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Clinical notes, typically written in natural language, often contain substructure that divides them into sections, such as "History of Present Illness" or "Family Medical History." The authors designed and evaluated an algorithm ("SecTag") to identify both labeled and unlabeled (implied) note section headers in "history and physical examination" documents ("H&P notes").

The healthcare industry could achieve significant benefits through the adoption of a service-oriented architecture (SOA). The specification and adoption of standard software service interfaces will be critical to achieving these benefits.

To devise an automated approach for integrating federated database information using database ontologies constructed from their extended metadata.

Technology has great potential to reduce medication errors in hospitals. This case report describes barriers to, and facilitators of, the implementation of a pharmacy bar code scanning system to reduce medication dispensing errors at a large academic medical center. Ten pharmacy staff were interviewed about their experiences during the implementation. Interview notes were iteratively reviewed to identify common themes. The authors identified three main barriers to pharmacy bar code scanning [...]

Patient portals may improve pediatric chronic disease outcomes, but few have been rigorously evaluated for usability by parents. Using scenario-based testing with think-aloud protocols, we evaluated the usability of portals for parents of children with cystic fibrosis, diabetes or arthritis. DESIGN Sixteen parents used a prototype and test data to complete 14 tasks followed by a validated satisfaction questionnaire. Three iterations of the prototype were used.

To incorporate value-based weight scaling into the Fellegi-Sunter (F-S) maximum likelihood linkage algorithm and evaluate the performance of the modified algorithm. Background Because healthcare data are fragmented across many healthcare systems, record linkage is a key component of fully functional health information exchanges. Probabilistic linkage methods produce more accurate, dynamic, and robust matching results than rule-based approaches, particularly when matching patient records that lack unique identifiers. Theoretically, the relative frequency [...]

A systematic literature review was performed to identify variables promoting consumer health information technology (CHIT) acceptance among patients. The electronic bibliographic databases Web of Science, Business Source Elite, CINAHL, Communication and Mass Media Complete, MEDLINE, PsycArticles, and PsycInfo were searched. A cited reference search of articles meeting the inclusion criteria was also conducted to reduce misses. Fifty-two articles met the selection criteria. Among them, 94 different variables were tested for [...]

This study introduces new information fusion algorithms to enhance disease surveillance systems with Bayesian decision support capabilities. A detection system was built and tested using chief complaints from emergency department visits, International Classification of Diseases Revision 9 (ICD-9) codes from records of outpatient visits to civilian and military facilities, and influenza surveillance data from health departments in the National Capital Region (NCR). Data anomalies were identified and distribution of time [...]

The authors developed "DIET", a computerized system preparing dietary prescriptions in clinical settings. "DIET" has the ability to calculate the nutritional requirements and to produce daily menus of patients automatically. Also, it serves as an electronic medical and dietetic record and it can produce daily reports regarding portions, quantities and cost of meals. The authors also conducted a preliminary evaluation of the system by comparing the design of nutritional plans [...]