Search AMIA.org

Clinicians generally record medical narrative data, such as current complaints, physical examination, and progress notes, as free text in paper-based medical records. The medical narrative involves heterogeneous and detailed data that include the description of (multiple) occurrences of medical findings or symptoms that may progress over time. Structured, electronic recording of narrative data would facilitate the use of these data for research. The authors' OpenSDE application supports clinicians with the [...]

Syndromic surveillance refers to methods relying on detection of individual and population health indicators that are discernible before confirmed diagnoses are made. In particular, prior to the laboratory confirmation of an infectious disease, ill persons may exhibit behavioral patterns, symptoms, signs, or laboratory findings that can be tracked through a variety of data sources. Syndromic surveillance systems are being developed locally, regionally, and nationally. The efforts have been largely directed [...]

Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) may substantially improve health care quality and efficiency, but the available systems are complex and their heterogeneity makes comparing and evaluating them a challenge. The authors aimed to develop a conceptual framework for anticipating the effects of alternative designs for outpatient e-prescribing systems.

Use of digital medical images has become common over the last several years, coincident with the release of inexpensive, mega-pixel quality digital cameras and the transition to digital radiology operation by hospitals. One problem that clinicians, medical educators, and basic scientists encounter when handling images is the difficulty of using business and graphic arts commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software in multicontext authoring and interactive teaching environments. The authors investigated and developed software-supported [...]

InterMed is a collaboration among research groups from Stanford, Harvard, and Columbia Universities. The primary goal of InterMed has been to develop a sharable language that could serve as a standard for modeling computer-interpretable guidelines (CIGs). This language, called GuideLine Interchange Format (GLIF), has been developed in a collaborative manner and in an open process that has welcomed input from the larger community. The goals and experiences of the InterMed [...]

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a program of repeated assessments, feedback, and training on the quality of coded clinical data in general practice.

Limited information is available on personal digital assistant (PDA) use patterns in medical settings. Recognizing that use patterns may be important considerations for development of handheld-based information systems, the authors characterized PDA use at their institution. A survey was mailed to all internal medicine physicians at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, in May 2002. PDA use prevalence, user demographics, hardware preferences, and work setting and application use frequencies were assessed [...]

Medical error reporting systems are important information sources for designing strategies to improve the safety of health care. Applied Strategies for Improving Patient Safety (ASIPS) is a multi-institutional, practice-based research project that collects and analyzes data on primary care medical errors and develops interventions to reduce error. The voluntary ASIPS Patient Safety Reporting System captures anonymous and confidential reports of medical errors. Confidential reports, which are quickly de-identified, provide better [...]

(1) To evaluate preliminary effects of a computerized support system on congruence between patients' reported symptoms and preferences and those addressed in the patient consultation and (2) to investigate the system's ease of use, time requirements, and patient satisfaction.

To determine whether sales of electrolyte products contain a signal of outbreaks of respiratory and diarrheal disease in children and, if so, how much earlier a signal relative to hospital diagnoses.