Thursday, April 2, 2009
Everyware Healthcare: IT in the LTACH and beyond
I'm visiting my dad who recently was transferred to a LTACH. LTACH stands for Long Term Acute Care Hospital. One of the goals of an LTACH is to work with people who have medically complex issues, often after a longer-than planned stay in an intensive care unit at a "regular" hospital, and then get them to the point where they can return home, with the maximum degree of independence as possible.
Given the fact that my dad has been deeply immersed in the medical/health care system lately, and the given the fact that I'm a techie, it has been difficult to ignore the wellspring of health care-related technology news peculating around, especially since the new stimulus plan has a provision for the funding of health care IT. This is explained in detail the following presentation from the McKessen EMRresource blog:
I'll comment a bit on the following articles and links in my next post:
iPlan Net
"iPlan Net Session Sharing enables two or more clinicians at different locations to work on the same plan simultaneously. With Session Sharing, physicians no longer need to be in the same room to collaborate—it's all possible over the iPlan Net browser...iPlan Net connects entire surgery, radiotherapy and radiology departments—increasing cooperation, productivity and efficiency."
G.E. and Intel Working on Remote Monitors to Provide Home Health Care
Steve Lohr 4/2/09 New York Times
Intel Health Guide
"The Intel® Health Guide offers interactive tools for personalized care management and includes vital sign collection, patient reminders, surveys, multimedia educational content, and video conferencing and alerts."
GE HealthCare
GE Healthcare Community Technology Update: Aging in Place pdf
New Touch Screen Monitors to Reduce Hospital Patient Waiting Times
Kindred Hospitals Customer Story (pdf)
Effective Healthcare Identity Management: A Necessary First Step for Improving U.S. Healthcare Information Systems Brief (pdf) (Smart Card Alliance)
FDA Probes Potential Overlap Between Electronic Health Records and Devices
DOD, VA set new target for lifetime health record
Government Health IT, Peter Buxbaum 3/27/09
The Stimulus Plan's Impact on the Healthcare Business Model
Scott Anthony, Harvard Business
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Not-so-useful large information displays in a university building
My experiences with most large screen displays, as I've mentioned previously on this blog, are nowhere near the interaction I see in my dreams. If we are going to move forward with our emerging technologies, we have to be able to do the no-tech/lower tech things better!
In the following two video clips, you'll see that even with a variety of large screen displays, it is difficult to find your way around a university building. Floor levels are not clearly defined, the framed map of the building is difficult to understand, and the rooms and offices are numbered in an illogical order. From looking at the numbers on the elevator, it is difficult to determine what floor you are standing on.
With all of the talk about "engaging user experiences", "user-centered design", and "usability", I've been hoping for much more, even from a university building. There is no way for an infrequent visitor to know of all the creativity and collaboration that takes place within the walls of Woodward Hall.
This gentleman was frustrated trying to find his way around the building:
This next video shows a bit more of the problem, including some confusing content on large-screen displays:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
World Usability Day's Healthcare Focus: Thoughts about health care user-experience design...
The theme of the 2007 World Usability Day is healthcare. This event aims to create awareness about the need for user-centered design within the health care system. Here is some information posted on UPA's World Usability Community blog:
"..."The importance of user-centered design in healthcare is truly about life and death” noted Elizabeth Rosenzweig, Founder and Director of World Usability Day. “Whether it’s new medical devices or technologies; drug research, approval or delivery; patient forms or medical record sharing; emergency disaster planning or increasing the functionality of hospitals and everyday healthcare delivery, everyone is effected in some way by the intersection of usability and healthcare. There are many commonalities, yet each region of the world faces its own set of unique challenges. We believe that focusing World Usability Day 2007 on healthcare will create a stronger awareness of these issues and lead to initiatives that have long term impact on the quality of everyone’s life".
Information about World Usability Day:
www.worldusabilityday.org.
Usability and interaction with the health care system has become a personal interest of mine, as I've spent the better part of the past month assisting a close relative negotiate three hospital stays, a couple of surgeries, numerous medical tests, and visits to various medical professionals. This has been an eye-opening experience, as anyone who has followed a similar path would agree.
I propose that efforts to improve usability should consider using some of the strategies employed by user-experience designers, taking into consideration that the definition of "user" includes the patient/consumer, the patient's family and social support network, health care professionals, hospital and medical staff, health educators, researchers, and so forth.
When I have the chance, I'll post some of my observations and thoughts related to this topic.
