Workflow Management Technology Research Articles

Pharmacy practice in hospital settings in GCC countries: Dispensing and administration

PurposeTo outline dispensing and administration practices in hospital pharmacy across the Gulf Cooperation Councils (GCC) countries’ hospitals. Paucity of data in appraising hospital pharmacy practice in GCC regions motivated us to conduct this study. MethodsA modified survey questionnaire was prepared from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacist (ASHP) survey questions. Three major domains of questions for general characteristics of the medication use process for dispensing and administration were identified. These were, (1) medication distribution system, and medication distribution technology, (2) technology used to compound sterile preparations, compounding I.V. medication and method of compounding nutrition support preparations, (3) medication administration practices, medication orders, medication administration records (MARs), and technician activities. A list of hospitals was obtained from the Ministry of Health of the targeted GCC countries. A secure invitation link containing a survey questionnaire was sent to the participants directly. ResultsSixty-four hospitals responded to this survey. The overall response rate was 52%. Most surveyed hospitals have centralized inpatient medications distribution system (75.0%). About 37.5% of hospitals used automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) in their patient care areas. Compounding sterile preparations in the pharmacy, barcode verification technology, workflow management technology, and robotic technology were used by 17.2%, 15.6%, and 4.7% of hospitals, respectively. In using safety technology for medication administration, almost all hospitals have partially or completely implemented an electronic health record (EHR). About 40.6% of hospitals used electronic medication administration records (e-MARs), 20.3% used bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA), and 35.9% used smart infusion pumps. ConclusionThe results of this survey revealed an opportunity to improve the medication use management process on dispensing and administration practices in hospitals in GCC countries.

Privacy-Preserving Behavioral Correctness Verification of Cross-Organizational Workflow With Task Synchronization Patterns

Workflow management technology has become a key means to improve enterprise productivity. More and more workflow systems are crossing organizational boundaries and may involve multiple interacting organizations. This article focuses on a type of loosely coupled workflow architecture with collaborative tasks, i.e., each business partner owns its private business process and is able to operate independently, and all involved organizations need to be synchronized at a certain point to complete certain public tasks. Because of each organization’s privacy consideration, they are unwilling to share the business details with others. In this way, traditional correctness verification approaches via reachability analysis are not practical as a global business process model is unavailable for privacy preservation. To ensure its globally correct execution, this work establishes a correctness verification approach for the cross-organizational workflow with task synchronization patterns. Its core idea is to use local correctness of each suborganizational workflow process to guarantee its global correctness. We prove that the proposed approach can be used to investigate the behavioral property preservation when synthesizing suborganizational workflows via collaborative tasks. A medical diagnosis running case is used to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approaches. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —Cross-organizational workflow verification techniques play an increasingly important role in ensuring the correct execution of collaborative enterprise businesses. This work addresses the issue of correctness verification for loosely coupled interactive workflows with collaborative tasks. To ensure the globally correct execution, a behavioral correctness verification approach is established. All proposed concepts and techniques are supported by open-source tools, and evaluation over a medical diagnosis process case has shown their applicability. The proposed methodology is readily applicable to industrial-size workflow correctness verification problems.

ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings: Dispensing and administration-2020.

DisclaimerIn an effort to expedite the publication of articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, AJHP is posting these manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time.PurposeResults of the 2020 ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings are presented.MethodsPharmacy directors at 1,437 general and children’s medical/surgical hospitals in the United States were surveyed using a mixed-mode method of contact by email and mail. Survey completion was online. IQVIA supplied data on hospital characteristics; the survey sample was drawn from the IMS hospital database.ResultsThe response rate was 18.7%. Almost all hospitals (92.5%) have a method for pharmacists to review medication orders on demand. Most hospitals (74.5%) use automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) as their primary method for drug distribution. A third of hospitals use barcodes to verify doses during dispensing in the pharmacy and to verify ingredients when intravenous medications are compounded. More than 80% scan barcodes when restocking ADCs. Sterile workflow management technology is used in 21.3% of hospitals. Almost three-quarters of hospitals outsource some sterile preparations. Pharmacists can independently prescribe in 21.1% of hospitals. Pharmacist practice in ambulatory clinics in 46.2% of health systems and provide telepharmacy services in 28.4% of health systems.ConclusionPharmacists continue their responsibility in their traditional role in preparation and dispensing of medications. They have successfully employed technology to improve safety and efficiency in performance of these duties and have employed emerging technologies to improve the safety, timeliness, and efficiency of the administration of drugs to patients. As pharmacists continue to expand their role to all aspects of medication use, new opportunities highlighted in ASHP’s Practice Advancement Initiative 2030 have been identified.

