Room Usage Research Articles

On the Design of Group Decision Processes for Electronic Meeting Rooms


 
 
 This paper reports a set of experiments motivated by the observation that the design of group decision processes is crucial to the success of electronic meeting room usage. Decision processes can be designed with more emphasis either on exchanging meanings (discussing issues) or exchanging artefacts (gene rating and structuring topics). Our problem is that, given a particular case to be discussed in an electronic meeting room, we do not know how to design the meeting for best performance. The paper builds a framework for studying this problem based on the n otion of communication mode. The experiments already made confirm that quality of results varies when different communication modes are used and show that meetings that do not exchange meanings result in solutions with inferior quality.
 
 

Economic Impact of an Asthma Education Programme on Medical Care Utilisation

Objective: To determine the economic impact of an asthma education programme. Design and setting: The study was population-based and used claims data to determine changes in the resources used by identified patients with asthma 9 months before (January 1997 to September 1997) and 9 months after (January 1998 to September 1998) the implementation of the asthma education programme. Direct medical costs and frequency of use of services for asthma treatment before and after implementation of the asthma intervention programme were compared to evaluate the impact of the programme on medical treatment costs. Perspective: Third-party payer. Patients: Patients who were diagnosed with asthma at least 12 months prior to the implementation of the intervention were included; all patients were members of a union health and welfare fund, located in the northeastern part of the US. Of the 5527 patients, 2235 were included in the intervention group and 3292 patients served as the control group. Intervention: The asthma education focused on asthma prevention and treatment, recognition and elimination of asthma triggers, and compliance with asthma medications. The programme also included therapy management intervention with physicians, drug product selection and compliance intervention when needed. Main outcome measures and results: The total asthma treatment cost decreased from $US499 to $US415 per patient (a 17% reduction; p = 0.0142) in the intervention group and decreased from $US227 to $US217 in the control group (a 4% decrease; p = 0.6172) [1997 values]. The decrease in the intervention group was significantly greater than that in the control group after controlling for the differences in treatment costs before the intervention (p = 0.0001). The average cost per patient associated with hospitalisation, emergency room visits, physician visits and asthma medications decreased by 13%, 29%, 36% and 18%, respectively, after the intervention in the study group. There was a 9% reduction in the frequency of hospitalisations, a 27% reduction in emergency room usage, a 27% reduction in physician office visits and a 6% reduction in the number of prescriptions per patient for asthma medications after the intervention in the study group. Conclusions: Significant reductions in overall asthma treatment costs were observed after the implementation of the asthma education programme. Therefore, intense patient education and management should be advocated to reduce treatment costs in patients with asthma.

Office-based wire-guided open breast biopsy under local anesthesia is accurate and cost effective

Background: Mammographic abnormalities found to be malignant by stereotactic biopsy still require a wire-guided biopsy (WGB) in most cases. We have previously described a simplified method of WGB that allows the procedure to be done with a minimum of dissection and under local anesthesia in the office setting. We hypothesized that this procedure can be used to produce cost-effective, office-based breast preservation therapy (BPT). Methods: We reviewed our recent experience with this WGB method to determine applicability and accuracy in the office setting. A cost-effectiveness analysis was also performed to determine potential charge reductions when this method is used to avoid operating room (OR) usage for either lumpectomy or lumpectomy plus sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). Results: Of the 164 biopsies reviewed, 114 (70%) were performed in the office setting under local anesthesia and 50 (30%) were performed in the OR. The most common reasons for choosing the OR setting included performance of biopsy during an unrelated procedure requiring the OR (16 cases), patient preference (12), deep lesions (6), and the inability of the patient to cooperate with local anesthesia (5). The complication rates were similar between the two settings (7% for office-based and 4% for OR; P = 0.697), and in neither setting were any lesions missed. A cost-effectiveness analysis using our Current Procedure Terminology (CPT)-based charges revealed a potential per-case charge reduction of $4,632 for office-based lumpectomy and $4306 for office-based lumpectomy/SLNB, using our method of WGB and local anesthesia, compared with the OR setting. Conclusions: Office-based WGB using our previously described method is accurate and can be applied to at least 70% of patients. Based on the favorable results of our cost analysis and rising support for SLNB, we anticipate increased utilization of the clinic setting and local anesthesia for BPT in the future.

