Harvard project to scan millions of medical files
The $20 million project -- which would probe more deeply and more quickly into medical records than human researchers are capable of -- is designed to find links between patients' DNA and illnesses. Although the effort could raise concerns about privacy, researchers say the new program, called ''I2B2" (for ''Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside") would respect the strict guidelines set out in federal and state laws, and could be a powerful tool for many kinds of research.

The 100 Most Wired -- The Quality Connection
The nation's 100 Most Wired hospitals and health systems have, on average, risk-adjusted mortality rates that are 7.2 percent lower than other hospitals. The conclusion is valid at the 99 percent confidence level and remains valid even after controlling the data for the size of the hospital and teaching status.

Draft of "THE CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NHS CARE RECORD SERVICE"
The NHS Care Record Guarantee (available as an appendix) is a key policy document governing the NHS Care Record Service. It pledges that “we will aim to share only as much information as people need to know to play their part in your healthcare” and that “under current law, no one is able to make decisions about sharing health information about you on your behalf”. The development of the NHS Care Record Service must be compatible with these aims.

Oracle Working To Help Customize Health Care In Thailand
The study of pharmacogenomics explores how a person's genetic makeup affects an individual's response to medications. For instance, a pharmacogenomics project might examine how Thai women of a specific age, carrying specific genetic markers and other clinical profile characteristics, respond to new breast cancer treatments compared to other drugs, says Jones. These discoveries could aid physicians in making better treatment decisions for individual patients.

Comprehensive Analysis of a Medication Dosing Error Related to CPOE
CPOE, without significant work, will not solve all the problems of the modern clinical care system. The results of the authors' analysis were used to formulate specific recommendations for interface layout and functionality modifications, suggest new user alerts, propose changes to user training, and address error-prone steps of the KCl ordering process to reduce the risk of future medication dosing errors.

Hospital-acquired Infections in Pennsylvania
In 2004, hospitals reported 11,668 hospital-acquired infections, that is, 7.5 hospital-acquired infections per 1,000 patients admitted to Pennsylvania’s general acute care hospitals. 15.4 percent or 1,793 of these patients died. $2 billion in additional hospital charges and 205,000 additional hospital days were associated with the hospital admissions in which these devastating infections occurred.

A randomized trial of electronic clinical reminders to improve quality of care for diabetes and coronary artery disease
Baseline adherence rates to all quality measures were low. While electronic reminders increased the odds of recommended diabetes care (odds ratio [OR] 1.30, 95% [CI] 1.01-1.67) and CAD (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.01-1.55), the impact of individual reminders was variable. A total of 3 of 9 reminders effectively increased rates of recommended care for diabetes or CAD.

Researching Medical Literature on the Internet -- 2005 Update
The proliferation of medical websites is good news for the researcher with a small to non-existent medical collection.