Search results for: healthcare provider

Authors: Julaine Allan, Katarzyna Olcon, Padmini Pai, Lynne Keevers, Mim Fox, Maria Mackay, Ruth Everingham

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Effective local responses to community needs are grounded in contextual knowledge and build on existing resources. The Stability, Encompassing, Endurance & Direction (SEED) Wellbeing Program was created in 2020 in response to cumulative disasters, bushfires, floods and COVID, experienced by healthcare staff in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW Australia. SEED used a participatory action methodology to bring healthcare staff teams together to engage in restorative activities in the workplace. Guided by Practice Theory, this study identified the practices that supported the recovery of healthcare staff.

Keywords: mental health and wellbeing, workplace wellness, healthcare providers, natural disasters, COVID-19, burnout, occupational trauma

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Jaleh Shoshtarian Malak, Niloofar Mohamadzadeh

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Managing pre-hospital emergency patients requires real-time practices and efficient resource utilization. Since we are facing a distributed Network of healthcare providers, services and applications choosing the right resources and treatment protocol considering patient situation is a critical task. Delivering care to emergency patients at right time and with the suitable treatment settings can save ones live and prevent further complication. In recent years Multi Agent Systems (MAS) introduced great solutions to deal with real-time, distributed and complicated problems. In this paper we propose a multi agent based pre-hospital emergency management architecture in order to manage coordination, collaboration, treatment protocol and healthcare provider selection between different parties in pre-hospital emergency in a self-organizing manner. We used AnyLogic Agent Based Modeling (ABM) tool in order to simulate our proposed architecture. We have analyzed and described the functionality of EMS center, Ambulance, Consultation Center, EHR Repository and Quality of Care Monitoring as main collaborating agents. Future work includes implementation of the proposed architecture and evaluation of its impact on patient quality of care improvement.

Keywords: multi agent systems, pre-hospital emergency, simulation, software architecture

Procedia PDF Downloads 406

Authors: Khamis Al-Gharbi, Said M. Gattoufi, Ali H. Al-Badi, Ali Al-Hashmi

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The case study presents the progression of a project management of Al-Shifa, a healthcare information system in Oman. The case study describes the evolution of the implementation of a healthcare information system tailored to meet the needs of the healthcare units under the supervision of the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Oman. A focus group methodology was used for collecting the relevant information from the main project's stakeholders. In addition reports about the project made available for the researchers. The case analysis is made based on the Project Management approach developed by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The main finding that there was no formal project management approach adopted by the MOH for the development and implementation of the herewith mentioned healthcare information system project. Furthermore, the project had suffered a scope creep in terms of features, cost and time-schedule. The recommendations of the authors, for the rescue of the project from its current dilemma, consist of technological, administrative and human resources development actions.

Keywords: project management, information system, healthcare, Al-Shifa, Oman

Procedia PDF Downloads 373

Authors: Wieke Ellen Bouwes

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This study aims to unravel which factors enhance accessibility of video consultations (VCs) for patients with low digital literacy. Thirteen in-depth interviews with patients, hospital employees, eHealth experts, and digital support organizations were held. Patients with low digital literacy received in-home support during real-time video consultations and are observed during the set-up of these consultations. Key findings highlight the importance of patient acceptance, emphasizing video consultations benefits and avoiding standardized courses. The lack of a uniform video consultation system across healthcare providers poses a barrier. Familiarity with support organizations – to support patients in usage of digital tools - among healthcare practitioners enhances accessibility. Moreover, considerations regarding the Dutch General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law influence support patients receive. Also, provider readiness to use video consultations influences patient access. Further, alignment between learning styles and support methods seems to determine abilities to learn how to use video consultations. Future research could delve into tailored learning styles and technological solutions for remote access to further explore effectiveness of learning methods.

Keywords: video consultations, digital literacy skills, effectiveness of support, intra- and inter-organizational relationships, patient acceptance of video consultations

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Authors: Chellammal Surianarayanan

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Healthcare industry is generating large amounts of data driven by various needs such as record keeping, physician’s prescription, medical imaging, sensor data, Electronic Patient Record(EPR), laboratory, pharmacy, etc. Healthcare data is so big and complex that they cannot be managed by conventional hardware and software. The complexity of healthcare big data arises from large volume of data, the velocity with which the data is accumulated and different varieties such as structured, semi-structured and unstructured nature of data. Despite the complexity of big data, if the trends and patterns that exist within the big data are uncovered and analyzed, higher quality healthcare at lower cost can be provided. Hadoop is an open source software framework for distributed processing of large data sets across clusters of commodity hardware using a simple programming model. The core components of Hadoop include Hadoop Distributed File System which offers way to store large amount of data across multiple machines and MapReduce which offers way to process large data sets with a parallel, distributed algorithm on a cluster. Hadoop ecosystem also includes various other tools such as Hive (a SQL-like query language), Pig (a higher level query language for MapReduce), Hbase(a columnar data store), etc. In this paper an analysis has been done as how healthcare big data can be processed and analyzed using Hadoop ecosystem.

