This is a study of the impact of information technology on health care in Great Britain. Its major aim is to identify means by which information technology may improve the quality of health care in specific areas within the health services.The study concentrated upon general practice and was split into three stages. The first was a survey of general practice computing, conducted to give an overview of the use of computers in general practice. Following this, was a more detailed study of general practice miniclinics. The final stage was an in-depth investigation into the use of computers in the care and treatment of diabetes.

The objective of this project was to study the area of generic transfer of comprehensive medical data.The work presented in this thesis had as its main premise the belief that generic transfer of comprehensive medical data will help towards the goal of better healthcare particularly in an environment of shared care. It studied the main methods of data transfer available at present, and as a result carried out an in depth review of one such method adopted by the National Health Service (NHS). Criticism of this method was made. These criticisms lead on to the development of an alternative method of generic data transfer based on an emerging European standard for the storage of medical data. This in turn led on to the consideration of data in legacy systems. Finally, an evaluation of the developed method was undertaken.

In order for computerised information systems (CIS) to be utilised to their full potential they must first be successfully implemented. The acquisition and implementation process continues to be an area which is reported by the media to present problems for both public and private sector organisations (Keen, 1994; Collins, 1996). The process was originally considered to be a technical process only, but more recently there has been acknowledgement that there are human implications. The process of acquisition and implementation of CIS in the NHS has, therefore, been studied in order to identify the barriers which might be present. The research commenced by conducting a comprehensive literature search which showed some of the barriers found by previous researchers. A number of theories were examined which it was thought would be helpful in approaching the subject. A change model was then identified (MIT9Os, Scott Morton, 1991) which was used to structure the study and as an aid to analysis. The model would be examined for its utility as a change model in the NHS setting. The research used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. A macro view of the process was initially sought because this approach is seldom taken (Kwon & Zmud, 1987). The major part of the research consisted of 4 case studies and 2 survey questionnaires. One survey questionnaire was sent to IT/IS directors and managers about the process. It was sent to eight NHS Regions (359 questionnaires) and a response rate of 51.5% was attained. An additional questionnaire was sent out to human resource directors in the NHS. This was sent to 400 directors and the response rate was 48%. The study identified a number of barriers to implementation in different elements of the organisation, one of the most important barriers being related to politics/power. It was found that the reasons for acquiring new systems are not always articulated, and if these are not in the interests of powerful stakeholder groups, then implementation may be more difficult. Labour process theory was helpful in examining this aspect (Dent, 1996). Results show that existing models are inappropriate for the majority of CIS implementations. The MIT9Os Model (Scott Morton, 1991) was adapted, adding the element of politics/power, together with money and time as major constraining factors. The element of strategy was given a more prominent position, to indicate a pivotal role and it is argued that the model should not be an equilibrium model because of the constant change necessaiy in the modern business environment. The previous model was expanded to show some of the important issues and questions which need to be addressed by those approaching implementation. However, the research showed that the complexity of the process precluded any simple prescriptive answers to implementation problems being given. Models are little used by practitioners, but if they are used they need to carry a warning note that they are only an aid to preliminary thought, and much other background reading and analysis of the particular situation needs to accompany them.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-137). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-137). Also available on the Internet.

Information security and privacy in health care is a critical issue, it is crucial to protect the patients’ privacy and ensure the systems availability all the time. Managing information security systems is a major part of managing information systems in health care organizations. The purpose of this study is to discover the security metrics that can be used in health care organizations and to provide the security managers with a security metrics scorecard that enable them to measure the performance of the security system in a monthly basis. To accomplish this a prototype with a suggested set of metrics was designed and examined in a usability study and semi-structured interviews. The study participants were security experts who work in health care organizations. In the study security management in health care organizations was discussed, the preferable security metrics were identified and the usable security metrics scorecard specifications were collected. Applying the study results on the scorecard prototype resulted in a security metrics scorecard that matches the security experts’ recommendations. / Graduate / 0723 / 0769 / 0454 / hebae@uvic.ca

