Report Generation System Research Articles

Augmenting the Impact of Technology Adoption With Financial Incentive to Improve Radiology Report Signature Times

Radiology report signature time (ST) can be a substantial component of total report turnaround time. Poor turnaround time resulting from lengthy ST can adversely affect patient care. The combination of technology adoption with financial incentive was evaluated to determine if ST improvement can be augmented and sustained. This prospective study was performed at a 751-bed, urban, tertiary care adult teaching hospital. Test-site imaging volume approximated 48,000 examinations per month. The radiology department has 100 trainees and 124 attending radiologists serving multiple institutions. Over a study period of 4 years and 4 months, three interventions focused on radiologist signature performance were implemented: 1) a notification paging application that alerted radiologists when reports were ready for signature, 2) a picture archiving and communications systems (PACS)-integrated speech recognition report generation system, and 3) a departmental financial incentive to reward radiologists semiannually for ST performance. Signature time was compared before and after the interventions. Wilcoxon and linear regression statistical analyses were used to assess the significance of trends. Technology adoption (paging plus speech recognition) reduced median ST from >5 to <1 hour (P < .001) and 80th-percentile ST from >24 to 15 to 18 hours (P < .001). Subsequent addition of a financial incentive further improved 80th-percentile ST to 4 to 8 hours (P < .001). The gains in median and 80th-percentile ST were sustained over the final 31 months of the study period. Technology interventions coupled with financial incentive can result in synergistic and sustainable improvement in radiologist report-signing behavior. The addition of a financial incentive leads to better performance than that achievable through technology alone.

A method for integrating multiple components in a decision support system

We present a flexible, extensible method for integrating multiple tools into a single large decision support system (DSS) using a forest ecosystem management DSS (NED-2) as an example. In our approach, a rich ontology for the target domain is developed and implemented in the internal data model for the DSS. Semi-autonomous agents control external components and communicate using a blackboard. We illustrate how this multi-agent approach with its blackboard architecture supports the expansion of a DSS (in this case, NED-2) to incorporate new models and decision support tools as they become available. The exemplar NED-2 DSS developed using this method is a goal-driven DSS that integrates a sophisticated inventory system, treatment plan development, growth-and-yield models, wildlife models, fire risk models, knowledge based systems for goal satisfaction analysis, and a powerful report generation system.

Practice impact and patient acceptance of a cardiologist- operated web-based billing, coding, and report generation system

Practice impact and patient acceptance of a cardiologist- operated web-based billing, coding, and report generation system

Intentions in the Coordinated Generation of Graphics and Text from Tabular Data

To use graphics efficiently in an automatic report generation system, one has to model messages and how they go from the writer (intention) to the reader (interpretation). This paper describes PostGraphe, a system which generates a report integrating graphics and text from a set of writer's intentions. The system is given the data in tabular form as might be found in a spreadsheet; also input is a declaration of the types of values in the columns of the table. The user then indicates the intentions to be conveyed in the graphics (e.g., compare two variables or show the evolution of a set of variables) and the system generates a report in LATEX with the appropriate PostScript graphic files. PostGraphe uses the same information to generate the accompanying text that helps the reader to focus on the important points of the graphics. We also describe how these ideas have been embedded to create a new Chart Wizard for Microsoft Excel.

G42 - Computerized echocardiographic report generation and database system facilitates follow up of LVH in hypertensive patients

G42 - Computerized echocardiographic report generation and database system facilitates follow up of LVH in hypertensive patients

Assessing Statewide Drug Prevention and Treatment Resources: The Maryland Data Base on Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment Programs

Abstract The authors present the components and steps followed to create the Maryland Data Base on Alcohol and Drug Prevention and Treatment Programs. This project could serve for other states as a model of cooperation between an academic department of health education and state government. The project includes an extensive computerized data base, a printed directory, a toll free information service, and a report generation system.

A Data Management System for Veterinary Pathology

A computer system for the management of Veterinary Pathology data has been developed as an application of a general purpose Clinical Data Management System (CDMS), which was implemented at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas for a high-reliability multiprocessor TANDEM-16. CDMS manages the data input phase of the Veterinary Pathology system and has numerous features to assist a novice user, such as the presentation of »screens« of data each accompanied by an easily accessed HELP screen, on-line user documentation and computer-assisted instruction material. Retrievals from the Veterinary Pathology system utilize the TANDEM relational retrieval facility ENFORM and the experimental natural language retrieval system, the MEANINGEX-based Semantic Similarity Analyzer. This computer-based storage, retrieval and report generation system is designed to meet the well-defined requirements of the user group with respect to its teaching, research and service commitments. Results of its first year of operation indicate that the Veterinary Pathology data management system is convenient and useful in the environment for which it was designed.