Similar to a product supply chain, an information supply chain is a dynamic environment where networks of information-sharing agents gather data from many sources and utilize the same data for different tasks. Unfortunately, raw data arriving from a variety of sources are often plagued by errors (Ballou et al. 1998), which can lead to poor decision making. Supporting decision making in this challenging environment demands a proactive approach to data quality management, since the decision maker has no control over these data sources (Shankaranarayan et al. 2003). This is true in health care, and in particular in health planning, where health care resource allocation is often based on summarized data from a myriad of sources such as hospital admissions, vital statistic records, and specific disease registries. This work investigates issues of data quality in the information supply chain. It proposes three result-driven data quality metrics that inform and aid decision makers with incomplete and inconsistent data and help mitigate insensitivity to sample size, a well known decision bias. To design and evaluate the result-driven data quality metrics this thesis utilizes the design science paradigm (Simon 1996; Hevner, March et al. 2004). The metrics are implemented within a simple OLAP interface, utilizing data aggregated from several healthcare data sources, and presented to decision makers in four focus groups. This research is one of the first to propose and outline the use of focus groups as a technique to demonstrate utility and efficacy of design science artifacts. Results from the focus groups demonstrate that the proposed metrics are useful, and that the metrics are efficient in altering a decision maker's data analytic strategies. Additionally, results indicate that comparative techniques, such as benchmarking or scenario based approaches, are promising approaches in data quality. Finally, results from this research reveal that decision making literature needs to be considered in the design of BI tools. Participants of the focus groups confirmed that people are insensitive to sample size, but when attention was drawn to small sample sizes, this bias was mitigated.

While information systems researchers have argued well from socio-technical and organizational culture perspectives that information technology (IT) and organizational structures are interdependent and continually reshape each other, few studies have sought fine-grained, micro-level explanations for the heterogeneity in IT use often observed across seemingly similar end users and seemingly similar work contexts. Using a nested comparative case study design, I explore electronic medical record (EMR) use by physicians in an integrated multi-specialty health care organization. I use multiple methods to observe and develop micro-level understandings of factors associated with EMR use. The study was conducted in eight practices operating within the same organization. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations, and questionnaires. A constant comparative approach guided data analysis. Differences in physician values were noted, as were differences in physician perspectives of uncertainty. I categorized physicians as high, medium and low EMR users depending on a variety of factors including degree to which the EMR was integrated into work practices, degree of feature use, and degree of EMR-enabled communication. Drawing on theories of professionalism, I explain between-physician heterogeneity in EMR use as partly a function of differences in dimensionality of professional values. Three dimensions of professional values were identified 1) profession-oriented, 2) patient-oriented and 3) organization-oriented. Drawing on complexity theory, I argue that differences in physician perspectives of uncertainty influence their EMR use. I found that physicians who viewed uncertainty primarily as reducible through information tended to be higher users of the EMR. Physicians who viewed uncertainty as fundamental, or inherent, in care delivery processes tended to be lower users of the EMR. This study contributes to information systems research by extending current understandings of IT use. The professional values held by physicians and their perspectives of uncertainty may be more important in shaping EMR use than previously thought. These findings indicate the need to more aggressively pursue EMR designs, implementation strategies and policies that accommodate these two additional factors. Additionally, findings from this research indicate a need for IT managers in professional settings to consider end-user professional values and perspectives of uncertainty in decisions involving IT assets. / text

