de Informações sobre Mortalidade (SIM) entre 2000 e 2015 no Brasil. Analisa-se a completude dessa variável por diferentes abrangências geográficas, a raça/cor mais afetada pela má completude e a associação entre a excelência do preenchimento da raça/cor com a territorialidade e a condição socioeconômica dos municípios. Os dados dos óbitos de idosos provêm do SIM, e as informações de população, dos Censos e estimativas do Ministério da Saúde. Estima-se a variação percentual da proporção da incompletude. A variação percentual de pretos/pardos foi estimada entre 2000 e 2010 para o SIM e Censos. Estima-se regressão logística simples e ajustada (IC95%), tendo, como desfecho excelente, completude da raça/cor e, como resposta, variáveis territoriais e socioeconômicas. Encontrou-se acentuada melhora da qualidade do preenchimento no período, especialmente até 2006, sendo excelente a média nacional desde 2007. Nota-se desigualdade territorial em nível municipal. Municípios de IDH baixo/médio, com alta proporção de pobreza e desigualdade tiveram menor chance de ter excelente completude. O modelo ajustado mostra que a região e o tamanho do município são as características que explicam a excelente qualidade da variável raça/cor. Municípios do Nordeste e de pequeno porte têm menos chance de excelente completude. Conclui-se que raça/cor no SIM tem qualidade para ser utilizada nos estudos de desigualdade da mortalidade dos idosos, salvo exceções em nível municipal.
La calidad de la información sobre raza/color es una condición necesaria para conocer el impacto de la desigualdad en la mortalidad. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la tendencia y la desigualdad en la cumplimentación de la raza/color de los óbitos de ancianos en el Sistema de Informacions sobre Mortalidad (SIM) entre 2000 y 2015 en Brasil. Se analiza la cumplimentación de esta variable a través de diferentes ámbitos geográficos, la raza/color más afectada por la mala cumplimentación y la asociación entre la excelencia de la cumplimentación de la raza/color con la territorialidad y la condición socioeconómica de los municipios. Los datos de los óbitos de ancianos provienen del SIM y la información de población procede de los censos y estimativas del Ministerio de Salud. Se estima la variación del porcentaje a través de la proporción de la no cumplimentación. La variación del porcentaje de negros/mulatos se estimó entre 2000 y 2010 para el SIM y censos. Se estima regresión logística simple y ajustada (IC95%), teniendo como desenlace excelente la cumplimentación de la raza/color y como respuesta variables territoriales y socioeconómicas. Se encontró una acentuada mejora de la calidad de la cumplimentación durante el período, especialmente hasta 2006, siendo excelente la media nacional desde 2007. Se nota desigualdad territorial a nivel municipal. Municipios de IDH bajo/medio, con alta proporción de pobreza y desigualdad, tuvieron una menor oportunidad de contar con una excelente cumplimentación. El modelo ajustado muestra que la región y el tamaño del municipio son las características que explican la excelente calidad de la variable raza/color. Municipios del nordeste y de pequeño porte tienen menos oportunidad de excelente cumplimentación. Se concluye que raza/color en el SIM tiene calidad para ser utilizada en los estudios de desigualdad de la mortalidad de ancianos, salvo excepciones a nivel municipal.
Subject(s)
Death Certificates , Information Systems/trends , Aged , Black People , Brazil/epidemiology , Ethnicity , Humans , Mortality , Race Factors , Racism , Residence Characteristics , Socioeconomic Factors , White PeopleABSTRACT
As a consequence of the epidemiological transition towards non-communicable diseases, integrated care approaches are required, not solely focused on medical purposes, but also on a range of essential activities for the maintenance of the individuals' quality of life. In order to allow the exchange of information, these integrated approaches might be supported by digital platforms, which need to provide trustful environments and to guarantee the integrity of the information exchanged. Therefore, together with mechanisms such as authentication, logging or auditing, the definition of access control policies assumes a paramount importance. This article focuses on the development of a parser as a component of a platform to support the care of community-dwelling older adults, the SOCIAL platform, to allow the definition of access control policies and rules using natural languages.