Evolution of ATLAS analysis workflows and tools for the HL-LHC era

The High Luminosity LHC project at CERN, which is expected to deliver a ten-fold increase in the luminosity of proton-proton collisions over LHC, will start operation towards the end of this decade and will deliver an unprecedented scientific data volume of multi-exabyte scale. This vast amount of data has to be processed and analysed, and the corresponding computing facilities must ensure fast and reliable data processing for physics analyses by scientific groups distributed all over the world. The present LHC computing model will not be able to provide the required infrastructure growth, even taking into account the expected evolution in hardware technology. To address this challenge, several novel methods of how end-users analysis will be conducted are under evaluation by the ATLAS Collaboration. State-of-the-art workflow management technologies and tools to handle these methods within the existing distributed computing system are now being evaluated and developed. In addition the evolution of computing facilities and how this impacts ATLAS analysis workflows is being closely followed.

The ATLAS Data Carousel Project Status

The High Luminosity upgrade to the LHC, which aims for a tenfold increase in the luminosity of proton-proton collisions at an energy of 14 TeV, is expected to start operation in 2028/29 and will deliver an unprecedented volume of scientific data at the multi-exabyte scale. This amount of data has to be stored, and the corresponding storage system must ensure fast and reliable data delivery for processing by scientific groups distributed all over the world. The present LHC computing and data management model will not be able to provide the required infrastructure growth, even taking into account the expected hardware technology evolution. To address this challenge, the Data Carousel R&amp;D project was launched by the ATLAS experiment in the fall of 2018. State-of-the-art data and workflow management technologies are under active development, and their current status is presented here.

Formal Approach to Workflow Application Fragmentations Over Cloud Deployment Models

Workflow management technologies have been dramatically improving their deployment architectures and systems along with the evolution and proliferation of cloud distributed computing environments. Especially, such cloud computing environments ought to be providing a suitable distributed computing paradigm to deploy very large-scale workflow processes and applications with scalable on-demand services. In this paper, we focus on the distribution paradigm and its deployment formalism for such very large-scale workflow applications being deployed and enacted across the multiple and heterogeneous cloud computing environments. We propose a formal approach to vertically as well as horizontally fragment very large-scale workflow processes and their applications and to deploy the workflow process and application fragments over three types of cloud deployment models and architectures. To concretize the formal approach, we firstly devise a series of operational situations fragmenting into cloud workflow process and application components and deploying onto three different types of cloud deployment models and architectures. These concrete approaches are called the deployment-driven fragmentation mechanism to be applied to such very large-scale workflow process and applications as an implementing component for cloud workflow management systems. Finally, we strongly believe that our approach with the fragmentation formalisms becomes a theoretical basis of designing and implementing very large-scale and maximally distributed workflow processes and applications to be deployed on cloud deployment models and architectural computing environments as well.

Information Technology and Workflow Technology for Enhancement and Strengthening of Companies in Maritime Sector

The relatively recent term of Workflow Management Technology System implies exactly a system related to the main actions on the available information and actions to take, namely the communication of information and coordination of related actions.Workflow Management Systems are capable to manage and use centralized databases and Database Management Systems and they are either stand-alone systems or embedded in ERPs (Enterprise Resource Planning). They are coordinating information and actions and utilization of respective available resources.In relationship with these Workflow Management Systems, three main issues are generally arising: at first the awareness (relevancy) of the information, secondly the control of information and thirdly securing (privacy or vulnerability prevention) of transmitting information.

Design and implementation of a platform for configuring clinical dynamic safety checklist applications

In recent years, it has been demonstrated that checklists can improve patient safety significantly. To facilitate the effective use of checklists in daily practice, both the medical community and the informatics community propose to implement checklists in dynamic checklist applications that can be integrated into the clinical workflow and that is specific to the patient context. However, it is difficult to develop such applications because they are tightly intertwined with the content of specific checklists. We propose a platform that enables access to dynamic checklist applications by configuring the infrastructures provided in the platform. Then, the applications can be developed without time-consuming programming work. We define a number of design criteria regarding point of care and clinical processes by analyzing the existing checklist applications and the lessons learned from implementations. Then, by applying rule-based clinical decision support and workflow management technologies, we design technical mechanisms to satisfy the design criteria. A dynamic checklist application platform is designed based on these mechanisms. Finally, we build a platform in various design cycle iterations, driven by multiple clinical cases. By applying the platform, we develop nine comprehensive dynamic checklist applications with 242 dynamic checklists. The results demonstrate both the feasibility and the overall generic nature of the proposed approach. We propose a novel platform for configuring dynamic checklist applications. This platform satisfies the general requirements and can be easily configured to satisfy different scenarios in which safety checklists are used.