Alcohol and casualties: comparison of county-wide emergency room data with the county general population

A representative sample of patients in hospital emergency rooms (ERs) in a Northern California county (n = 3731) were compared with a household probability sample of those living in the same county (n = 2101). The injured in the ER sample were more likely to be black and under 30 than those in the general population sample who reported an injury during the last year which was treated in the ER. ER injured were more likely to be abstainers than injured in the general population and among drinkers, thy were also more likely to report social consequences of drinking, but were no more likely to report experiences associated with alcohol dependence. Similar differences were found between the injured and the non-injured in the two samples, with the injured more likely to be male, younger, never married and to report heavy drinking, drunkenness, social consequences of drinking and alcohol dependence experiences. The data suggest that associations of alcohol and injury found in representative samples of the ER population may be generalizable to the injured in the general population from which these patients come, with differences which do exist most likely attributable to characteristics associated with emergency room usage

Costs of anesthesia.

he practice of anesthesia faces many of the conflicting demands for better technology, lower T costs, improved outcome, and tighter control found in our current health care environment. The providers of anesthesia must make decisions amid demands from surgical patients, hospitals, purveyors of technology, and nonpatient payers. These anesthesia providers, in addition to being expensive themselves, order preoperative tests, control operating and recovery room usage, and consume large amounts of hospital supplies and services. Expenditures controlled by anesthesia providers represent 3-5% of the total health care costs of the United States. (Anesthesia provider charges approximate $9 billion per year. Roizen estimates $11.7 billion for preoperative tests [personal communication]. Anesthesia supply and facility charges are unknown. Total health care costs are approximately $800 billion [ll.) The market for surgery and anesthesia does not follow conventional supply/ demand and cost/quality equilibrium laws (2). This is known as market failure, a situation that calls for special strategies for controlling costs and assessing tradeoffs. Investigating and understanding these strategies in the anesthesia market may produce strategies for other health care markets, such as intensive care medicine, which operate under similar conditions of market failure and consume large amounts of health care dollars (3). Anesthesiology is a facility-based service integral to quality health care, without which most surgery and much intensive care would not be possible (4). Approximately 26 million surgical procedures are performed in the United States each year. The contribution to, and control of, large dollar expenditures in this market by anesthesia providers, as well as insurance companies and other payer groups, requires their inclusion in studies of delivering and paying for quality health care. Analyzing the costs and cost determinants, as well as the risks, benefits, and effectiveness of

Spatial organization of activities of japanese families

The present study examines room usage in Japanese houses. Questionnaires on the physical structure of the house and mode of living were given to Japanese college students. The results indicated that the space within a house behaviorally consisted of three spaces; family, entertaining and private spaces. Family and entertaining spaces overlapped in many cases, while private space was independent of them. This suggested personalization of space in modern Japanese houses. In smaller sized houses, entertaining was excluded from the house. This could be regarded as a solution of spatial conflicts that are intensified by space limitations. Personalization of space was found for children's activity but not for parents'.

Video as an enabling technology for computer-supported cooperative work

Research at the Center for Machine Intelligence (CMI) focuses on computer-based methods for supporting cooperative work between members of large organizations. To this end, we are exploring how video technology can be used as a multi-purpose tool, not only to study the collaborative work that occurs in our electronic meeting room, the Capture Lab, but also to support the activities of the room's users. We first briefly describe the Capture Lab and the facilities available for recording activities that occur in the room. We then discuss how these facilities can be used to create an "audit trail" for crucial decisions made in meetings. The next section describes ways to use videotape in conjunction with a tool for coding interpersonal behavior to provide a group with feedback about its interaction. Finally, we illustrate how video is a critical tool in assessing the effectiveness and impact of new technologies, such as the Capture Lab, for group work.