Darbo tikslas - Ištirti ir įvertinti visuomenės vaistinės pacientų gaunamą farmacinę ir sveikatinimo informaciją. Tiksli, teisinga ir savalaikė informacija apie vaistus ir sveikatos stiprinimą yra svarbus sveikatos priežiūros ir saugaus vaistų vartojimo komponentas. Šiandien pacientams yra prieinama daug rašytinių, vaizdinių ir interaktyvių informacijos šaltinių. Dalis pacientus pasiekiančios informacijos gali būti dviprasmiška ar netgi klaidinanti. Itin svarbu, kad prieš priimdami svarbus gydymosi sprendimus pacientai pasikonsultuotų su atitinkamą išsilavinimą turinčiu sveikatos priežiūros specialistu. Vaistininkai – lengviausiai pasiekiami sveikatos priežiūros specialistai. Ši pozicija įpareigoja suteikti pacientams reikalingas žinias apie vaistus ir sveikatą. Mūsų tyrimo metu buvo taikyti skirtingos prigimties mokslinės informacijos rinkimo kiekybiniai metodai – apklausa, stebėjimas ir slapto pirkėjo tyrimas. Tyrimų rezultatai atskleidė, kad visuomenės vaistinėms pacientams vaistinėje suteikiamos konsultacijos apimtis ir trukmė priklauso nuo įsigyjamo vaisto tipo, vaistų kiekio, paciento amžiaus, lyties, jų aktyvumo (užduodamų klausimų). Informacija dažniausiai suteikiama vaistininko iniciatyva taikant diversifikuotus informacijos pateikimo būdus. Pacientams ne tik suteikiama informacija apie įsigyjamus vaistus, bet taip pat ir atsakoma į jų klausimus apie ligas bei gydymosi alternatyvas. / The aim of the study is to evaluate the medicine and health information received by the community pharmacy patients. Objectives: To evaluate the patients’ attitude towards the pharmacist as the source of information about the health care and medications; to compare the patients’ attitude towards their doctors and pharmacists as the sources of the information about medicines; to determine the importance of the drug usage problem among the pharmacy clients and the correlation between the proper use of the medications and the information given by the pharmacists; to analyze the aspects and the ways of the information about drugs given at the pharmacies; to determine factors which influence the amount of received information by community pharmacy patients; to detect what part of the pharmacy patients give questions to the pharmacist; to analyze what factors influence community pharmacy patient satisfaction; to reveal whether the pharmacists, while delivering extra health care services, also use the possibility to spread the health promotion information. Evaluation of the medicine and health information was performed with a complex of various sociological methods such us questionnaire, participant observation and secret standardized patient.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Total hip replacement is one of the most extensively and highly effective operating methods in orthopaedics. The patients are brought back the self-sufficiency, life without the pain and noticeably motion restriction. Irreplaceable function here is a role of the nurse, who helps the patient to return back to his common life...The aim of this work was to find out, how the patients feel the role of the nurse and its influence to given nursing care before and after the total hip replacement as the less fulfilled. There were following research questions set: How the patients feel the role of the nurse before and after the total hip replacement? How the patients before and after the total hip replacement feel the interpretation of the nurse roles? How the patients before and after the total hip replacement feel the role of the nurse and its influence to given nursing care. Which of the nurse roles are felt by the patient as the unsatisfactory in postoperative care? The patients before and after the total hip replacement feel through the everyday nurse activities the nurse in her role of the caregiver and education giving person, following the nurse vindicator and the nurse bearer of changes. The patients feel the care thanks these roles as a quality, holistic and continual. Nevertheless was the role of the education giving named as the least fulfilled. In connection with these research results was created a manual, a Guide book for the patients before and after the total hip replacement. This Guide book was given to testing purposes. This Guide book was appreciated by the patients very positive despite a large amount of information, which were surprising for many of them. We gained some data, which gave the impulse to complete the information in the Guide.The created Guide book can´t replace the effective communication of the patient with the medical staff, which could be always the most suitable "source" of information.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Zimbabwe has a fairly developed health-care delivery system that is served by public and private hospitals at district, provincial and national level. The public health-care system is the largest provider of health-care services and caters for the majority of the population but this is done in a resource-restricted context, typical of a developing context. In this context, this research sought to establish the potential of mHealth Technologies in Zimbabwe’s maternal health sector using Parirenyatwa and Harare hospitals as case studies. The reviewed body of knowledge, which was largely a comparative assessment of mHealth technology adoption in developing countries, indicated that the full adoption of the prevailing eHealth strategy in Zimbabwe remains hamstrung by the slow pace of policy implementation. This is a qualitative study and data was collected with unstructured interviews. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to recruit the participants. The gathered data was analyzed through content and thematic analysis. Four broad themes emerged from the primary data collected during the interviews and these include: trends in information dissemination in Zimbabwe’s Public Health System; information needs for expectant women and midwives; the prevalence of ICT use in Zimbabwe’s Public Health System, and mobile technology use in the maternal health sector in Zimbabwe. The research was able to establish that while there is a high proliferation of smartphone use among most expectant women, this has not translated into their use for health information-related purposes.

Consolidating patient and clinical data to support better-informed clinical decisions remains a primary function of electronic health records (EHRs). In the United States, nearly 6 million patients receive care from an accountable care organization (ACO). Knowledge of clinical decision support (CDS) tool design for use by physicians participating in ACOs remains limited. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether a significant correlation exists between characteristics of alert content and alert timing (the independent variables) and physician perceptions of improved ACO quality measure adherence during electronic ordering (the dependent variable). Sociotechnical theory supported the theoretical framework for this research. Sixty-nine physician executives using either a Cerner Incorporated or Epic Systems EHR in a hospital or health system affiliated ACO participated in the online survey. The results of the regression analysis were statistically significant, R2 = .108, F(2,66) = 3.99, p = .023, indicating that characteristics of alert content and timing affect physician perceptions for improving their adherence to ACO quality measures. However, analysis of each independent variable showed alert content highly correlated with the dependent variable (p = .007) with no significant correlation found between workflow timing and the dependent variable (p = .724). Understanding the factors that support physician acceptance of alerts is essential to third-party software developers and health care organizations designing CDS tools. Providing physicians with improved EHR-integrated CDS tools supports the population health goal of ACOs in delivering better patient care.

Most leaders of healthcare delivery organizations have increased their rate of technological innovation, but some still struggle to keep pace with other industries. The problem addressed in this study was that senior leaders in some rural ambulatory healthcare facilities failed to innovate, even with recent healthcare technological innovations, which could lead to increased medical errors and a loss of efficiency. The purpose of the study was to examine if a relationship exists between the avoidance of technology threats by senior leaders in ambulatory healthcare organizations and the innovation propensity of the organization. Technology threat avoidance theory served as the theoretical basis for this correlational study. The research questions were used to investigate the relationship between technology threat avoidance by senior leaders and the ways avoidance affects an organization's level of technological innovation. Data were collected from 90 respondents via an anonymous online survey, developed from the innovation culture measurement and the COPE measurement, and analyzed using multiple regression and Spearman's correlation. Organizations with senior leaders who actively avoided technology threats had significantly higher innovation propensity (β = .51, p = .001). The analysis also showed that rural healthcare delivery organizations tended to have lower innovation propensity (β = -.18, p = .05). The study social change implications enable the leaders of more health care delivery organizations to actively mitigate technology threats, rather than passively avoiding them. Properly handling these threats could allow management to make more informed decisions about technology implementations and thus increase their ability to provide meaningful, innovative care and to avoid one of the leading causes of death-medical errors.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2009. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Management, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on October 23, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.