Subject(s)
Health Information Exchange/trends , Information Storage and Retrieval/trends , Natural Language Processing , Quality of Life , Software/trends , Humans , Information Systems/trends , LinguisticsABSTRACT
Construction and application of immunization information system is an important part of health information, which is very useful to improve the quality, efficiency and safety of vaccination. The background, system architecture, functions and applications, working conditions and characteristics of Shandong province Immunization Information System (IIS) are introduced in this article. It is expected to provide experiences for the development of immunization information system of other provinces.
Subject(s)
Immunization , Information Systems , Vaccination , Ambulatory Care Facilities/statistics & numerical data , Child , China , Humans , Immunization/statistics & numerical data , Information Systems/trendsSubject(s)
Delivery of Health Care/standards , Information Systems , Patient-Centered Care , Technology/trends , Telemedicine/trends , Delivery of Health Care/economics , Humans , Information Systems/economics , Information Systems/trends , Patient-Centered Care/economics , Precision Medicine/economicsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To adapt data collection of the Information System software with the nursing process in Intensive Therapy for use in medical and surgical clinic units. METHODS: A descriptive study developed in three stages. The first consisted of team training; in the second, the software was applied in clinical practice with 100 patients; and in the third, we analyzed the modifications to be done. RESULTS: There was inter-observer agreement of 91%, followed by application of the software in 100 patients. In the "patient registration" module, it was suggested the exclusion of one item, inclusion of six and modification of four of them. In the anamnesis screens, no items were flagged to be deleted; 26 inclusions and 7 changes were proposed. In the physical examination screens, it was suggested the exclusion of 31 items, inclusion of 26 and modification of 27. CONCLUSION: Modifying information systems and going through stages methodologically constructed and implemented was important.
Subject(s)
Nursing Process/trends , Organizational Innovation , Software Design , Humans , Information Systems/standards , Information Systems/trends , Patients' Rooms/organization & administration , Patients' Rooms/trendsABSTRACT
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.
Subject(s)
Information Management/methods , Workplace/standards , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Employment , Humans , Information Management/standards , Information Systems/trends , Mathematical Concepts , Models, Economic , Occupational Health/standards , Workplace/psychologyABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Objective: To adapt data collection of the Information System software with the nursing process in Intensive Therapy for use in medical and surgical clinic units. Methods: A descriptive study developed in three stages. The first consisted of team training; in the second, the software was applied in clinical practice with 100 patients; and in the third, we analyzed the modifications to be done. Results: There was inter-observer agreement of 91%, followed by application of the software in 100 patients. In the "patient registration" module, it was suggested the exclusion of one item, inclusion of six and modification of four of them. In the anamnesis screens, no items were flagged to be deleted; 26 inclusions and 7 changes were proposed. In the physical examination screens, it was suggested the exclusion of 31 items, inclusion of 26 and modification of 27. Conclusion: Modifying information systems and going through stages methodologically constructed and implemented was important.
RESUMEN Objetivo: adaptar la etapa de recolección de datos del software Sistema de Información con el Proceso de Enfermería en Terapia Intensiva para uso en unidades de clínica médica y quirúrgica. Métodos: estudio descriptivo desarrollado en tres etapas. La primera consistió en la capacitación del equipo; la segunda, en la aplicación del software a la práctica clínica con 100 pacientes y; la tercera, en el análisis de las modificaciones que se deben llevar a cabo. Resultados: se obtuvo concordancia interobservador del 91 %, seguida de aplicación del software a 100 pacientes. En el módulo de registro de los pacientes, se sugirió la exclusión de un ítem, la inclusión de seis ítems y la modificación de cuatro. En las pantallas de Anamnesis, no se señaló ningún ítem que excluir; se propusieron 26 inclusiones y siete modificaciones. En las pantallas del examen físico se sugirió la exclusión de 31 ítems, la inclusión de 26 y la modificación de 27. Conclusión: se observa la importancia de modificar sistemas de información, avanzando por etapas metodológicamente construidas e implementadas.
