Health Information Services Research Articles

Factors Related To Hypertension Management Efforts In Female Workers At Bringharjo Traditional Market Yogyakarta

<p>Background: Hypertension is a condition of blood pressure in blood vessels increases chronically. Yogyakarta has a population of high blood pressure or hypertension reaches until 7,464 people, stating that hypertension in population aged >15 years is more common in women (63.96%) than men (36.04%) (Year Health Profile 2014 Yogyakarta City).</p><p>Objective: To determine the risk factors associated with hypertension management efforts in female workers at Bringharjo Traditional Market.</p><p>Method: An observational analytic study with a cross sectional approach. The population of this study is all female workers at Bringharjo Market with quantities of 4,140 people. The sampling technique uses Simple Random Sampling technique that is 365 people. The data collection tool is a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using <em>chi square</em> test.</p><p>Results: Factors related to hypertension management efforts included blood pressure level p = 0.049, age p = 0.000, education p = 0,000, family history p = 0,000, service access p = 0.167, insurance ownership p = 0.171, information sources p = 0.118 and knowledge p = 0.010. There is a relationship between blood pressure level, age, education, family history and knowledge with hypertension management efforts. While health services access, insurance ownership and information sources have no relationship with hypertension management efforts.</p><p>Conclusions and suggestions: There is a relationship between blood pressure level, age, education, family history and knowledge with hypertension management at Bringharjo Traditional Market, but there is no relationship between health services access, insurance ownership, and information sources, with respondents of hypertension management at Bringharjo Traditional Market. The results of this study are expected to be used as additional references and for respondents who are not yet aware of hypertension management to carry out routine checks and take medication regularly.</p>

Health Information: Applications and challenges in the COVID-19 pandemic

Global health systems are under immense pressure with the exponential growth and spread of COVID-19. Public health and health system responses to the pandemic have relied on health information reporting, visualisation, and projections of incidence, morbidity, and mortality. This commentary aims to explore how health information has been used to inform the public, manage risk, understand capacity, prepare the health system and to plan public health strategy. We also aim to share the health information challenges and our insights to inform future debate and strategic investment. This paper will be relevant to health service and health information managers wanting to understand vulnerabilities and focus for future health information initiatives.

Environmental scan of mental wellness resources available on Canadian post-secondary campuses

This environmental scan study aimed to determine the current status of mental wellness resources and toolkits on Canadian post-secondary campuses. This study was completed in the summer of 2016 and consisted of three parts: Web search, campus survey, and semi-structured, individual interviews. The Web search of 135 institutions indicated that the size of the campus population influenced the availability and variety of existing mental wellness resources. In the survey conducted, over 80% of the 39 institutions had various services. Mental health–related toolkits listed in the survey were well-perceived and included de-stressing materials and mental health service information. Four common themes emerged in the interviews conducted: (a) accessibility of services, (b) support networks need to shift, (c) mental wellness resources can accomplish multiple purposes, and (d) necessary components to produce an effective mental wellness toolkit. The findings of this study can guide the future development of a potential national mental wellness toolkit for Canadian college campuses.

Postoperative pulmonary complications following major head and neck cancer surgery

The primary aim of this observational study was to describe the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) in 60 consecutive, surgically treated head and neck cancer patients requiring free flap reconstruction and tracheostomy, using both a prospective and a retrospective outcome measure. Secondary aims were to identify risk factors for PPC development, explore the effects of PPC on outcomes, and describe the provision of postoperative physiotherapy in this population. Postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in nine (15%) patients based on the Melbourne Group Scale and 27 (45%) patients based on Health Information Service coding data. The occurrence of a PPC was not statistically correlated with age, smoking history, comorbidities, operative time, or type of resection or free flap. Patients who developed a PPC, compared to those who did not, had a higher preoperative body mass index (P=0.022) and were more likely to be sat out of bed earlier post-surgery (P=0.038). Overall, patients required a median of 9.0 (interquartile range 7.0–11.0) physiotherapy sessions. Patients developing a PPC required significantly more physiotherapy sessions (P=0.007) and additional days of supplemental oxygen (P=0.022) as compared to those without a PPC, despite a similar hospital length of stay. In future, targeted physiotherapy interventions may reduce PPCs in this population.