Keywords: big data analytics, Hadoop, healthcare data, towards quality healthcare

Procedia PDF Downloads 396

Authors: Ankur Chauhan, Amol Singh

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The increasing human resource has led to the rapid increment in the generation of healthcare waste across the world. Since, this waste consists of the infectious and hazardous components emerged from the patient care activities in different healthcare facilities; therefore, its proper management becomes vital for mitigating its negative impact on society and environment. The present research work focuses on the identification of the key success factors for developing a successful healthcare waste management plan. In addition, the key success factors have been studied by developing a causal diagram with the help of a decision making trial and evaluation (DEMATEL) approach. The findings of the study would help in the filtration of dominant key success factors which would further help in making a comparative assessment of the waste management plan of different hospitals.

Keywords: healthcare waste disposal, environment and society, multi-criteria decision making, DEMATEL

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: Julaine Allan, Katarzyna Olcon, Padmini Pai, Lynne Keevers, Mim Fox, Maria Mackay, Ruth Everingham, Sue Cutmore, Chris Degeling, Kristine Falzon, Summer Finlay

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Effective local responses to community needs are grounded in contextual knowledge and built on existing resources. The SEED Wellbeing Program was created in 2020 in response to cumulative disasters, bushfires, floods and COVID experienced by healthcare staff in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW, Australia. SEED used a participatory action methodology to bring healthcare staff teams together to engage in restorative activities in the workplace. Guided by Practice Theory, this study identified the practices that supported the recovery of healthcare staff.

Keywords: mental health and wellbeing, workplace wellness, healthcare providers, natural disasters, COVID-19, burnout, occupational trauma

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Che Zarrina Sa'ari, Sheriza Izwa Zainuddin, Hasimah Chik, Sharifah Basirah Syed Muhsin

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Palliative care is holistic care for patients with serious illnesses and for the family as well by interdisciplinary specialties to optimize quality of life by preventing, treating, and comforting the suffering and struggling. Palliative care is not a curative treatment but a comprehensive care to ensure the well-being of patients. This study was to identify the perceptions of patients and carers on healthcare needs and any factors related to the needs of palliative patients. Validated questionnaires survey of 254 patients and carers were analysed using a Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The findings were processed with Cronbach Alpha analysis, frequency, and descriptive to compare the important of each element in healthcare. Open-ended responses were analysed using thematic framework approach. The findings proved that all the items in healthcare needs elements were important because the frequency shown higher values, which were physical needs (5.91), mental needs (6.10), spiritual needs (6.34), emotional needs (6.05), social needs (5.88) and logistics needs (5.05). The total score of Cronbach’s alpha (α) for this study is 0.958, which is suggesting very good internal consistency reliability for the elements for healthcare needs. Professionals and healthcare providers need to ensure healthcare planning is individualised by tailoring it to the values, priorities, and ethnic/cultural/religious context of each person.

Keywords: healthcare, need, holistic, palliative, multi speciality

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Authors: Nilgün Katrancı, Pınar Göv

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The privatization of public services has intensified and extended the delivery of healthcare services at hospitals, which leads to an increase in health and safety risks for healthcare professionals. More efficient and effective delivery of healthcare services can be realized through the provision of occupational safety of healthcare professionals. However, healthcare professionals are exposed to more dangers, accidents, and diseases because of such reasons as present working conditions, hospital infections, lack of ergonomic design, medication, wastes, excessive work load, negligent attitudes of workers, violence, psychological risks, etc. Unsafe working conditions cause fear, injury and wearing impacts in healthcare professionals in many countries. Thus, it is emphasized that the protection of the health of healthcare professionals is important to have educated, healthy workers and adequate workforce. Occupational health and safety measures applied in health facilities are aimed at protecting workers and providing the safety of services and facilities. All activities to be undertaken at hospitals with regard to occupational safety in accordance with these goals will help to reduce costs and provide continuous services. At the same time, a safe working environment will increase worker satisfaction and motivation, sense of institutional belonging and indirectly patient safety and satisfaction. In addition, the control and correction of occupational safety activities are also as important as the implementation. Occupational health and safety practices in the facilities will also lead to positive developments for national economy and society. This study emphasizes that approaching occupational safety practices for healthcare professionals in a sensitive manner is important for enabling healthcare professionals to do more productive works in terms of physical, social and psychological aspects, maintaining the continuity of healthcare services and social and economic contributions.