Healthcare organizations, realizing the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, are rapidly adopting the technology to bring signi cant improvements in the quality and e ectiveness of the service. However, these smart and interconnected devices can act as a potential \back door" into a hospital's IT network, giving attack- ers access to sensitive information. As a result, cyber-attacks on medical IoT devices have been increasing since the last few years. It is a growing concern for all the stakeholders involved, as the impact of such attacks is not just monetary or privacy loss, but the lives of many patients are also at risk. Considering the various kinds of IoT devices one may nd connected to a hospital's network, traditional host-centric security solutions (e.g. antivirus, software patches) are at odds with realistic IoT infrastructure (e.g. constrained hardware, lack of proper built-in security measures). There is a need for security solutions which consider the challenges of IoT devices like heterogeneity of technology and protocols used, limited resources in terms of battery and computation power, etc. Accordingly, the goals of this thesis have been: (1) to provide an in-depth understanding of vulnerabilities of medical IoT devices; (2) to in- troduce a novel approach which uses a microservices-based framework as an adaptive and agile security solution to address the issue. The thesis focuses on OS Fingerprint- ing attacks because of its signi cance for attackers to understand a target's network. In this thesis, we developed three microservices, each one designed to serve a speci c functionality. Each of these microservices has a small footprint with RAM usage of approximately 50 MB. We also suggest how microservices can be used in a real-life scenario as a software-based security solution to secure a hospital's network consisting of di erent IoT devices. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011. / The research was conducted as part of a socio-tech initiative undertaken at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. The socio-tech initiative overall focus was on addressing issues faced by rural and under-resourced communities in South Africa, specifically looking at Home-Based Healthcare (HBHC) primarily in the Western Cape. As research into the HBHC context in rural and under-resourced communities continued numerous issues around data and data-elements came to light. These data issues were especially prevalent in relation to the various paper forms being used by the HBHC initiatives that attempt to deliver care in these communities. The communities have the tendency to suffer from poor access to formal healthcare services and healthcare facilities. The data issues were primarily in terms of how data was defines and used within the HBHC initiatives. Within the HBHC initiatives that cater for rural and under-resourced communities there was a clear prevalence of paper-based systems, and a very low penetration of IT-based solution. Because similar and related data-elements are used throughout the paper forms and within different context these data-elements are inconsistently used and presented. The paper forms further obfuscate these inconsistencies as the paper forms regularly change due to internal and external factors. When these paper forms are changed date elements are added or removed without the changes to the underlying ontologies being considered.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / In the Western Cape, South Africa, despite the prospective benefits that e-Health information systems (e-Health IS) offer to support the healthcare sector; there are limitations in terms of usability, functionality and peculiar socio-technical factors. Thus, healthcare professionals do not make the most use of the implemented e-Health IS. Unfortunately, explanations remain tentative and unclear, yet non-usage of the e-Health IS defeats the objectives of its adoption, in the sense that the plan to improve and deliver quality healthcare service in the public sector may not be achieved as envisaged. The aim of the study was to acquire explanations to the causes of the limitations regarding the adoption and, particularly, the use (or non-use) of e-Health IS by clinical staff in the public healthcare institutions in South Africa. The choice of research approach was informed by the research problem, objectives, and the main research question. By the reasons of the subjective and socio-technical nature of the phenomenon, a deductive approach was adopted for this investigation. The nominalist ontology and interpretivist epistemology positions were taken by the researcher as a lens to conduct this research; which informed a qualitative methodology for this investigation. The purposive sampling technique was used to identify the appropriate participants from different hospital levels consisting of Hospital Administrative staff, and Clinical staff (Clinicians and Nurses) of relative experiences in their clinical units. Subsequently, the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and content analysis technique were used to contextualize, simplify, and analysis the text data transcripts. The findings indicate that healthcare professionals have a high level of awareness and acceptance to use implemented e-Health IS. There are positive perceptions on the expected outcomes, that e-Health IS would improve processes and enhance healthcare services delivery in the public healthcare sector. Also, findings indicate that social influence plays a vital role especially on the willingness of individuals (or groups); as the clinical staff are influenced by their colleagues despite the facilitating conditions provided by the hospital management. Further, findings indicate that it is somewhat problematic to maintain balance in running a parallel paper-electronic system in the hospital environment. Hence, the core factors that influence successful adoption and use of e-Health IS include; willingness of an individual (or group) to accept and use a technology, the performance expectancy, social influence among professionals in the healthcare scenery and adequate facilitating conditions. In summary, it is recommended that there should be an extensive engagement inclusive of all respective stakeholders involved in the adoption processes. This would ensure that e-Health IS are designed to meet both practical organizational and clinical needs (and expectations) with respect to the hospital contexts.