Use of a Quiet Room on an Inpatient Unit

Abstract Removal to a quiet room is a commonly used behavioral technique to reduce aggressive and disruptive behaviors and decrease sensory stimuli in the management of children on inpatient psychiatric units. The use of the quiet room by nursing staff was systematically examined in a series of psychiatrically disturbed preadolescent children on an inpatient unit. The results indicate that the frequency and time spent in the quiet room decrease significantly over time during hospitalization and that the majority of the episodes involve voluntary self-seclusion. Furthermore, in the majority of the episodes the patients were quiet, and in half of the episodes they were able to explain the reason for quiet room usage. Results suggest that the quiet room may be a useful, therapeutic management tool that enhances self-control in children with serious psychiatric disturbances.

Neighborhood health centers: a decade of experience.

The first neighborhood health center was funded in 1965 by the Office of Economic Opportunity. Now, 12 years later, 127 federally funded centers are serving over a million people. The centers have offered a high quality of service, delivered comprehensive care that includes preventive services and health supervision, developed a workable team approach in such care, and shown that this can be done at reasonable cost. Evaluative studies made on center effectiveness in disease prevention, in reduction of hospitalization and emergency room usage, and in improving the quality of care show that the centers compare favorably with other methods of providing similar care. Problems of financing are discussed, as well as possible directions for the future.

Effect of Rochester neighborhood health center on hospital dental emergencies.

The alarming increase in hospital emergency room (ER) usage, especially by inner city populations, is an important indicator of the current health care crisis. If neighborhood health centers (HC) are effective in reaching their target population, they should have sufficient impact to stop or reverse this trend. This study tried to measure the impact of the dental HC services on ER usage for dental emergencies. The ER logs of the main hospitals were studied covering a four-year period. The patient's address was coded by census tract to compare ER usage from various areas, especially the HC target area and a second poverty district as comparison area. Dental ER usage from all areas continued to grow with the largest increase occurring from 1969 to 1970. Revised hypotheses were tested in two follow-up studies, one using personal interviews of ER patients and the other using Medicaid payment files. A change in Medicaid payment regulations (20% fee cut) in 1969 had led many dentists to withdraw from the program, but some in the second poverty district had responded by expanding their services to the poor. The HC had an impact, but this was clouded by other powerful changes in the dental health care system for the poor.

An Interactive Computer Model of University Room Usage

An interactive computer model of room usage in a university was designed and constructed in order to study limitations imposed on student numbers by existing accommodation, to allocate rooms efficiently to classes and to plan new buildings.

Hereditary spastic paraplegia with amyotrophy and pes cavus.

<h3>Purpose</h3> Healthy Steps embeds a developmental specialist in medical primary care offices, offering information, screening, and a helping relationship for families with children aged 0 to 3 years. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Healthy Steps on early parenting outcomes in a clinic population. <h3>Methods</h3> Healthy Steps participants surveyed during well-child office visits around child9s age of 2 months. Identical survey administered during well-child office visit to comparison group of infants not enrolled in Healthy Steps, but seen in the same pediatric clinic. Survey was orally administered in either Spanish or English, and assessed demographic information in addition to outcome variables. Outcomes included parent report of safety practices, feeding practices, practices that promote development, and Emergency Room usage. <h3>Results</h3> Healthy Steps participants (n=40) and comparison infants (n=25), all less than 4 months old, were largely Latino with low levels of income, education, and marriage. Healthy Steps participants were significantly more likely to be first-born babies and to have foreign-born mothers. There was a trend toward more babies being put to sleep on their backs and less exposure to cigarette smoke in the Healthy Steps group. Healthy Steps babies were more likely to have initiated breastfeeding, and among those who had ceased breastfeeding, it had lasted an average of one week longer in the Healthy Steps group. However, they were no more likely to be breastfeeding by the time of the survey. Healthy Steps infants were less likely to have already received water, juice, and cereal. Those who had received cereal did so an average of 7 weeks later in the Healthy Steps group. There were no differences in the frequency of reading to, talking to, or cuddling baby; very high percentages in both groups did these things very frequently. Healthy Steps infants were far less likely to have been to a hospital emergency department. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The Healthy Steps program appears to have modest effects on some indicators of infant well-being. Small changes early in life have great potential to improve lives of those most in need.