Keywords: health facilities, healthcare professional, occupational health, occupational safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: R. Geetha, J. Arunkumar, P. Gopal, D. Loganathan, K. Pavithra, C. Vikashini

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Mobile Number Portability is an attempt to switch over from one network to another network facility for mobile based on applications. This facility is currently not available for mobile handsets. This application is intended to assist the mobile network and its service customers in understanding the criteria; this will serve as a universal set of requirements which must be met by the customers. This application helps the user's network portability. Accessing permission from the network provider to enable services to the user and utilizing the available network signals. It is enabling the user to make a temporary switch over to other network. The main aim of this research work is to adapt multiple networks at the time of no network coverage. It can be accessed at rural and geographical areas. This can be achieved by this mobile application. The application is capable of temporary switch over between various networks. With this application both the service provider and the network user are benefited. The service provider is benefited by charging a minimum cost for utilizing other network. It provides security in terms of password that is unique to avoid unauthorized users and to prevent loss of balance. The goal intended to be attained is a complete utilization of available network at significant situations and to provide feature that satisfy the customer needs. The temporary switch over is done to manage emergency calls when user is in rural or geographical area, where there will be a very low network coverage. Since people find it trend in using Android mobile, this application is designed as an Android applications, which can be freely downloaded and installed from Play store. In the current scenario, the service provider enables the user to change their network without shifting their mobile network. This application affords a clarification for users while they are jammed in a critical situation. This application is designed by using Android 4.2 and SQLite Version3.

Keywords: mobile number, random number, alarm, imei number, call

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Shir Daphna-Tekoah, Nurit Eitan-Gutman, Uri Balla

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Background: Systemic documentation is essential in social work practice. Collaboration between an institution of higher education and social work health care services enabled adaptation of the medical documentation model of SOAP in the field of social work, by creating the ISOAPS model (Introduction, Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan, Summary) model. Aims: The article describes the ISOAPS model and its implementation in the field of social work, as a tool for standardization of documentation and the enhancement of multidisciplinary collaboration. Methods: We examined the changes in standardization using a mixed methods study, both before and after implementation of the model. A review of social workers’ documentation was carried out by medical staff and social workers in the Clalit Healthcare Services, the largest provider of public and semi-private health services in Israel. After implementation of the model, semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken. Main findings: The percentage of reviewers who evaluated their documentation as correct increased from 46%, prior to implementation, to 61% after implementation. After implementation, 81% of the social workers noted that their documentation had become standardized. The training process prepared them for the change in documentation and most of them (83%) started using the model on a regular basis. The qualitative data indicate that the use of the ISOAPS model creates uniform documentation, improves standards and is important to teach social work students. Conclusions: The ISOAPS model standardizes documentation and promotes communication between social workers and medical staffs. Implications for practice: In the intricate realm of healthcare, efficient documentation systems are pivotal to ensuring coherent interdisciplinary communication and patient care. The ISOAPS model emerges as a quintessential instrument, meticulously tailored to the nuances of social work documentation. While it extends its utility across the broad spectrum of social work, its specificity is most pronounced in the medical domain. This model not only exemplifies rigorous academic and professional standards but also serves as a testament to the potential of contextualized documentation systems in elevating the overall stature of social work within healthcare. Such a strategic documentation tool can not only streamline the intricate processes inherent in medical social work but also underscore the indispensable role that social workers play in the broader healthcare ecosystem.

Keywords: ISOAPS, professional documentation, medial social-work, social work

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Authors: M. Emmanouilidou

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The Internet of Things (IoT) is a disruptive technological paradigm that is at the center of the digital evolution by integrating physical and virtual worlds leading to the creation of extended interconnected ecosystems that are characterized as smart environments. The concept of the IoT has a broad range of applications in different industries including the healthcare sector. The Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT), a branch of the IoT, is expected to bring promising benefits to all involved stakeholders and accelerate the revolution of the healthcare sector through a transition towards preventive and personalized medicine. The socio-economic challenges that the healthcare sector is facing further emphasize the need for a radical transformation of healthcare systems in both developed and developing countries with the role of pervasive technological innovations, such as IoHT, recognized as key to counteract the relevant challenges. Besides the number of potential opportunities that IoHT presents, there are fundamental ethical concerns that need to be considered and addressed in relation to the application of IoHT. This paper contributes to the discussion of the emerging topic of IoHT by providing an overview of the role and potential of IoHT, highlighting the characteristics of the current and future healthcare landscape, reporting on the up-to-date status of IoHT in Europe and reflecting upon existing research in the ethics of IoHT by incorporating additional ethical dimensions that have been ignored which can provide pathways for future research in the field.