Parenteral product error detection before and after implementation of intravenous workflow management technology.

To assess the difference in pharmacy error detection rates when using a manual process compared to an intravenous workflow management system for the preparation of parenteral medications. Baseline error data were collected by staff using a standard form over a four-day time period before intravenous workflow management system implementation and compared to 48 weeks of electronically collected data following implementation. The chi-square test was used for statistical comparisons. The ability to detect an error during the intravenous preparation process increased immediately following implementation, but this difference was not sustained and was not statistically different when the entire post-implementation time period was compared to the baseline sample. The most prevalent errors at baseline were wrong drug amount (36.4%) and wrong base solution (22.7%). Post-implementation product expiration (26.1%), wrong diluent or base (17.9%), and wrong drug amount (19.2%) were the most prevalent errors. Barcode scanning technology detected 60% of the errors during the post-implementation period. A decrease in error detection over time was observed post-implementation and was attributed to corrections and additions to the intravenous workflow management library and better prospective identification of potential errors by staff as they adjusted to the system. The use of serial imaging enabled pharmacists to detect errors prospectively, which may have previously been undetected using the traditional intravenous preparation process. The implementation of intravenous workflow management technology was unable to detect a statistically significant greater percentage of sterile product preparation errors compared with the baseline time period. Statistical significance was achieved during three of the first four months following implementation ( P < 0.05); however, this statistically significant increase was not maintained when the entire post-implementation sample was included.

Integration and synergy of medical knowledge bases upon workflow management technology

The paper introduced to the integration and synergy of knowledge bases upon workflow management technology.With existing medical knowledge bases as starting point, this method first developed knowledge services for each knowledge base, then orchestrated these services using workflow management technology, and finally achieved coordinated decision support applications.Such support system has found clinical uses in tertiary hospitals in China with proven outcomes. Key words: Clinical decision support system; Workflow management; Knowledge base; Integration; Synergy

Towards a High Reliable Enforcement of Safety Regulations - A Workflow Meta Data Model and Probabilistic Failure Management Approach

Today’s companies are able to automate the enforcement of Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&amp;S) duties through the use of workflow management technology. This approach requires to specify activities that are combined to workflow models for EH&amp;S enforcement duties. In order to meet given safety regulations these activities are to be completed correctly and within given deadlines. Otherwise, activity failures emerge which may lead to breaches against safety regulations. A novel domain-specific workflow meta data model is proposed. The model enables a system to detect and predict activity failures through the use of data about the company, failure statistics, and activity proxies. Since the detection and prediction methods are based on the evaluation of constraints specified on EH&amp;S regulations, a system approach is proposed that builds on the integration of a Workflow Management System (WMS) with an EH&amp;S Compliance Information System. Main principles of the failure detection and prediction are described. For EH&amp;S managers the system shall provide insights into the current failure situation. This can help to prevent and mitigate critical situations such as safety enforcement measures that are behind their deadlines. As a result a more reliable enforcement of safety regulations can be achieved.

Video-based detection of device interaction in the operating room

The establishment of modern workflow management technologies requires the integration of dated devices. The extraction of the essential device data and usage time spans is a central requirement for an integrated OR environment. Therefore, methods are required that extract such information from the output provided by older generation devices, namely video signals. We developed a four-level approach for video-based device information extraction. Usually, video streams contain all relevant patient data and device usage information. We propose an approach consisting of defining regions of interest, grabbing video signals, analyzing the signals and storing the data in a centralized and structured location. The analysis considers textual information and graphical visualization. A prototype of the analysis approach was implemented and applied to a neurosurgical case. An evaluation study was conducted to measure the performance of the approach on video recordings of real interventions. Three medical devices were considered: intraoperative ultrasound, neuro-navigation and microscope. Overall, recognition rates for device usage higher than 95% were obtained. The approach is not limited to a single surgical discipline and does not require modification of medical devices. Furthermore, the analysis of microscopic video streams expands the detectable aspects of the surgical workflow beyond the recognition of device usage.