Evaluating the quality of health information services in public libraries: an experience from Iran

PurposeConsidering the important role of public libraries in providing health information service as well as user feedback in improving the quality of health information services, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the quality of health information service in public libraries of Hamadan, Iran, on the basis of the modified LibQUAL modelDesign/methodology/approachThis practical research was conducted in an analytic-survey method. The statistical population consists of all members of public libraries of Hamadan over 18 years old (12,237 people), and the sample size is calculated to be 373 people. The stratified sampling method was used, and within each class, a convenience sampling method was used. The modified LibQUAL questionnaire was used to gather data. For checking normality of data distribution, the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and for analyzing date, descriptive statistics and also Chi-square and Wilcoxon tests were applied using SPSS 25.FindingsThe users' minimum level of public libraries in all three dimensions is an average level. The users' desired level of “information control” is higher than other dimensions. The users' perceived level in dimensions of “human resources” and “information control” is high level, while users' perceived level in “educational service” is an “average” level. There is a superiority gap between desired and perceived level in all dimensions, but the adequacy gap was seen only in the dimension of “educational service.”Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, the quality of health information services provided in public libraries is evaluated by the LibQUAL model.Practical implicationsThe results of this research can help managers and librarians of public libraries in measuring the quality of health information services and improving the quality of services provided by libraries. Besides, they can take a more accurate planning and pathologic approach, to eliminate the gap between minimum and desired expectations of users and libraries’ real services.Originality/valueIn this study, the quality of health information services provided in public libraries is evaluated by LibQUAL tool.

Positioning Libraries in Meeting Public Health Challenges in India: Key Strategies

Worldwide there has been tremendous development in the field of public health. That includes dissemination of relevant information to the public at large, by different means. In developed countries, the governments have been proactive in health care provisions and health care services delivery to its people. Librarians’ roles and responsibilities are also embedded in such a system. Consequently, library professionals are actively engaged in providing information resources to the community they serve. But in the developing countries, such initiative to meet health care demands of large populations is often less responsive and resources successfully reaching the communities is uneven. Librarians occupy a relatively small space in health care delivery systems, especially in providing health information to diverse communities. In India too, the picture is grim as far as librarians’ involvement as facilitator of health information to communities is concerned. In this context, considering counties demography and socio-economic status, relevant literature on role of libraries in provision of consumer health information was reviewed. Based on published research, this paper articulates key strategies that will assist librarians in providing health information services to various communities in India.Given the prevailing Covid-19 health crisis, this paper also identifies major challenges and possible solutions for strengthening libraries, that would help in mitigating public health challenges in India.

COVID-19 Patient Education and Consumer Health Information Resources and Services

The health information needs of providers, patients, and consumers are continually evolving in response to the spread of COVID-19. Information professionals play key roles in counteracting the associated dangerous impact of misinformation, the digital divide, low health literacy, and information overload. Librarians can contribute to the fight against COVID-19 through collating reliable, up-to-date, and inclusive resources; triaging evidence; creating “stop-gap” collections; promoting credible sources; and through health literacy training. This column therefore focuses on pandemic information services for patient education and consumer health, while also discussing librarians’ dual roles as information providers and community advocates during the time of COVID-19.

Meeting Chinese Older Adults’ Health Information Needs: The Role of Public Libraries

Focus group interviews were conducted to investigate Chinese older adults’ health information needs, seeking to inform public libraries’ efforts in improving their health literacy. Through the identification of their health concerns, the challenges they encounter when seeking health information, and their expectations of using the library to fulfill their health information needs, this study delineates older adults’ “felt need” for public library’s health information services. Findings of the study will help public libraries in China and in other nations that have a sizable population of Chinese immigrants gain insights on how to develop and implement meaningful services to meet older adults’ health information needs and ultimately enhance their health literacy.

Task-sharing in menstrual regulation services: Implementation efforts and lessons learned in Bangladesh.

ObjectiveTo explore the strategies undertaken to decentralize menstrual regulation services and implement task‐sharing, including barriers and facilitators, with nonphysician providers in Bangladesh.MethodsWe conducted a desk review of relevant policies and health service information from grey and published literature on task‐sharing in menstrual regulation services, plus stakeholder interviews with 19 representatives of relevant health organizations to investigate facilitators for and barriers to the implementation of task‐sharing of these services.ResultsTask‐sharing in menstrual regulation began in 1979 as part of the national family planning program. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has guidelines for menstrual regulation services provided by a wide range of healthcare workers using manual vacuum aspiration and the medications misoprostol and mifepristone. Despite government approval, implementation of task‐sharing is challenging owing to lack of skilled providers, lack of facility readiness, and unmet need for family planning.ConclusionThe government needs to implement effective planning for skills building of nonphysician providers and ensuring facility readiness for provision of menstrual regulation services to reduce unsafe abortion in Bangladesh.

