Enabling remote access to personal electronic medical records

Using a digital transformation framework to explore the experiences of radiographers in the use of digital radiography in a low-resource setting

INTRODUCTION

Digital radiography (DR) systems have revolutionised radiographers' experiences, particularly those accustomed to analogue methods. Despite the advantages, DR poses challenges due to its cost and technical requirements, especially in low-resource settings. Zambia, predominantly reliant on analogue systems, is gradually transitioning to DR. Understanding radiographers' experiences with DR is crucial for leveraging its benefits. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the experiences of Zambian radiographers with DR using the digital transformation framework (DTF).

METHODS

This qualitative method employed a descriptive phenomenological approach to interview 14 radiographers from five governmental hospitals in the Copperbelt province of Zambia. Interviews were conducted face-to-face, digitally audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using Colaizzi's (1978) phenomenological framework and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

RESULTS

Following data analysis, three main themes were developed: education and training in DR, departmental workflow in DR, and challenges of DR. The findings revealed predominantly positive experiences among radiographers using DR, with improved patient waiting times, image quality, workflow efficiency, and job satisfaction. However, challenges such as technological adaptation and system breakdowns were identified.

CONCLUSION

The study highlighted the positive experiences of radiographers during the initial implementation of DR in Zambian medical facilities. Although challenges exist, the findings suggest that they can be overcome by improving infrastructure and training, thereby maximising the benefits of DR.

IMPLICATION OF PRACTICE

The positive experiences demonstrated by radiographers in implementing DR in Zambian medical facilities indicate that targeted training and infrastructure improvements can enhance workflow efficiency, image quality, and overall patient care.

Mobile Diagnostic Clinics

This article reviews the revolutionary impact of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping modern healthcare systems, with a particular focus on the implementation of mobile diagnostic clinics. It presents an insightful analysis of the current healthcare challenges, including the shortage of healthcare workers, financial constraints, and the limitations of traditional clinics in continual patient monitoring. The concept of "Mobile Diagnostic Clinics" is introduced as a transformative approach where healthcare delivery is made accessible through the incorporation of advanced technologies. This approach is a response to the impending shortfall of medical professionals and the financial and operational burdens conventional clinics face. The proposed mobile diagnostic clinics utilize digital health tools and AI to provide a wide range of services, from everyday screenings to diagnosis and continual monitoring, facilitating remote and personalized care. The article delves into the potential of nanotechnology in diagnostics, AI's role in enhancing predictive analytics, diagnostic accuracy, and the customization of care. Furthermore, the article discusses the importance of continual, noninvasive monitoring technologies for early disease detection and the role of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) in personalizing treatment guidance. It also addresses the challenges and ethical concerns of implementing these advanced technologies, including data privacy, integration with existing healthcare infrastructure, and the need for transparent and bias-free AI systems.

Enabling Distributed Addition of Secure Access to Patient's Records in A Tele-Referring Group

Protecting the privacy of patients' Electronic Health Records (EHR) while providing timely health care is an important issue in e-medicine. In this paper, we introduce an emerging problem of secure access to EHR added by the patient directly or by a physician who is not primary. We identify the design requirements, propose our solutions, and demonstrate that our solutions satisfy the design requirements.

An overview of recent health care support systems for eEmergency and mHealth applications

Advances in mobile communications and medical technologies facilitate the development of emerging mobile systems and applications for healthcare. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview and the current status of mobile health care systems (mHealth) and their applications for Emergency healthcare support (eEmergency). Our paper reports on journal papers that use wireless, emergency telemedicine systems that appeared since 2000. The majority of the applications are focused on the transmission of crucial biosignals (mainly ECG) for the support of heart-related healthcare. A limited number of new studies were focused on supporting emergency healthcare for trauma by facilitating both 2D image or video transmission (eg: ultrasound). Alternatively, new studies have focused on integrated systems for specialized emergency scenaria such as stroke. This paper is an extension of work previously published by our group [1].

EmerLoc: Location-based services for emergency medical incidents

BACKGROUND

Recent developments in positioning systems and telecommunications have provided the technology needed for the development of location aware medical applications. We developed a system, named EmerLoc, which is based upon this technology and uses a set of sensors that are attached to the patient's body, a micro-computing unit which is responsible for processing the sensor readings and a central monitoring unit, which coordinates the data flow.

OBJECTIVE

To demonstrate that the proposed system is technically feasible and acceptable for the potential users.

METHOD

Transmission speed is assessed mostly by means of transmission of DICOM compliant images in various operational scenarios. The positioning functionality was established both outdoor using GPS and indoor using the UCLA Nibble system. User acceptability was assessed in a hospital setting by 15 physicians who filled in a questionnaire after having used the system in an experimental setting.

RESULTS

Transmission speeds ranged from 88kB/s for a IEEE 802.11 infrastructure to 2.5kB/s for a GSM/GPRS scenario. Positioning accuracy based on GPS was 5-10m. The physicians rated the technical aspects on average above 3 on a 5-point scale. Only the data presentation was assessed to be not satisfactory (2.81 on a 5-point scale).

CONCLUSION

The reported results prove the feasibility of the proposed architecture and its alignment with widely established practices and standards, while the reaction of potential users who evaluated the system is quite positive.

A fiber-optic powered wireless sensor module made on elastomeric substrate for wearable sensors

We demonstrate an integrated sensor module that combines a photonic nano-porous sensor and a bias-free optical powered RF transducer. The sensor signal is encoded in the RF frequency ready for transmission. The entire sensor module does not include battery and is constructed with the flexible and biocompatible elastomeric polymer, PDMS. This technology holds promise for wearable sensors.

A review and a framework of handheld computer adoption in healthcare

Wide adoption of mobile computing technology can potentially improve information access, enhance workflow, and promote evidence-based practice to make informed and effective decisions at the point of care. Handheld computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs) offer portable and unobtrusive access to clinical data and relevant information at the point of care. This article reviews the literature on issues related to adoption of PDAs in health care and barriers to PDA adoption. Studies showed that PDAs were used widely in health care providers' practice, and the level of use is expected to rise rapidly. Most care providers found PDAs to be functional and useful in areas of documentation, medical reference, and access to patient data. Major barriers to adoption were identified as usability, security concerns, and lack of technical and organizational support. PDAs offer health care practitioners advantages to enhance their clinical practice. However, better designed PDA hardware and software applications, more institutional support, seamless integration of PDA technology with hospital information systems, and satisfactory security measures are necessary to increase acceptance and wide use of PDAs in healthcare.