Keywords: ethics, Europe, healthcare, Internet of Things

Procedia PDF Downloads 124

Authors: Michael Saad Thabet Azrek

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The advanced facts era is becoming a vital element within the improvement of financial offerings enterprise, in particular, the banking enterprise. It has introduced new approaches to delivering banking to the patron, including Internet Banking. Banks started to observe digital banking (e-banking) as a means to update a number of their conventional branch features using the net as a brand-new distribution channel. A few purchasers have, as a minimum, a couple of accounts across banks and get the right of entry to these accounts using e-banking offerings. To study the contemporary net really worth role, clients ought to log in to each of their debts and get the info and paintings on consolidation. This not simplest takes enough time, but it's also a repetitive hobby at a specific frequency. To cope with this point, an account aggregation idea is introduced as an answer. E-banking account aggregation, as one of the e-banking types, appeared to construct a more potent dating with clients. Account Aggregation provider usually refers to a provider that permits clients to manage their financial institution debts maintained in distinct establishments through a not unusual net banking operating a platform, with an excessive situation to protection and privateness. This paper gives an outline of an e-banking account aggregation method as a new provider in the e-banking field.

Keywords: compatibility, complexity, mobile banking, observation, risk banking technology, internet banks, modernization of banks, banks, account aggregation, security, enterprise development

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Authors: Festus Adedoyin, Nana Mbeah Otoo, Sofia Meacham

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Hypertension is one of the main health issues in Ghana, where prevalence is higher in rural than in urban areas. This is due to the challenges rural areas have in accessing technology and healthcare services for hypertension control. This study's goal is to create a digital healthcare solution to alleviate this inequality. Through an analysis of current technology and problems, using the ring onion methodology, the study determined the needs for the intervention and evaluated healthcare disparities. An online application with teleconsultation capabilities, reminder mechanisms, and clinical decision support is part of the suggested solution. In outlying areas, mobile clinics in containers with the required equipment will be established. Heuristic evaluation and think-aloud sessions were used to assess the prototype's usability and navigational problems. This study highlights the need to develop digital health interventions to help manage hypertension in rural locations and decrease healthcare disparities. To develop and improve digital healthcare solutions for rural areas worldwide and in Ghana, this study might be used as a tool for future research.

Keywords: digital health, health inequalities, hypertension management, rural areas

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Martina I. Reinhold, Theresa Bacon-Baguley

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A core challenge of physician assistant education is preparing professionals for lifelong learning. While this conventionally has encompassed scientific advances, students must also embrace new care delivery models and technologies. Telemedicine, the provision of care via two-way audio and video, is an example of a technological advance reforming health care. During a three-semester sequence of Hospital Community Experiences, physician assistant students were assigned experiences with Answer Health on Demand, a telemedicine collaborative. Preceding the experiences, the agency lectured on the application of telemedicine. Students were then introduced to the technology and partnered with a provider. Prior to observing the patient-provider interaction, patient consent was obtained. Afterwards, students completed a reflection paper on lessons learned and the potential impact of telemedicine on their careers. Thematic analysis was completed on the students’ reflection papers (n=13). Preceding the lecture and experience, over 75% of students (10/13) were unaware of telemedicine. Several stated they were 'skeptical' about the effectiveness of 'impersonal' health care appointments. After the experience, all students remarked that telemedicine will play a large role in the future of healthcare and will provide benefits by improving access in rural areas, decreasing wait time, and saving cost. More importantly, 30% of students (4/13) commented that telemedicine is a technology they can see themselves using in their future practice. Initial results indicate that collaborative interaction between students and telemedicine providers enhanced student learning and exposed students to technological advances in the delivery of care. Further, results indicate that students perceived telemedicine more favorably as a viable delivery method after the experience.

Keywords: collaboration, physician assistant education, teaching innovative health care delivery method, telemedicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 186

Authors: Rattakorn Poonsuph

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Technological innovation plays a crucial role in virtual healthcare services. A growing number of telehealth platforms are concentrating on using digital tools to improve the quality and availability of care. As a result, telehealth represents an opportunity to redesign the way health services are delivered. The research objective is to discover a new business model for digital health services and related industries to participate with telehealth solutions. The business opportunity is valuable for healthcare investors as a startup company to further investigations or implement the telehealth platform. The paper presents a digital healthcare business model and business opportunities to related industries. These include digital healthcare services extending from a traditional business model and use cases of business opportunities to related industries. Although there are enormous business opportunities, telehealth is still challenging due to the patient adaption and digital transformation process within a healthcare organization.