A/C study protocol: a cross-sectional study of HIV epidemiology among African, Caribbean and Black people in Ontario

IntroductionAfrican, Caribbean and Black (ACB) communities are disproportionately infected by HIV in Ontario, Canada. They constitute only 5% of the population of Ontario yet account for 25% of new diagnoses...

Deep Integration of Health Information Service System and Data Mining Analysis Technology

Abstract The scale and complexity of health information service system has increased dramatically, and its development activities and management are difficult to control. In the field of, Traditional methods and simple mathematical statistics methods are difficult to solve the problems caused by the explosive growth of data and information, which will adversely affect health information service system management finally. So, it is particularly important to find valuable information from the source code, design documents and collected software datasets and to guide the development and maintenance of software engineering. Therefore, some experts and scholars want to use mature data mining technologies to study the large amount of data generated in software engineering projects (commonly referred to as software knowledge base), and further explore the potential and valuable information inherently hidden behind the software data. This article initially gives a brief overview of the relevant knowledge of data mining technology and computer software technology, using decision tree graph mining algorithm to mine the function adjustment graph of the software system definition class, and then source code annotations are added to the relevant calling relationships. Data mining technology and computer software technology are deeply integrated, and the decision tree algorithm in data mining is used to mine the knowledge base of computer software. Potential defect changes are listed as key maintenance objects. The historical versions of source code change files with defects are found dynamically and corrected in time, to avoid the increase of maintenance cost in the future.

A Prospective Analysis of Health Information Portals in Four Years.

Objectives: We examined 17 health information portals to determine the status of web-based health information services in the United States (USA), South Korea, the United Kingdom (UK), and Australia. Methods: We analyzed longitudinal trends in 35 items of online health information over four years among representative health information portals (eight based in the USA, seven in South Korea, one in the UK, and one in Australia), focusing on external portal structure, content scope, service characteristic, and service function with four stakeholder groups of six stakeholders. Results: The most notable change was in the service items, and overall, in 44.1% of total items: 17.6% in service characteristic, 41.2% in external portal structure, 58.8% in service function, and 58.8% in content scope change. More specifically, these changes included increases in the “mobile application utility” (service function), “use of personal health records” on public health portals (content scope change), “Charts and videos” (service characteristic), and “renewal date” (external portal structure). Conclusions: This review of existing health portals will be a footnote for enabling health care providers to confirm whether the needs of consumers are reflected on their website with high reliability. Furthermore, these findings will help to enhance the quality of portals by delivering relevant information to stakeholders and to the consumers of online health information.

Leveraging health system telehealth and informatics infrastructure to create a continuum of services for COVID-19 screening, testing, and treatment.

ObjectivesWe describe our approach in using health information technology to provide a continuum of services during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. COVID-19 challenges and needs required health systems to rapidly redesign the delivery of care.Materials and MethodsOur health system deployed 4 COVID-19 telehealth programs and 4 biomedical informatics innovations to screen and care for COVID-19 patients. Using programmatic and electronic health record data, we describe the implementation and initial utilization.ResultsThrough collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and strategic planning, 4 telehealth program initiatives have been deployed in response to COVID-19: virtual urgent care screening, remote patient monitoring for COVID-19–positive patients, continuous virtual monitoring to reduce workforce risk and utilization of personal protective equipment, and the transition of outpatient care to telehealth. Biomedical informatics was integral to our institutional response in supporting clinical care through new and reconfigured technologies. Through linking the telehealth systems and the electronic health record, we have the ability to monitor and track patients through a continuum of COVID-19 services.DiscussionCOVID-19 has facilitated the rapid expansion and utilization of telehealth and health informatics services. We anticipate that patients and providers will view enhanced telehealth services as an essential aspect of the healthcare system. Continuation of telehealth payment models at the federal and private levels will be a key factor in whether this new uptake is sustained.ConclusionsThere are substantial benefits in utilizing telehealth during the COVID-19, including the ability to rapidly scale the number of patients being screened and providing continuity of care.

