Email Handling Research Articles

Information Overload in Emergency Medicine Physicians: A Multisite Case Study Exploring the Causes, Impact, and Solutions in Four North England National Health Service Trusts

BackgroundInformation overload is affecting modern society now more than ever because of the wide and increasing distribution of digital technologies. Social media, emails, and online communications among others infuse a sense of urgency as information must be read, produced, and exchanged almost instantaneously. Emergency medicine is a medical specialty that is particularly affected by information overload with consequences on patient care that are difficult to quantify and address. Understanding the current causes of medical information overload, their impact on patient care, and strategies to handle the inflow of constant information is crucial to alleviating stress and anxiety that is already crippling the profession.ObjectiveThis study aims to identify and evaluate the main causes and sources of medical information overload, as experienced by emergency medicine physicians in selected National Health Service (NHS) trusts in the United Kingdom.MethodsThis study used a quantitative, survey-based data collection approach including close- and open-ended questions. A web-based survey was distributed to emergency physicians to assess the impact of medical information overload on their jobs. In total, 101 valid responses were collected from 4 NHS trusts in north England. Descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, independent sample two-tailed t tests, and one-way between-group analysis of variance with post hoc tests were performed on the data. Open-ended questions were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key topics.ResultsThe vast majority of respondents agreed that information overload is a serious issue in emergency medicine, and it increases with time. The always available culture (mean 5.40, SD 1.56), email handling (mean 4.86, SD 1.80), and multidisciplinary communications (mean 4.51, SD 1.61) are the 3 main reasons leading to information overload. Due to this, emergency physicians experience guideline fatigue, stress and tension, longer working hours, and impaired decision making, among other issues. Aspects of information overload are also reported to have different impacts on physicians depending on demographic factors such as age, years spent in emergency medicine, and level of employment.ConclusionsThere is a serious concern regarding information overload in emergency medicine. Participants identified a considerable number of daily causes affecting their job, particularly the traditional culture of emergency departments being always available on the ward, exacerbated by email and other forms of communication necessary to maintain optimal, evidence-based practice standards. However, not all information is unwelcome, as physicians also need to stay updated with the latest guidelines on conditions and treatment, and communicate with larger medical teams to provide quality care.

Investigating Physical Interaction With Digital Data Through the Materialization of Email Handling

Abstract Adopting a re-materialization approach, we designed and implemented an everyday interactive artifact that enables an individual to monitor and establish the reconfirmation time of email data. This device represents a new means of handling and interacting with email. To investigate the value of the materialization of email data through a daily interactive object, Maili, we conducted a 1-month field study with five participants in their work environments. The results showed that applying physicality to email handling helped to increase accessibility to and interest in the data, as well as in the reconfirmation function of email. Results also indicated the value of combining non-digital (the tray) with digital functions. By presenting the process of using the dematerialized data, our findings offer new insights into how we can materialize digital information in everyday tangible artifacts.

Nowoczesny nauczyciel akademicki w dobie COVID-19

The article presents selected modern solutions that can be used by academic teachers not only in times of isolation. Many of them use modern technologies only to a basic extent such as e-mail handling or preparing presentations. Increasingly, they look for new knowledge in electronic resources such as scientific databases available from their library accounts. In social sciences, however, the use of the Internet for scientific research is not popular. The same situation is with the use of the Internet for teaching. The aim of the article is to present both the educational platforms that every scientist can use in their work with students as well as the platforms through which they can do research.

Remote System Setup Using Large-Scale Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAA) to Enabling Wide Accessibility of Configurable Devices

We present a novel remote test system, an integrated remote testing system requiring minimal technology support overhead, enabled by configurable analog–digital Integrated Circuits (IC) to create a simple interface for a wide range of experiments. Our remote test system requires no additional setup, resulting both from using highly configurable devices, as well as from the advancement of straight-forward digital interfaces (i.e., USB) for the resulting experimental system. The system overhead requirements require simple email handling, available over almost all network systems with no additional requirements. The system is empowered through large-scale Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) devices and Baseline Tool Framework (BTF), where we present a range of experimentally measured examples illustrating the range of user interfacing available for the remote user.

Data protection and legal compliance in cloud computing

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where all IT-resources like software, data and other devices are provided on-demand. Cloud computing is a new way of delivering computing resources. Computing services ranging from data storage and processing to software, such as email handling, are now available instantly, commitment-free and on-demand. Since we are in a time of belt-tightening, this new economic model for computing has found fertile ground and is seeing massive global investment.

