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Patients are demanding a more substantive, collaborative role in their own healthcare decision making. Collaborative healthware is the application of information and communication technologies designed to enhance decision making and communication between providers, patients, and their families. The emergence of collaborative healthware will play an important role in supporting the relationship between...
Healthcare providers are not meeting the needs of online consumers. Over half the U.S. population is currently online and the place they turn for health information, after their doctors, is the Internet1 (Fig. 2.1). In another survey, Internet users were almost as likely to turn to the Internet for healthcare information as they were their physician.2
Patients recovering from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery face four key challenges in the posthospitalization stage: monitoring their progress toward healing, understanding the desirable and undesirable indicators of recovery, appraising their own body state, and acting in accord with the alignment of what was expected and what actually occurred. They must manage their own recovery protocol,...
Imagine an entire population with access at home to a network that enables people to access information, communicate with providers and other interested parties, and receive some diagnostic and therapeutic services. The home, as a site of healthcare delivery, is of increasing interest to healthcare planners and providers. For those individuals whose access to traditional healthcare delivery is limited...
In 1996 the National Library of Medicine (NLM) funded a research project called Patient Centered Access to Secure Systems Online (PCASSO), which was proposed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in collaboration with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). The project was designed to apply state-of-the-art security to the communication of clinical information over the Internet...
This chapter has been difficult for me to write. Originally, I planned to review the information technology available to the medical community from three distinct areas: (1) early research and development; (2) advanced technical research centers; and (3) technology that is in the early stages of use, but is still funded by research and development dollars. The goal was to excite you about things to...
The latest advances in information technologies have allowed for the development of applications that have had tremendous repercussions in the healthcare field. Along with access, means must be provided to ensure that information is trustworthy and relevant. Certification of information quality can remain voluntary, preserving citizens’ rights and promoting diversity. Collaboration among all Internet...
Health care is changing to include an increased emphasis on consumer health services. This shift is linked to the widespread implementation of several information technology advancements. According to the Anderson Consulting Group, the connection between healthcare delivery and information technology forms the foundation of an emerging “healthcare infocosm” (HCI).1 The HCI is described as the linkage...
Many consumers in today’s healthcare market take responsibility for promoting and/or maintaining their own health. This paradigm shift from a healthcare provider model of decision making to a partnership model of informed decision making (between the consumer and healthcare provider) is driven by the consumer’s access and use of the Internet as an interactive health communication resource. These telehealth...
Patient empowerment can be defined as “the increasing ability of patients to actively understand, participate in, and influence their health status.”1 Increased involvement of patients in the healthcare process is one facet of a more global trend of modern societies, where citizens no longer accept being passive about decisions that concern their lives, their environment, or their country. Patient...
With robust emergency medical services (EMS), tertiary care hospitals, and a plethora of procedure-based specialists, the American healthcare system is well suited to treat acutely ill patients. However, the system is not as well equipped to treat patients with chronic illnesses. This has significant implications, not only for the current healthcare system, since 125 million Americans now suffer from...
In preparation for yet another long research trip to the jungle, I pack my lisinopril, 81-mg aspirin tablets, Zantac, allergy medicines, and ibuprofen, and consider taking my blood pressure cuff to monitor my medication. I am not a hypochondriac. I am just a 50-plus-year-old American and taking less than the average medication number of nine for my age.’ I have a wonderful primary-care physician and...
Consumer informatics in health care is a blend of health-, clinical-, and bioinformatics. As the lines between them grow blurred, the combination is destined to grow into the central edifice of all health care. Whether at the public health level or an individual’s proteome level, biology and medicine have become a numbers game, with numbers to describe our genome and numbers to guide diagnostic, therapeutic,...
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