The effect of pain management group on chronic pain and pain related co-morbidities and symptoms. A stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. A study protocol

IntroductionIn primary care settings, pain-management group therapy is a tool potentially cost-effective but very much underused. MethodsOur purpose here is to provide useful scientific information on the effect of pain-management group participation on chronic pain and pain-related co-morbidities and symptoms, as well as practical information for primary and occupational health services to initiate pain-management group activity.This study will be carried out at primary care Occupational Health Helsinki (Helsinki city employees' occupational health services), with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health as the research partner.This is a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial among both male and female municipal employees aged 18 to 65, all of whom had visited an occupational doctor, nurse, psychologist, or physiotherapist because of any chronic pain unrelated to malignant disease. An additional inclusion criterion is work disability risk being elevated, based on a short screening questionnaire (modified Örebro questionnaire). Each participant and each interviewer will be blinded at randomization. Three groups, 10 subjects in each, begin directly after recruitment with 6 weekly 2-h meetings and a follow-up meeting 6 months later. Three waiting-list groups begin 4 months later. Subjects complete self-administered questionnaires before and after the sixth meetings, also 6 months later. Primary outcomes are pain intensity, current work ability, pain self-efficacy, fear-avoidance beliefs, chronic pain acceptance, depressive symptoms, sleep problems, sickness absence days, and number of occupational health care contacts from OH's medical records. ResultsWe will publish our results in a peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Alpu’da Erişkinlerin Aşı ve Bağışıklama Bilgi, Tutum ve Davranışları ile Sağlık Okuryazarlık Düzeylerinin Değerlendirilmesi

This study aims to evaluate the immunization knowledge sufficiency levels, attitudes and behaviors and health literacy levels of adults living in the district center of Alpu, Eskisehir. The study is a cross-sectional study conducted on individuals aged 18 years and over who live in the district center of Alpu between 16 November and 30 December 2018. The study group consisted of 955 participants who gave their verbal consent. The survey includes questions about the evaluation of immunization knowledge, attitudes and practices and the questions from the European Health Literacy Scale Short Form(HLS-EU-Q16). The statistical significance value was accepted as p≤0.05. 493 participants (51.62%) of the study group were female. Their ages ranged between 18 and 85 years with a mean±SD of 42.66±15.64 years. In the study, it was found that 325 people(34.03%) had insufficient knowledge of immunization. A positive weak correlation was found between the scores obtained from the information questions about immunization and the scores obtained from HLS-EU-Q16(r=0.252;p=0.001). It was found that there was a weak positive correlation between the scores obtained from information questions about immunization and the scores obtained from questions about their attitudes and practices towards immunization services(r=0.333;p=0.001). Being 65 years and older, living in the village having not been vaccinated in the last 10 years and lack of previous information about vaccines, were found to be important risk factors for lack of knowledge level on immunization. In the study, 34.03% of the participants in the group had insufficient knowledge of immunization. Determining the factors that affect the level of knowledge about immunization may be important in terms of sustaining the effectiveness of vaccination applications and campaigns. Health education and information services can be provided to increase the level of immunization knowledge.

Public-Private Partnership in Providing and Promoting Health Services; A critical review

Objective: Public-private partnerships can provide the health systems with the required resources to prevent disease, render effective care services, and promote individual and community health. The purpose of this study was to review application of the public-private partnership model in the delivery and promotion of health services to investigate the scope of this model and its success in health systems. Information sources and selection methods for the study: This critical review was conducted by conducting a search in the databases of ISI, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, ‌SID, and Magiran using a combination of the following keywords: public-private partnership, health promotion, health delivery, health improvement, health service, health care services, and providing health services. No time limit was considered in the research process. A total of 238 articles were extracted and reviewed. Results: Finally, 12 eligible articles were studied, which resulted in 4 main themes: public-private partnerships and prevention, public-private partnerships and infectious-communicable diseases, public-private partnerships and chronic diseases, and public- private partnerships and clinical health services design and information. Conclusion: The public-private partnerships were successful if supported and organized by the government. In most studied articles, the extent of private sector participation and its benefits were not clear. So, clarification of the interactions between these two sectors will increase the confidence of policymakers in public-private partnerships.

The effect of pain management group on chronic pain and pain related co-morbidities and symptoms. A stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. A study protocol

IntroductionIn primary care settings, pain-management group therapy is a tool potentially cost-effective but very much underused. MethodsOur purpose here is to provide useful scientific information on the effect of pain-management group participation on chronic pain and pain-related co-morbidities and symptoms, as well as practical information for primary and occupational health services to initiate pain-management group activity.This study will be carried out at primary care Occupational Health Helsinki (Helsinki city employees' occupational health services), with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health as the research partner.This is a stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial among both male and female municipal employees aged 18 to 65, all of whom had visited an occupational doctor, nurse, psychologist, or physiotherapist because of any chronic pain unrelated to malignant disease. An additional inclusion criterion is work disability risk being elevated, based on a short screening questionnaire (modified Örebro questionnaire). Each participant and each interviewer will be blinded at randomization.Three groups, 10 subjects in each, begin directly after recruitment with 6 weekly 2-h meetings and a follow-up meeting 6 months later. Three waiting-list groups begin 4 months later. Subjects complete self-administered questionnaires before and after the sixth meetings, also 6 months later. Primary outcomes are pain intensity, current work ability, pain self-efficacy, fear-avoidance beliefs, chronic pain acceptance, depressive symptoms, sleep problems, sickness absence days, and number of occupational health care contacts from OH's medical records. ResultsWe will publish our results in a peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Health information seeking among people with multiple chronic conditions: Contextual factors and their associations mined from questions in social media

