Comparing Medical Term Usage Patterns of Professionals and Search Engine and Community Question Answering Service Users in Japan: Log Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing opportunities for acquiring health information online, discussion of the specific words used in searches has been limited. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to clarify the medical information gap between medical professionals and the general public in Japan through health information-seeking activities on the internet. METHODS: Search and posting data were analyzed from one of the most popular domestic search engines in Japan (Yahoo! JAPAN Search) and the most popular Japanese community question answering service (Yahoo! Chiebukuro). We compared the frequency of 100 clinical words appearing in the clinical case reports of medical professionals (clinical frequency) with their frequency in Yahoo! JAPAN Search (search frequency) logs and questions posted to Yahoo! Chiebukuro (question frequency). The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to quantify association patterns among the three information sources. Additionally, user information (gender and age) in the search frequency associated with each registered user was extracted. RESULTS: Significant correlations were observed between clinical and search frequencies (r=0.29, P=.003), clinical and question frequencies (r=0.34, P=.001), and search and question frequencies (r=0.57, P<.001). Low-frequency words in clinical frequency (eg, "hypothyroidism," "ulcerative colitis") highly ranked in search frequency. Similarly, "pain," "slight fever," and "numbness" were highly ranked only in question frequency. The weighted average of ages was 34.5 (SD 2.7) years, and the weighted average of gender (man -1, woman +1) was 0.1 (SD 0.1) in search frequency. Some words were specifically extracted from the search frequency of certain age groups, including "abdominal pain" (10-20 years), "plasma cells" and "inflammatory findings" (20-30 years), "DM" (diabetes mellitus; 30-40 years), "abnormal shadow" and "inflammatory findings" (40-50 years), "hypertension" and "abnormal shadow" (50-60 years), and "lung cancer" and "gastric cancer" (60-70 years). CONCLUSIONS: Search and question frequencies showed similar tendencies, whereas search and clinical frequencies showed discrepancy. Low-clinical frequency words related to diseases such as "hypothyroidism" and "ulcerative colitis" had high search frequencies, whereas those related to symptoms such as "pain," "slight fever," and "numbness" had high question frequencies. Moreover, high search frequency words included designated intractable diseases such as "ulcerative colitis," which has an incidence of less than 0.1% in the Japanese population. Therefore, it is generally worthwhile to pay attention not only to major diseases but also to minor diseases that users frequently seek information on, and more words will need to be analyzed in the future. Some characteristic words for certain age groups were observed (eg, 20-40 years: "cancer"; 40-60 years: diagnoses and diseases identified in health examinations; 60-70 years: diseases with late adulthood onset and "death"). Overall, this analysis demonstrates that medical professionals as information providers should be aware of clinical frequency, and medical information gaps between professionals and the general public should be bridged.

Call handlers for community nursing referrals: importance of collaborative working.

Messages being left on an answerphone by service users or professionals have historically been considered the traditional communication methods in community nursing services. In May 2018, an NHS organisation successfully rolled out a service whereby call handlers process enquiries using clinical algorithms, clinically triaged by a community nurse, based on the electronic patient record system. This article describes how this project was designed and implemented, reflecting on the value of shared knowledge and skills for successful service development, and how the absence of these can be a barrier to service improvement projects.

Veteran satisfaction with RN voice-mail greeting.

Voice-mail communication is often used to convey information between the registered nurse (RN) and the Veteran. Using a pretest-posttest design, this study examined whether implementation of a standardized voice-mail greeting had an impact on Veteran satisfaction and the number of messages left on the RN voice-mail. Veterans were more satisfied and there was a significant decrease in RN voice-mail messages post-implementation. This study highlights effects of the voice-mail greeting and has implications for other health care settings.

[Conflicting situations in the reception of oral health teams from the Family Health Program in Alagoinhas, Bahia, Brazil]. / Linhas de tensões no processo de acolhimento das equipes de saúde bucal do Programa Saúde da Família: o caso de Alagoinhas, Bahia, Brasil.

The study discusses the conflicting situations that arise while receiving oral health teams in Alagoinhas, Bahia, Brazil. The main orientation for the Family Health Program is based on analyzing health care work flowcharts. The current qualitative research used semi-structured interviews and practical observation as the data collection techniques. There were 17 study subjects: group I (dentists and dental assistants - 6); group II (other health workers - 6); and group III (users - 5). Users' first contact with the family health team is in the reception, often in a tense and conflicting atmosphere, but with the potential for alternatives for change, as a privileged space for the use of low-key technologies. The therapeutic process varies: e.g. clinical consultation, emergency care, scheduled follow-up, and referral to other health services in the system. However, oral health teams conduct the reception process in different ways, depending on the practitioners' commitment and unique characteristics.