The effectiveness of workflow management systems: A longitudinal study

Workflow management systems coordinate and allocate work through the various stages of executing business processes. The benefits of such systems appear pervasive, but no hard data is available that confirms that their implementation improves organizational performance. In part, this is due to the difficulty of measuring the effects of enterprise-wide initiatives in general. In this paper, the results are presented of a longitudinal, multi-case study into the effectiveness of workflow management technology. The study builds on a novel methodology that combines field work and computer simulations. Through its application, the contribution of this technology to conduct business processes faster and with less effort could be quantitatively assessed. Surprisingly, only a fraction of the projects that were followed in this longitudinal study led to a fully operational implementation of a workflow management system at all. Even so, in most of the projects where such a system was introduced this resulted in substantial improvements. We present success and fail factors for the implementation of this technology within organizations, which we inferred from a follow-up analysis. The novel methodology presented in this paper is thought to be of value to track the performance effects of introducing other technologies or organization concepts as well.

Rule-based medical device adaptation for the digital operating room.

A workflow-driven cooperative operating room needs to be established in order to successfully unburden the surgeon and the operating room staff very time-consuming information-seeking and configuration tasks. We propose an approach towards the integration of intraoperative surgical workflow management and integration technologies. The concept of rule-based behavior is adapted to situation-aware medical devices. A prototype was implemented and experiments with sixty recorded brain tumor removal procedures were conducted to test the proposed approach. An analysis of the recordings indicated numerous applications, such as automatic display configuration, room light adaptation and pre-configuration of medical devices and systems.

Workflow dynamic change and instance migration approach based on polychromatic sets theory

Dynamic changes refer to the modifications of workflow model in which some running instances are executing. When the dynamic changes occur, how to migrate the running instances from old workflow model to new workflow model is one of current research hotspots of workflow management technology. Based on polychromatic sets theory, this article proposes a new workflow dynamic change and instance migration approach for workflow management system. The frequent workflow dynamic changes are modelled and described formally. The workflow region is defined and its recognition algorithm is presented. The current running region and the dynamic change region are recognised and sorted in compound workflow model. According to the position sorting results, the selection of migration policies is implemented. A case study on order processing in manufacturing enterprise is provided to illustrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the workflow dynamic change and instance migration approach. With a formal mathematical foundation, the proposed approach reduces the problem size of workflow dynamic changes, decreases the computing complexity of workflow regions recognition, and has flexibility to take the different migration policies corresponding to the different workflow running instances dynamically.

The Research and Structure of the Dynamic Workflow Engine

Workflow management technology is an important computer technology in enterprise business process management. At present, there was a few of Workflow Engine which supported BPEL4WS specification. Base on the current research case of workflow, the aim of our study bring a Workflow platform support BPEL4WS Specification.According to the analysis of the web service’s new features and issues, we look into the dynamic workflow based on web services from the angles of service-oriented. We introduce the basic concepts, elements , activity, fault handler and compensate mechanism of BPEL4WS.This paper presents a design schem of framework of a web service-based dynamic workflow engine.

Emergency Healthcare Workflow Modeling and Timeliness Analysis

A health emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health and life and requires urgent intervention to prevent its worsening. Emergency healthcare service is a real-time service, where timeliness is critical to mission success. Workflow management technology has received considerable attention in the healthcare field in recent years for the automation of both intra- and interorganizational healthcare processes. However, no work on timeliness analysis has been reported. In our previous work, we proposed Workflows Intuitive and Formal Approach (WIFA) formalism for emergency response workflow modeling. In this paper, we extend our WIFA formalism to take task execution times into account to support emergency response timeliness analysis. An example of emergency healthcare shows how the timed WIFA workflow model works.

Collaborative Simulation Environment for mechanical system design

Widespread application of product performance analysis in mechanical product design stage demands to efficiently manage simulation flow and engineering data. Therefore, the solution of Collaborative Simulation Environment (CSE) was presented, and its function framework and system architecture were analysed. The key technologies of multi-hierarchy Engineering Data Management (EDM) and simulation flow control were researched. Engineering data can be classified and hierarchically managed through multi-hierarchy EDM technology based on XML. Effective management for simulation flow can be carried out through simulation flow control technology based on workflow management technology. On the basis of the architecture and key technology of CSE solution, flow model platform and web portal of some suspension system CSE were developed, using which the product simulation period can be greatly shortened and the design efficiency can be increased. The results of application show the validity of the method.

A Novel Workflow Management Method Based on Web Services

On the basis of the shortage on traditional workflow management system, a workflow management system framework integrated with Web Services is put forward in this paper. By discussing the application practice on Web Services and workflow management technology in logistics system, which shows that this scheme can perform integration on many enterprises.

Manufacturing Execution System Based on a Production Process Modeling

Configurable MES is a hot attention in today’s industry. In this work, we present a MES model based on a production process modeling method. With the workflow management technology, a configurable MES framework is introduced and some important implementation methods such as production process modeler, activity script language and production process scheduler are presented. A successful application of an automobile engine assembly line shows that this model is useful and effective.