The health-information-seeking behaviors of people affected by multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) who use social media to obtain information was explored. The contextual factors and latent relationships that shape the unique information-seeking behaviors of this population, focusing on commonly co-occurring chronic conditions: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity were investigated. Using a similarity matrix and co-occurrence network techniques 9,980 Yahoo!Answers questions posted by individuals concerned about MCCs were analyzed. Findings demonstrate the interactive nature of health-information-seeking among people with MCCs. Various interwoven personal and environmental factors reflect efforts of people with MCCs to obtain more personalized information, conveying the specific queries and needs of this population. Findings may help facilitate interactions between people living with MCCs and health care providers, as well as aid providers and health-information resource designers in providing more tailored and accessible resources, expanding upon user-centered approaches to health information service.

Communication that changes lives: an exploratory research on a Chinese online hypertension community

PurposeOnline health communities (OHCs) are attracting more and more healthy consumers, including patients, their families, caregivers and the general public. This paper aims to explore the themes and characteristics of patient-generated content (PGC) in Chinese OHCs.Design/methodology/approachBaidu Tieba for hypertension was selected as the research site. Online ethnography (netnography) approach was utilized to explore the PGC and health communication in the online hypertension community. The final database included 300 randomly sampled threads and their 3,187 reply posts and was further analyzed from three perspectives: health information needs, attitudes and psychological reactions to hypertension and social support exchange.FindingsThe members' health information needs were mainly concentrated on five aspects: causes, symptoms, measuring instrument, tests and diagnosis and treatment. Their attitudes and psychological reactions to hypertension varied with the context, for example, disease stage, health condition. Within the health communication, three types of social support – information support, emotional support and network support – were generated, transmitted and exchanged among members.Practical implicationsOHCs are able to serve as important source of health information and tool for health education. The implications and suggestions for health promotion of individuals, health information services optimization of OHCs and national health strategy plans were also discussed.Originality/valueThis is the first netnography study in information field on Chinese online hypertension community. This study provides a new perspective to explore the needs, attitudes and social support behaviors of Chinese hypertension population and also enables the Chinese experience of using OHCs to reduce health disparities to come to the world.

1237-P: The Type 1 Diabetes Identification Initiative: Improving the Care of Inpatients with Type 1 Diabetes

Background: Specialist care may improve outcomes for inpatients with diabetes. However, research specific to type 1 diabetes (T1D) is lacking. We aimed to investigate whether automatic alerts from the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) enable prompt review of inpatients with T1D by a specialist diabetes team. Methods: The type 1 diabetes identification (“T1DI”) initiative was established to improve identification and review of inpatients with T1D by a specialist diabetes team. A specific T1DI code was entered into the EMR of patients with T1D. On subsequent admission, the specialist diabetes team received an automatic message and generated a list of inpatients requiring review. “T1DI” admissions of more than 1-day were analysed over a 1-year period (1 January-31 December 2018). The control group was T1D admissions as coded by health information services following discharge. Analysis was performed for patients admitted to units other than endocrinology to investigate review outcomes. Data was analysed using Chi2 (categorical), Wilcoxon rank sum (continuous) and random effects logistic or negative binomial regression models. Results: There were 136 admissions of adults with T1D over the study period (T1DI n=67, control n=69). The median age was 49 (IQR 33-64) years; 53% were females. Specialist diabetes team review was more common in the T1DI cohort compared to the control group (endocrinology review AOR 10.27, CI 2.26-46.55, P=0.003; diabetes education review AOR 7.22, CI 2.73-19.10, P<0.001). Prompt endocrinology review (no later than day 2 of admission) was more likely in T1DI inpatients (AOR 2.77, CI 1.15-6.65, P=0.023). Conclusion: The T1DI initiative was associated with improvements in occurrence and timing of specialist diabetes team review for inpatients with T1D. This initiative could be implemented in other hospitals with EMR systems, enabling more effective identification and management of T1D in the inpatient setting. Disclosure R. Loveridge: None. N. Torkamani: None. S.L. Patterson: None. L. Churilov: None. E.I. Ekinci: None.