Top 25 articles in Journal of Medical Informatics

The Journal of Medical Informatics has published a list of the 25 most downloaded articles of 2011. The list provide a good overview of the field of Medical Informatics and contains top-rated papers on all kind of different topics. The list can be found here.

Google Glasses - Augmented reality of the future

Really fantastic how Google sees the world of tomorrow with a HUD displaying all kinds of information. Check out the movie on YouTube. Where are the applications in the medical field? In my opinion there are plenty! Now demonstration yet, but a more general movie, however it provides the general idea.

KPMG Report on Global Lessons in E-Health Implementation

A report entitled "Accelerating Innovation: The Power of the Crowd" was recently published by KPMG.

In this report it is stated that eHealth requires a holistic and integrated approach. To achieve this they propose three basic concepts:

1. Crowd accelerated innovation
2. Collaborative alignment
3. Creative dislocation

By doing this they propose to use the crowd to develop sustainable e-health initiatives.

Download the full report here.

RADbook available for free for the iPad

RADbook 2012 is now available for free for the iPad. The RADbook app provides a 168 page overview of what is available on the radiology market today subdivided into 11 categories. These categories are: IT, CT, MRI, Interventional, Mammo, R/F, Nuclear, Displays/Printers, Ultrasound, Injectors, and Testing Devices.

It provides a listing of the available devices/systems with a direct link to the website of the vendor. A valuable tool for anyone looking to buy new equipment.

Study: Poor health IT implementation planning affects patient care

Every hospital is running IT implementation plans and has procedures and regulations to follow and obey to. In all cases it is advocated and believed that implementation of new IT systems such as Electronic Patient Records, and Radiology and Hospital Information Systems will have positive effects on the Healthcare institutions involved in increase of productivity and decrease of cost. However, planning is everything in projects like these as was shown by a paper in the American Journal of Managed Care.
A poorly planned health IT implementation can have deleterious effects on the quality of patient care, and can even increase inpatient mortality, according to an article published in the March edition of theAmerican Journal of Managed Care.
Study: Poor health IT implementation planning affects patient care

AJR: Beware—Non-DICOM CDs on the rise

We already noticed in our hospital that the amount of CDs coming in that could not be read by our DICOM tools was increasing. This is now confirmed by a publication in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Wonder what other peoples experiences are in this area.


Although the number of hard-copy films submitted for secondary neuroradiology interpretations have plummeted, the volume of non-DICOM CDs has nearly doubled, according to a study published in the April issue ofAmerican Journal of Roentgenology. 

AJR: Beware—Non-DICOM CDs on the rise

Social Media use in Healthcare

Use of social media by healthcare professionals is a matter of growing debate and concern. Discussions are on the way how healthcare professionals should behave themselves when using social media and several guidelines are proposed and published by different organisations in a variety of countries.

To provide insight in social media and what is involved, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a document called "The Health Communicator's Social Media Toolkit".
This toolkit describes different social media tools and provides information on how to use them properly in a healthcare environment.

Publication: A Situational Aligment Framework for PACS

Last year we published this paper in Journal of Digital Imaging on the situational alignment framework for PACS. Using this framework, it is possible to determine the maturity level of a PACS implementation and to evaluate the current status of this implementation.


A situational alignment framework for PACS.
van de Wetering R, Batenburg R, Oudkerk M, van Ooijen P, Brinkkemper S, Scheper W.
J Digit Imaging. 2011 Dec;24(6):979-92.


Abstract
This paper reports the outcomes of a study on an integrated situational alignment framework for picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) labeled as PISA. Following the design research cycle, complementary validation methods and pilot cases were used to assess the proposed framework and its operationalized survey. In this paper, the authors outline (a) the process of the framework' development, (b) the validation process with its underlying iterative steps, (c) the outcomes of pilot cases, and (d) improvement opportunities to refine and further validate the PISA framework. Results of this study support empirical application of the framework to hospital enterprises in order to gain insights into their PACS maturity and alignment. We argue that the framework can be applied as a valuable tool for assessments, monitoring and benchmarking purposes and strategic PACS planning.

Publication: Postprocessing Pitfalls in Using CT for Global LV Function

This paper is a overview of the work we did on the evaluation of Left Ventricular (LV) function using Computed Tomography (CT). Earlier papers have already covered several aspects of this measurement. This paper, based on our poster presentation at RSNA 2010 provides a good overview of the problems that can arise in LV measurement.

Informatics in Radiology: Postprocessing Pitfalls in Using CT for Automatic and Semiautomatic Determination of Global Left Ventricular Function.
van Ooijen PM, de Jonge GJ, Oudkerk M.
Radiographics. 2012 Mar;32(2):589-99. 


Abstract
Recent advances in technical capabilities of computed tomographic (CT) scanners, including an increasing number of detector rows, improved spatial and temporal resolution, and the development of retrospective gating, have allowed the acquisition of four-dimensional (4D) datasets of the beating heart. As a result, the heart can be visualized in different phases and CT datasets can be used to assess cardiac function. Many software packages currently exist that allow automatic or semiautomatic evaluation of left ventricular function on the basis of 4D CT datasets. The level of automation varies from extensive, completely manual segmentation by the user to fully automatic evaluation of left ventricular function without any user interaction. Although the reproducibility of functional parameter assessment is reported to be high and intersoftware variability low for larger groups of patients, significant differences can exist among measurements obtained with different software tools from the same dataset. Thus, careful review of automatically or semiautomatically obtained results is required.

The Future of Integrated Health Care 2015

Check out this interesting movie on youtube. Is this where we are going??

The Future of Health Care is a subject that has been under intense speculation and debate in recent times across different forums. Several interesting prototypes and scenarios have been made by professionals and designers to give the World a glimpse of a fuzzy future.

Ergonomidesign have made it possible to actually experience the future of Health Care. Following their launch at the Medica/ Compamed trade fair (in Düsseldorf, Germany, Nov. 17-19), Ergonomidesign will present and demonstrate a future life science application that brings together 40 years of design experience for Ergonomidesign in the Life Science industry. This video is one of 2, that give an overview of the entire concept.