Keywords: telehealth, Internet hospital, HealthTech, InsurTech

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Ling Choo Chiew, Yoke Yong Chen, Chuong Hock Ting, Raveca Ak Ridi

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Job frustration become a prevalent issue in many occupational settings and is linked to mental state, which affects workers when they face obstacles that block them from meeting professional objectives and/or the organization's mission. This study examined the relationship between job frustration and mental health among healthcare workers. A cross-sectional design using the Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue test (CSF), Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), and Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (PFQ) was employed to collect data from a sample of healthcare workers in Sarawak, Malaysia. The results showed that 44.3 % of the healthcare workers experienced compassion fatigue, 9.7% of the healthcare workers had personal burnt out, 3% were work-related burnt out, and 2% were client-related burnt out. On the other hand, the mean of psychological flexibility was 3.55 (SD = 0.838), which was found to be prevalent in the study sample, with varying degrees of severity. The results also indicated a significant association between compassion fatigue and psychological flexibility, F(₄, ₄₈₉) = 5.45, p<.001. Additionally, demographic factors were associated with higher levels of job frustration and burnout. The implications of these findings for developing targeted interventions and support strategies to promote mental well-being among healthcare workers are discussed.

Keywords: compassion fatigue, healthcare worker, job frustration, psychological flexibility

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Authors: Roseanne Sharon Borromeo, Mariana Carvalho, Mariia Karizhenskaia

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Healthcare providers need to comprehend cultural diversity for optimal patient-centered care, especially near the end of life. Although a universal method for navigating cultural differences would be ideal, culture’s high complexity makes this strategy impossible. Adding cultural humility, a process of self-reflection to understand personal and systemic biases and humbly acknowledging oneself as a learner when it comes to understanding another's experience leads to a meaningful process in palliative care generating respectful, honest, and trustworthy relationships. This study is a systematic review of the literature on cultural humility in palliative care research and best practices. Race, religion, language, values, and beliefs can affect an individual’s access to palliative care, underscoring the importance of culture in palliative care. Cultural influences affect end-of-life care perceptions, impacting bereavement rituals, decision-making, and attitudes toward death. Cultural factors affecting the delivery of care identified in a scoping review of Canadian literature include cultural competency, cultural sensitivity, and cultural accessibility. As the different parts of the world become exponentially diverse and multicultural, healthcare providers have been encouraged to give culturally competent care at the bedside. Therefore, many organizations have made cultural competence training required to expose professionals to the special needs and vulnerability of diverse populations. Cultural competence is easily standardized, taught, and implemented; however, this theoretically finite form of knowledge can dangerously lead to false assumptions or stereotyping, generating poor communication, loss of bonds and trust, and poor healthcare provider-patient relationship. In contrast, Cultural humility is a dynamic process that includes self-reflection, personal critique, and growth, allowing healthcare providers to respond to these differences with an open mind, curiosity, and awareness that one is never truly a “cultural” expert and requires life-long learning to overcome common biases and ingrained societal influences. Cultural humility concepts include self-awareness and power imbalances. While being culturally competent requires being skilled and knowledgeable in one’s culture, being culturally humble involves the sometimes-uncomfortable position of healthcare providers as students of the patient. Incorporating cultural humility emphasizes the need to approach end-of-life care with openness and responsiveness to various cultural perspectives. Thus, healthcare workers need to embrace lifelong learning in individual beliefs and values on suffering, death, and dying. There have been different approaches to this as well. Some adopt strategies for cultural humility, addressing conflicts and challenges through relational and health system approaches. In practice and research, clinicians and researchers must embrace cultural humility to advance palliative care practices, using qualitative methods to capture culturally nuanced experiences. Cultural diversity significantly impacts patient-centered care, particularly in end-of-life contexts. Cultural factors also shape end-of-life perceptions, impacting rituals, decision-making, and attitudes toward death. Cultural humility encourages openness and acknowledges the limitations of expertise in one’s culture. A consistent self-awareness and a desire to understand patients’ beliefs drive the practice of cultural humility. This dynamic process requires practitioners to learn continuously, fostering empathy and understanding. Cultural humility enhances palliative care, ensuring it resonates genuinely across cultural backgrounds and enriches patient-provider interactions.

Keywords: cultural competency, cultural diversity, cultural humility, palliative care, self-awareness

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Authors: Roman Bieda

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into force on 25 May 2018 which will create a new legal framework for the protection of personal data in the European Union. Article 20 of GDPR introduces a right to data portability. This right allows for data subjects to receive the personal data which they have provided to a data controller, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to transmit this data to another data controller. The right to data portability, by facilitating transferring personal data between IT environments (e.g.: applications), will also facilitate changing the provider of services (e.g. changing a bank or a cloud computing service provider). Therefore, it will contribute to the development of competition and the digital market. The aim of this paper is to discuss the right to data portability and its influence on the development of new digital services.