Managing citizen-initiated email contacts

Citizen-initiated contacts, often with requests for services or information, complaints or opinions, occupy a great portion of citizen involvement with local governments. The ease and low cost of emails opens a new agenda for the contacts. Governments not only have to provide convenient and friendly access points on the websites to receive these voices, but also have to respond to them in a timely and responsive way. Responsiveness invites more usage and imposes more caseloads on bureaucrats and governments as well. How can a government develop and manage an efficient, timely and responsive citizen-initiated email handling system? We conduct a longitudinal in-depth case study of Taipei City Mayor's Mailbox, a successful citizen-initiated email handling system existing for over 12 years. Through the study of the development process, we find the actors, humans and non-humans, and their interplays shape the Mailbox. Several important issues are identified including an evolutionary, incremental and emergent process, citizens' dissatisfaction as an actor, continuous involvement of Mayor and Commissioners, and engaging street-level bureaucrats. The study contributes greatly to understand the evolution of E-Government which is underspecified in the E-Government literature.

IJNP: a decade in perspective

The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology ( IJNP ) was officially founded in September, 1997 at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the CINP in Vienna. Then CINP President, Claude de Montigny and the Chair of the Publications Committee, Igor Grant, played a pivotal role. I was asked to accept the position of Founding Editor-in-Chief and did so with considerable enthusiasm as well as significant reservations about starting a journal de novo in an already crowded and highly competitive field. The decade that followed has been one of the most fascinating and rewarding of my professional career. I recommended the appointment of Field Editors (Steve Stahl, Alan Frazer, Lars Farde and Klaus-Peter Lesch) and in consultation with them an Editorial Board. Initial submissions were on paper and sent in by airmail; the first issue of the journal appeared in July 1998. Since then IJNP has made steady progress with submissions rising each year (Figure 1). Page extents and issue numbers have increased proportionately and the journal now has eight issues per year and a total of 1152 pages. Increasing competition for space has led to acceptance levels dropping to around 25% (Figure 2). My 10-year service as Editor-in-Chief of IJNP coincided with a historic decade for scientific publishing as a whole. During this period we went from submissions by mail to fax and email handling of papers and reviews and then to a fully online, paperless submission and review system administered …

Response to risk

This article describes how electronic mail (email) has developed from being a simple, efficient and cost-effective means of communicating short messages across computer networks into a broad platform on which are based a wide range of applications for which email was not intended. A study is reported which considers the main sources of email security risk and the creation and deployment of email security policies. It sets out the key email security elements needing to be addressed in terms of the supporting literature, where these issues were analyzed to assess user perceptions of email security risk. Two data sets were collected during 2003, involving: interview data from discussions with six email security experts from several companies; and survey data from a single case study company where the 285 highly-educated employees were regular users of email, and were supposed to practise their handling of email with reference to the company’s email security policy. The survey results indicated strong support for the view that email security was a major concern for companies, but low opinions were held concerning end-user knowledge of email security issues in the organisations with which they had contact. A major priority in reducing email security risk was seen to be the education of end-users in appropriate email handling practices. All participants were concerned about the occurrence of viruses and spam but tended to be undecided regarding whether or not interception was a real threat and it was generally felt that the low perceived threat of interception did not justify the cost and disruption involved in the introduction of encryption software. Considerable interest was expressed regarding the question of employee and employer rights when drafting email policies and these comments reflected the level of ambiguity in the existing legislation, where none of the people interviewed was aware of any guidelines to help a company protect its interests while upholding the privacy rights of its employees.

Automatic message handling for a national counselling service

An automatic email handling system (AutoRouter) was introduced at a national counselling service in Australia. In 2003, counsellors responded to a total of 7421 email messages. Over nine days in early May 2004 the administrator responsible for the management of the manual email counselling service recorded the time spent on managing email messages. The AutoRouter was then introduced. Since the implementation of the AutoRouter the administrator's management role has become redundant; an average of 12 h 5 min per week of staff time has been saved. There have been further savings in supervisor time. Counsellors were taking an average of 6.2 days to respond to email messages (n = 4307), with an average delay of 1.2 days from the time counsellors wrote the email to when the email was sent. Thus the response was sent on average 7.4 days after receipt of the original client email message. A significant decrease in response time has been noted since implementation of the AutoRouter, with client responses now taking an average of 5.4 days, a decrease of 2.0 days. Automatic message handling appears to be a promising method of managing the administration of a steadily increasing email counselling service.

Agents that reduce work and information overload

Publisher Summary Computers are becoming the vehicle for an increasing range of everyday activities. Acquisition of news and information, mail and even social interactions and entertainment have become more and more computer based. These technological developments are not in line with a change in the way people interact with computers. Techniques from the field of AI, in particular so-called autonomous agents, can be used to implement a complementary style of interaction, which has been referred to as indirect management. Agents assist users in a range of different ways. They hide the complexity of difficult tasks, they perform tasks on the user's behalf, they can train or teach the user, they help different users collaborate, and they monitor events and procedures. The chapter focuses on an approach to building interface agents. It presents results from several prototype agents that have been built using this approach, including agents that provide personalized assistance with meeting scheduling, email handling, electronic news filtering, and selection of entertainment.