Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, Dept. of Medicine (RMH/WH), 2010. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-392)

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Altmaier, Daniel Tranel. Includes bibliographic references (p. 142-155).

Thesis (M.G.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Sociology and Gerontology, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-49).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2005. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 208 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: The objective of this research is to understand how a set of systems, as defined by the business process, creates value. The three studies contained in this work develop the model of process-based automation. The model states that complementarities among systems are specified by handoffs in the business process. The model also provides theory to explain why entry systems, boundary spanning systems, and back-end control systems provide different impacts on process quality and cost. The first study includes 135 U. S. acute care hospitals. The study finds that hospitals which followed an organizational pattern of process automation have better financial outcomes. The second study looks in more depth at where synergies might be found. It includes 341 California acute care hospitals over 11 years. It finds that increased costs and increase adverse drug events are associated with increased automation discontinuity. Further, the study shows that automation in the front end of the process has a more desirable outcome on cost than automation in the back end of the process. The third study examines the assumption that the systems are actually used. It is a cross-sectional analysis of over 2000 U. S. hospitals. This study finds that system usage is a critical factor in realizing benefits from automating the business process. The model of process-based automation has implications for information technology decision makers, long-term automation planning, and for information systems research. The analyses have additional implications for the healthcare industry. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Information Management 2011

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-06T23:05:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2004 / A partir da importância atribuída à comunicação na relação médico-paciente com fator de boa adesão ao tratamento, surgiu o interesse em saber quando e como s contempla o ensino/aprendizagem de comunicação nos cursos de graduação em medicina. As recomendações sobre o desenvolvimento da competência "comunicação" preconizadas nas novas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais acrescentam uma justificava a mais para a pesquisa. Delimitado o campo da pesquisa, revisada a literatura e optado pelo referencial metodológico da pesquisa qualitativa, foram entrevistados doze egressos de cursos de medicina que estavam iniciando residência em Clínica Médica e nove professores, coordenadores de ensino de cursos de graduação em medicina. A análise da entrevistas, feita sob o olhar fenomenológico, privilegia o vivido. Aparece uma grande diversidade de concepções sobre o que seja a comunicação, contudo das falas dos entrevistadores emergem categorias de análise que mostram, em essência, uma tendência para considerar a competência comunicação como uma habilidade instrumental para se conseguir tirar informações e se fazer entender no procedimento médico. A temporalidade (o quando) também apresenta uma gama de possibilidades, distribuída entre as matérias iniciais e as atividades finais do curso. A forma (o como) de ensino/aprendizagem se distribui entre disciplinas básicas e atividades práticas. Em essência, o aprendizado se revela como produto da vivência pessoal ao longo do curso e da experiência na prática junto ao paciente. / The importance attributed to communication in the physician-patient relations as a factor of satisfactory adherence to treatment has spurred an interest in determining when and how the teaching/learning of communication in undergraduate medical courses should be contemplated. The recommendations on the development of the “communication” competence, advocated in the new National Curricular Guidelines, are one more reason to justify this study. Once the field of investigation was outlined, the literature reviewed and a choice of the qualitative research methodological criterion made, interviews were conducted with twelve graduates from the medical schools who were starting residency in Medical Practice and nine teachers who acted as area coordinators for undergraduate medical programs. The analysis of the interviews, made from a phenomenologic perspective, favors the experience lived. A broad range of concepts came up on what communication is, but, on the other hand, a number of analysis categories arose from the interviewees’ statements which show, in essence, a trend to consider communication competence as an instrumental skill to obtain information and make oneself understood in the medical procedure. Temporality (when) also points to a number of possibilities, spread out between the early disciplines and the final activities of the course. The form (how) of teaching/learning is distributed between basic disciplines and practical activities. Fundamentally, learning comes out as a product of personal experience throughout the course and of the practical experience with the patient. / BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