Keywords: data portability, digital market, GDPR, personal data

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Authors: Shilpa Balan

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Radio Frequency Identification, also popularly known as RFID is used to automatically identify and track tags attached to items. This study focuses on the application of RFID in healthcare. The adoption of RFID in healthcare is a crucial technology to patient safety and inventory management. Data from RFID tags are used to identify the locations of patients and inventory in real time. Medical errors are thought to be a prominent cause of loss of life and injury. The major advantage of RFID application in healthcare industry is the reduction of medical errors. The healthcare industry has generated huge amounts of data. By discovering patterns and trends within the data, big data analytics can help improve patient care and lower healthcare costs. The number of increasing research publications leading to innovations in RFID applications shows the importance of this technology. This study explores the current state of research of RFID in healthcare using a text mining approach. No study has been performed yet on examining the current state of RFID research in healthcare using a data mining approach. In this study, related articles were collected on RFID from healthcare journal and news articles. Articles collected were from the year 2000 to 2015. Significant keywords on the topic of focus are identified and analyzed using open source data analytics software such as Rapid Miner. These analytical tools help extract pertinent information from massive volumes of data. It is seen that the main benefits of adopting RFID technology in healthcare include tracking medicines and equipment, upholding patient safety, and security improvement. The real-time tracking features of RFID allows for enhanced supply chain management. By productively using big data, healthcare organizations can gain significant benefits. Big data analytics in healthcare enables improved decisions by extracting insights from large volumes of data.

Keywords: RFID, data mining, data analysis, healthcare

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Authors: Haya Salah, Srinivas Sharan

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Healthcare facilities use appointment systems to schedule their appointments and to manage access to their medical services. With the growing demand for outpatient care, it is now imperative to manage physician's time effectively. However, high variation in consultation duration affects the clinical scheduler's ability to estimate the appointment duration and allocate provider time appropriately. Underestimating consultation times can lead to physician's burnout, misdiagnosis, and patient dissatisfaction. On the other hand, appointment durations that are longer than required lead to doctor idle time and fewer patient visits. Therefore, a good estimation of consultation duration has the potential to improve timely access to care, resource utilization, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. Although the literature on factors influencing consultation length abound, little work has done to predict it using based data-driven approaches. Therefore, this study aims to predict consultation duration using supervised machine learning algorithms (ML), which predicts an outcome variable (e.g., consultation) based on potential features that influence the outcome. In particular, ML algorithms learn from a historical dataset without explicitly being programmed and uncover the relationship between the features and outcome variable. A subset of the data used in this study has been obtained from the electronic medical records (EMR) of four different outpatient clinics located in central Pennsylvania, USA. Also, publicly available information on doctor's characteristics such as gender and experience has been extracted from online sources. This research develops three popular ML algorithms (deep learning, random forest, gradient boosting machine) to predict the treatment time required for a patient and conducts a comparative analysis of these algorithms with respect to predictive performance. The findings of this study indicate that ML algorithms have the potential to predict the provider service time with superior accuracy. While the current approach of experience-based appointment duration estimation adopted by the clinic resulted in a mean absolute percentage error of 25.8%, the Deep learning algorithm developed in this study yielded the best performance with a MAPE of 12.24%, followed by gradient boosting machine (13.26%) and random forests (14.71%). Besides, this research also identified the critical variables affecting consultation duration to be patient type (new vs. established), doctor's experience, zip code, appointment day, and doctor's specialty. Moreover, several practical insights are obtained based on the comparative analysis of the ML algorithms. The machine learning approach presented in this study can serve as a decision support tool and could be integrated into the appointment system for effectively managing patient scheduling.

Keywords: clinical decision support system, machine learning algorithms, patient scheduling, prediction models, provider service time

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Jia Liu

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This article explores the shifting nature of physician-patient relationship in mainland China. Specifically, it takes the physician-patient relationship during the barefoot doctor program in 1968-1978, the marketization of healthcare services in 1978-2002, and the healthcare reform in 2003-2020 as three typical historical periods, illustrating how the nature of the physician-patient relationship has changed over time in mainland China. Drawing on recent jurisprudential literature that emphasizes the roles and functions done by and through obligation rather than right, it explores how the obligations of physicians and patients along with the implementation of informed consent, marketization of the healthcare system, and the basic healthcare reform have affected their relationship. One key feature of this article is that it analyzes the ways in which commodification and decommodification of healthcare have defined and in many different ways have determined the expectations and practices of physicians and patients, which illustrates how the trust between physicians and patients threatens to collapse and the bond between the citizen and the state fails to be firmly established in the mainland Chinese healthcare context. It also pays special attention to the role played by law and legal institutions—for instance, the implementation of informed consent and the liability law—in being complicit in facilitating the decoupling of the practices of physicians and patients from their ethical senses of obligation and undermining the bond (the trust relationship) between them.

