Diffusion of Innovation in Health Care
 This report describes the ten critical dynamics that govern how new medical and information technologies are diffused in the health care industry. It is intended as a practical guide for changing the pace of adoption and includes examples and quick tips.

University of Alabama Web site helps children monitor their asthma
They have been participants in a pilot program that taught them how to monitor asthma symptoms and report the information to a Web site. If the symptoms reach a danger level, the Web site automatically generates e-mail to the school nurse and UAB.

Joint teleconsultations (virtual outreach) versus standard outpatient appointments for patients referred by their general practitioner for a specialist opinion: a randomised trial
The trial showed that allocation of patients to virtual outreach consultations is variably associated with increased offers of follow-up appointments according to site and specialty, but leads to significant increases in patients’ satisfaction and substantial reductions in tests and investigations. Efficient operation of such services will require appropriate selection of patients, significant service reorganisation, and provision of logistical support.

Parent and Physician Attitudes Regarding Electronic Communication in Pediatric Practices
Most (74%) parents who were interviewed expressed interest in using e-mail to contact their child’s physician/physician’s office for several purposes, including getting information or test results, scheduling appointments, and/or discussing a particular symptom. Seventy-four percent of GPs and 100% of SPs had access to e-mail; however, 79% did not want to use e-mail for physician-patient communication, citing concerns about confidentiality and the time demands that patient e-mail might engender.

250,000 CAPMED Personal Health Records to CHRISTUS Health® Communities
This initiative invites thousands of families to join in the “electronic healthcare” revolution, which promises better outcomes through consumer involvement in personal health affairs. The Internet-enabled PHR software resides on users’ personal computers, ensuring unambiguous security and high performance.

Summary of Information Submitted to MedMARxSM in the Year 2000: Charting a Course for Change
This report summarizes medication error information submitted to USP's MedMARx Program by participating facilities between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2000. MedMARx is an Internet-accessible, anonymous, national medication error database for hospitals to report and track medication errors. During this reporting period, 184 facilities reported 41,296 medication error records to MedMARx. Of the errors reported, 92 percent (37,999/41,296) were categorized as errors that occurred, and 8 percent (3,297/41,296) were categorized as potential errors. Of the errors that occurred:
    * 97 percent (36,766/37,999) were errors that did not result in patient harm
    * 31 percent (11,786/37,999) were errors that did not reach the patient
    * Less than one percent of errors resulted in patient death (a total of three records).

Global image database could improve diagnosis of brain abnormalities
An interactive database of brain scan images could help physicians identify and diagnose subtle brain abnormalities that might otherwise go undetected. The experimental Dynamic Brain Atlas would allow a physician to compare a patient’s brain scan with a customized image that represents the normal range for a person with the same physical characteristics and medical history as the patient.

That's very nice, but will it get me pregnant?
The patient's recent blood tests for infertility indicated that she had polycystic ovary syndrome, and she had come for her follow up appointment. I explained the likely diagnosis, suggested she might use our internet service to find more detailed information, and offered to demonstrate what was available. Going straight to a website that I knew had some excellent patient information on the syndrome, I briefly talked her through it and gave her a printed copy to take away. She and I had always had a good rapport, I believed. Now she looked disdainfully, first at me and then at the sheets of paper I offered. "That's very nice," she said, "but will it get me pregnant?"

Vital Decisions: How Internet users decide what information to trust when they or their loved ones are sick
In November 2000, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that 52 million American adults relied on the Internet to make critical health decisions. We now find that 73 million American adults use the Internet to research prescription drugs, explore new ways to control their weight, and prepare for doctor's appointments, among other activities. Many say the Internet has helped them or someone they know and very few report harmful effects from acting on bad information they found online.

Welcome to CaringBridge -- Bridging the gap between you and your loved ones.
A free service allowing patients (or anyone receiving care) to communicate with their family and friends using a Web Page.  Easy to follow steps allow you to create and update your own Web Page.

Medication discrepancies in an outpatient electronic medical record

Medical Informaticist Friend or Foe?
While it had taken the hospital at least four years of planning and staff time to attempt implementation, it took our medical informaticist one day to review the steering committee minutes, interview clinical and IS project personnel, and come to the conclusion that the project had been doomed to failure from the start, due to lack of proper technologic and clinical expertise in IS, inadequacies of the software to accommodate different practice styles and data requirements demanded by the clinicians. The project also had to overcome inadequate and unstable architectures and a poor fit of the application with clinical demands of the heart center. (free registration required for viewing)

• Mapping genes
• Correlating genes with diseases
• Studying the regulation of expression of genes
• Studying the structure and function of gene products such as proteins and RNAs
• Predicting the structure and function of DNA, RNA and protein from their primary sequences
• Understanding how genes function and are regulated during development, disease and aging

6/1/02 dfs