OBJECTIVE: The vast majority of physicians frequently faces ethical dilemmas and feels overwhelmed as a result. Those at Boston Medical Center are no exception. Various studies show more adept handling of ethical issues can improve the quality of care and patient safety by reducing moral distress of physicians and fostering better patient-physician relationship. The method of Preventive Ethics, which actively identifies recurrent themes and underlying systematic issues among ethics consultations, is more effective than the traditional, case-by-case approach in reducing the number of ethical conflicts. The purpose of this study is to identify common themes prompting ethics consultations and any hotspots among recurrent ethical dilemmas at Boston Medical Center by using the Armstrong Clinical Ethics Coding System. METHODS: A total of 32 ethics consultations handled by the BMC Ethics Committee between October 2010 and April 2013 were reviewed. Each consultation was coded using the Armstrong Clinical Ethics Coding System. The data was analyzed to identify the types of ethical dilemma that are most prevalent at BMC. The consultations involving the most frequently occurring issues were evaluated further to expose common themes among these cases and potential underlying systematic failures. RESULT: "Clinical Candidacy or Risk / Benefit Analysis" (6.25%), "Concern About Decision Maker Choices" (14.6%) and "Futility / Inappropriate or Nonbeneficial Treatment" (13.5%) were the most prevalent types of ethical issues at BMC. Not only are these three frequently occurring, they also have a very high tendency to occur simultaneously. Further analysis of consultations involving these three issues revealed that at BMC, there are frequent instances of conflict, in which family members serving as healthcare proxies disagreed with physicians in deciding the best interest of patients with severe ailments, ultimately precipitating ethics consultations. DISCUSSION: Comparison with similar retrospective studies previously carried out at other institutions suggests that consultation involving the issue of futility may be more frequently occurring at BMC, which might be coming from unique systematic problems. Several interventions such as improved policies or educational training in physician-family communication should be considered. CONCLUSION: According to the principles of Preventive Ethics, the issue of physician-healthcare proxy conflict regarding patient futility should be issue to be addressed at BMC. The Armstrong Clinical Ethics Coding System can serve as a much needed standard documentation format for ethics consultations, which would open up the possibility of more detailed future studies

abstract: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are highly prevalent illnesses that can result in profound impairment. While many patients with these disorders present in primary care, research suggests that physicians under-detect and suboptimally manage MDD and PTSD in their patients. The development of more effective training interventions to aid primary care providers in diagnosing mental health disorders is of the utmost importance. This research focuses on evaluating computer-based training tools (Avatars) for training family physicians to better diagnose MDD and PTSD. Three interventions are compared: a "choice" avatar simulation training program, a "fixed" avatar simulation training program, and a text-based training program for training physicians to improve their diagnostic interviewing skills in detecting and diagnosing MDD and PTSD. Two one-way ANCOVAs were used to analyze the differences between the groups on diagnostic accuracy while controlling for mental health experience. In order to assess specifically how prior mental health experience affected diagnostic accuracy the covariate of prior mental health experience was then used as an independent variable and simple main effects and pairwise comparisons were evaluated. Results indicated that for the MDD case both avatar treatment groups significantly outperformed the text-based treatment in diagnostic accuracy regardless of prior mental health experience. For the PTSD case those receiving the fixed avatar simulation training more accurately diagnosed PTSD than the text-based training group and the choice-avatar training group regardless of prior mental health experience. Confidence ratings indicated that the majority of participants were very confident with their diagnoses for both cases. Discussion focused on the utility of avatar technology in medical education. The findings in this study indicate that avatar technology aided the participants in diagnosing MDD and PTSD better than traditional text-based methods employed to train PCPs to diagnose. Regardless of experience level the fixed avatar group outperformed the other groups for both cases. Avatar technology used in diagnostic training can be user-friendly and cost-effective. It can also have a world-wide reach. Additional educational benefit could be provided by using automated text analysis to provide physicians with feedback based on the extent to which their case diagnostic summaries cover relevant content. In conclusion, avatar technology can offer robust training that could be potentially transferred to real environment performance. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Counseling Psychology 2012

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in the Carter decision that the prohibitions against physician-assisted dying, as outlined in section 241(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada, were unconstitutional as they violated an individual’s s.7 rights as outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Though the jurisprudence of this landmark decision and subsequent amendments to Canadian law are interesting in and of themselves, what is particularly interesting about Carter is the framework within which physician-assisted dying is conceptualized. The Court shifts from a religiously informed framework for conceptualizing assisted suicide to a non-religious conceptualization of physician-assisted dying. Given that there remains much to be explored about nonreligion, this thesis asks: how is ‘nonreligion’ constructed by law in relation to physician-assisted dying in Canada? Since the Carter decision is not explicitly about religion or nonreligion the analysis in this thesis maps how the concepts life, death, and morality are reconceptualized. The analysis reveals that nonreligion is a phenomenon that is absent of the transcendent and is instead given positive content through a focus on autonomy. The conceptualization of nonreligion as presented in this thesis contributes to the literature that emphasizes that nonreligion is both positive and meaningful and not simply deficit terminology.