Keywords: healthcare, marketization, physician-patient relationship, sense of obligation

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Authors: Guanglin Song

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(Objective) Situated within the context of China's tiered medical treatment system, this study aims to analyze spatial causes of urban healthcare access difficulties from the perspective of the configuration of healthcare facilities. (Methods) A social network analysis approach is employed to construct a healthcare demand and supply flow network between major residential clusters and various tiers of hospitals in the city.(Conclusion) The findings reveal that:1.there exists overall maldistribution and over-concentration of healthcare resources in Study Area, characterized by structural imbalance; 2.the low rate of primary care utilization in Study Area is a key factor contributing to congestion at higher-tier hospitals, as excessive reliance on these institutions by neighboring communities exacerbates the problem; 3.gradual optimization of the healthcare facility layout in Study Area, encompassing holistic, local, and individual institutional levels, can enhance systemic efficiency and resource balance.(Prospects) This research proposes a method for evaluating urban healthcare resource distribution structures based on service flows within hierarchical networks. It offers spatially targeted optimization suggestions for promoting the implementation of the tiered healthcare system and alleviating challenges related to accessibility and congestion in seeking medical care. Provide some new ideas for researchers and healthcare managers in countries, cities, and healthcare management around the world with similar challenges.

Keywords: flow of public services, urban networks, healthcare facilities, spatial planning, urban networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 47

Authors: Sharifah Liew, Azlihanis Abdul Hadi, Nurul Shahida Mohd Saffe, Azhar Hamzah, Maslina Musa

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Fatigue is a common health problem among healthcare workers, ranging from ambulance drivers to specialist doctors. In Malaysia, majority of healthcare workers prefer to commute to work by their own vehicle compared to public transport. Thus, exposed to risk on the road while commuting to work. The aim of the study is to find out the effects of fatigue on road crashes among healthcare workers while they commute to work. The research conducted using the semi-quantitative approach based on self- reported questionnaires. In total, five hundred and fifty-one healthcare workers from selected five hospitals were involved in this study. Results showed significant differences between crash involvement, travelling distance and time to and from work among healthcare workers. Most of the participants (37%) reported that causes of road crashes were due to fatigue, sleepiness and microsleep while driving to and back from work. In addition, there were significant differences between fatigue and road crashes and near misses. This research suggests that the hospitals’ management may need to review their staffs’ job scopes and workloads to overcome the fatigue problems and, consider their feedback when designing work schedules and investigate staff commuting distance from home to workplace and vice-versa.

Keywords: fatigue, healthcare, road crashes, near misses, Malaysia

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Authors: Luca Martignoni, Joseph Nserat, Eric Arand, Marvin Braun

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The increasing application of conversational agents in healthcare and the demand for applications that enable patients to take informed decisions is changing the way patients access healthcare and take decisions. Promising results related to the acceptance of CAs in healthcare have been accomplished. In that regard, understanding how to design CAs in a way that patients trust their recommendations and decisions constitutes an important area of research. Our study examines self-disclosure and transparency as drivers of trust to enhance the medical assistance of CAs for patients. Accordingly, we examined the effects of self-disclosure and transparency on patients trust and service satisfaction by conducting an online experiment with 136 participants. Our results show that the expression of both self-disclosure and conversational agents transparency leads to an increased perception of trust but does not necessarily improve the service satisfaction. Therefore, developers should implement self-disclosure and transparency to create a trustworthy environment.

Keywords: conversational agent, transparency, self-disclosure, healthcare

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Authors: Yibeltal T. Bayou, Yohana S. Mashalla, Gloria Thupayagale-Tshweneagae

Abstract:

Background: According to the World Health Organization, caesarean section delivery rates of more than 10-15% caesarean section deliveries in any specific geographic region in the world are not justifiable. The aim of the study was to describe the level and analyse determinants of caesarean section delivery in Addis Ababa. Methods: Data was collected in Addis Ababa using a structured questionnaire administered to 901 women aged 15-49 years through a stratified two-stage cluster sampling technique. Binary logistic regression model was employed to identify predictors of caesarean section delivery. Results: Among the 835 women who delivered their last birth at healthcare facilities, 19.2% of them gave birth by caesarean section. About 9.0% of the caesarean section births were due to mother’s request or service provider’s influence without any medical indication. The caesarean section delivery rate was much higher than the recommended rate particularly among the non-slum residents (27.2%); clients of private healthcare facilities (41.1%); currently married women (20.6%); women with secondary (22.2%) and tertiary (33.6%) level of education; and women belonging to the highest wealth quintile household (28.2%). The majority (65.8%) of the caesarean section clients were not informed about the consequences of caesarean section delivery by service providers. The logistic regression model shows that older age (30-49), secondary and above education, non-slum residence, high-risk pregnancy and receiving adequate antenatal care were significantly positively associated with caesarean section delivery. Conclusion: Despite the unreserved effort towards achieving MDG 5 through safe skilled delivery assistance among others, the high caesarean section rate beyond the recommend limit, and the finding that caesarean sections done without medical indications were also alarming. The government and city administration should take appropriate measures before the problems become setbacks in healthcare provision. Further investigations should focus on the effect of caesarean section delivery on maternal and child health outcomes in the study area.