RESUMO Objetivo: adaptar a etapa de coleta de dados do software Sistema de Informação com o Processo de Enfermagem em Terapia Intensiva para uso em unidades de clínica médica e cirúrgica. Métodos: estudo descritivo desenvolvido em três etapas. A primeira consistiu na capacitação da equipe, na segunda o software foi aplicado na prática clínica com 100 pacientes e na terceira analisaram-se as modificações a serem realizadas. Resultados: obteve-se concordância inter-observador de 91%, seguido por aplicação do software em 100 pacientes. No módulo cadastro dos pacientes foi sugerida a exclusão de um item, incluídos seis e modificados quatro. Nas telas de Anamnese, nenhum item foi sinalizado para ser excluído; foram propostas 26 inclusões e sete alterações. Nas telas do exame físico foi sugerida a exclusão de 31 itens, a inclusão de 26 e 27 modificações. Conclusão: Observa-se a importância de modificar sistemas de informação, perpassando por etapas metodologicamente construídas e implementadas.
Subject(s)
Humans , Organizational Innovation , Software Design , Nursing Process/trends , Patients' Rooms/organization & administration , Patients' Rooms/trends , Information Systems/standards , Information Systems/trendsABSTRACT
There is a synergistic relationship between analog field testing and the deep space telecommunication capabilities necessary for future human exploration. The BASALT (Biologic Analog Science Associated with Lava Terrains) research project developed and implemented a telecommunications architecture that serves as a high-fidelity analog of future telecommunication capabilities for Mars. This paper presents the architecture and its constituent elements. The rationale for the various protocols and radio frequency (RF) link types required to enable an interdisciplinary field mission are discussed, and the performance results from the BASALT field tests are provided. Extravehicular Informatics Backpacks (EVIB) designed for BASALT and tested by human subjects are also discussed, and the proceeding sections show how these prototype extravehicular activity (EVA) information systems can augment future human exploration. The paper concludes with an aggregate analysis of the data product types and data volumes generated, transferred, and utilized by the ground team and explorers over the course of the field deployments.
Subject(s)
Exobiology/organization & administration , Extraterrestrial Environment , Mars , Space Flight/organization & administration , Telecommunications/organization & administration , Exobiology/trends , Forecasting , Humans , Information Systems/organization & administration , Information Systems/trends , Space Flight/trends , Space Simulation/methods , Telecommunications/trends , United States , United States National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationABSTRACT
This study presents the results of experimental evaluations of an ontology-based frequently asked question retrieval system in the domain of HIV and AIDS. The main purpose of the system is to provide answers to questions on HIV/AIDS using ontology. To evaluate the effectiveness of the frequently asked question retrieval system, we conducted two experiments. The first experiment focused on the evaluation of the quality of the ontology we developed using the OQuaRE evaluation framework which is based on software quality metrics and metrics designed for ontology quality evaluation. The second experiment focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the ontology in retrieving relevant answers. For this we used an open-source information retrieval platform, Terrier, with retrieval models BM25 and PL2. For the measurement of performance, we used the measures mean average precision, mean reciprocal rank, and precision at 5. The results suggest that frequently asked question retrieval with ontology is more effective than frequently asked question retrieval without ontology in the domain of HIV/AIDS.
Subject(s)
HIV Infections/diagnosis , HIV Infections/therapy , Information Systems/standards , Biological Ontologies , Botswana , HIV Infections/physiopathology , HIV-1/drug effects , HIV-1/pathogenicity , Humans , Information Systems/trends , Software DesignABSTRACT
Pilot implementation is a method for avoiding unintended consequences of healthcare information systems. This study investigates how learning from pilot implementations is situated, messy, and therefore difficult. We analyze two pilot implementations by means of observation and interviews. In the first pilot implementation, the involved porters saw their improved overview of pending patient transports as an opportunity for more self-organization, but this opportunity hinged on the unclear prospects of extending the system with functionality for the porters to reply to transport requests. In the second pilot implementation, the involved paramedics had to print the data they had entered into the system because it had not yet been integrated with the electronic patient record. This extra work prolonged every dispatch and influenced the paramedics' experience of the entire system. We discuss how pilot implementations, in spite of their realism, leave room for uncertainty about the implications of the new system.