Keywords: Addis Ababa, caesarean section, mode of delivery, slum residence

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Authors: Shogo Kato, Daisuke Okamoto, Satoko Tsuru, Yoshinori Iizuka, Ryoko Shimono

Abstract:

Healthcare safety has been perceived important. It is essential to prevent troubles in healthcare processes for healthcare safety. Trouble prevention is based on trouble prediction using accumulated knowledge on processes, troubles, and countermeasures. However, information on troubles has not been accumulated in hospitals in the appropriate structure, and it has not been utilized effectively to prevent troubles. In the previous study, though a detailed knowledge acquisition process for trouble prediction was proposed, the knowledgebase for countermeasures was not involved. In this paper, we aim to propose the structure of the knowledgebase for countermeasures in the knowledge acquisition process for trouble prediction in healthcare process. We first design the structure of countermeasures and propose the knowledge representation form on countermeasures. Then, we evaluate the validity of the proposal, by applying it into an actual hospital.

Keywords: trouble prevention, knowledge structure, structured knowledge, reusable knowledge

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Authors: Priscilla Deede Hammond

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Healthcare seeking behaviour has emerged as a tool to tackle perceived ill-health by taking remedial actions. And currently, efforts are being directed towards encouraging people (especially parents) to learn and use health-promoting behaviours in seeking their children’s healthcare. Regardless of these efforts, most parents encounter challenges with raising a child with a disability. The purpose of the study was to explore the healthcare-seeking behaviours of parents of children with disabilities. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, a case study design was employed where the researcher used a qualitative approach such as semi-structured interview to gather the required data. Data from participants were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. It was revealed from the findings of the study that, some of the parents after the first diagnosis by health professionals consulted a spiritualist or a herbalist for help. Also, some parents stated that their response to their children’s healthcare depended on the severity of the sickness. The study recommends the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and other social agencies such as the Social Welfare Department to provide health assessment and financial support to families of children with disabilities.

Keywords: healthcare, health, parents, disabilities

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Authors: Matthew Scott Lau

Abstract:

This study addresses the research question: How effective has the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) been in reducing market failure in Singapore’s healthcare sector? The CHAS policy, introduced in 2012 in Singapore, aims to improve accessibility and affordability of healthcare by offering subsidies to low and middle-income groups and elderly individuals for general practice consultations and healthcare. The investigation was undertaken by acquiring and analysing primary and secondary research data from 3 main sources, including handwritten survey responses of 334 individuals who were valid CHAS subsidy recipients (CHAS cardholders) from 5 different locations in Singapore, interview responses from two established general practitioner doctors with working knowledge of the scheme, and information from literature available online. Survey responses were analysed to determine how CHAS has affected the affordability and consumption of healthcare, and other benefits or drawbacks for CHAS users. The interview responses were used to explain the benefits of healthcare consumption and provide different perspectives on the impacts of CHAS on the various parties involved. Online sources provided useful information on changes in healthcare consumerism and Singapore’s government policies. The study revealed that CHAS has been largely effective in reducing market failure as the subsidies granted to consumers have improved the consumption of healthcare. This has allowed for the external benefits of healthcare consumption to be realized, thus reducing market failure. However, the study also revealed that CHAS cannot be fully effective in reducing market failure as the scope of CHAS prevents healthcare consumption from fully reaching the socially optimal level. Hence, the study concluded that CHAS has been effective to a large extent in reducing market failure in Singapore’s healthcare sector, albeit with some benefits to third parties yet to be realised. There are certain elements of the investigation, which may limit the validity of the conclusion, such as the means used to determine the socially optimal level of healthcare consumption, and the survey sample size.

Keywords: healthcare consumption, health economics, market failure, subsidies

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Authors: Helle Nissen

Abstract:

Physical objects surrounding people in healthcare environments are carriers of institutional logics materialized into the objects by its producers. However, institutional logics research lacks to inform us how logics become materialized and are perceived by producers vs. users of an object. The study is based on a 3-year longitudinal case study of a Danish Public Private Innovation project aiming to co-create an innovative healthcare bed commercialized to public psychiatric hospitals. The producers are a private metal firm and industrial designers from two Danish regions. The findings demonstrate that the metal firm and designers, as producers, negotiate about materializing different logics into the bed throughout the innovation process. An aesthetic logic is prioritized most, and the producers encode it with the intention to develop a bed that looks homely and less hospital-like compared to previous and existing healthcare beds. After the bed is put into use, the aesthetic logic is decoded by the users. Their perception of it differs significantly from the producers’ intended meaning, as the healthcare bed is perceived as sterile. The study has theoretical implications: It demonstrates how logics become materialized ‘here and now’, and it reveals logics as less governed by stable and clear meanings but rather as subject to changeable perceptions.

Keywords: co-creation, healthcare innovation, commercialization, institutional logics

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