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Telemedicine is being used in an increasing number of countries as an alternative to face-to-face traditional healthcare, to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19. Although the use and benefits of telemedicine have been increasingly demonstrated for a long time, we do not know much about its adoption and use during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the community is confined by the social distancing restrictions. The main aim of this research is to study the factors affecting the adoption and use of telemedicine in patients during the period of COVID-19 restrictions. We also want to investigate the benefits of telemedicine for patients. We used a qualitative approach in this study. We interviewed six patients who used telemedicine during the COVID-19 restrictions. We find that telemedicine applications offered an overall positive experience for patients as a viable alternative way of medical care when physical attendance was restricted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify risk factors in medication management in Australian residential aged care (RAC) homes. Only 18 out of 3,607 RAC homes failed aged care accreditation standard in medication management between 7th March 2011 and 25th March 2015. Text data mining methods were used to analyse the reasons for failure. This led to the identification of 21 risk indicators for an RAC home to fail in medication management. These indicators were further grouped into ten themes. They are overall medication management, medication assessment, ordering, dispensing, storage, stock and disposal, administration, incident report, monitoring, staff and resident satisfaction. The top three risk factors are: “ineffective monitoring process” (18 homes), “noncompliance with professional standards and guidelines” (15 homes), and “resident dissatisfaction with overall medication management” (10 homes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been limited uptake of electronic health records (EHR) by allied health professionals. Yet, not much attention has been given to their information needs. For EHR to work for these health professionals, it is essential to understand their current practice of information management and their perceptions towards EHR. A qualitative interview study was thus conducted with four managers in four allied health practices in Sydney to understand their perceptions for the adoption and use of a new Australian e-health standards compliant EHR system. We found that these allied health professionals were highly confident with the use of electronic information system and were enthusiastically expecting the introduction of the EHR system to support their information management and practice. A number of issues related to the use of EHR in practice for small, independent allied health practices were also discussed. It appears that allied health professionals today are information technology (IT) savvy and ready to adopt EHR. EHR for allied health practices in Australia are long overdue. The health informatics community can no longer ignore the need and want of allied health professionals for EHR that are tailored and built to support their information and practice management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of data in public health information systems can be ensured by effective data quality assessment. In order to conduct effective data quality assessment, measurable data attributes have to be precisely defined. Then reliable and valid measurement methods for data attributes have to be used to measure each attribute. We conducted a systematic review of data quality assessment methods for public health using major databases and well-known institutional websites. 35 studies were eligible for inclusion in the study. A total of 49 attributes of data quality were identified from the literature. Completeness, accuracy and timeliness were the three most frequently assessed attributes of data quality. Most studies directly examined data values. This is complemented by exploring either data users’ perception or documentation quality. However, there are limitations of current data quality assessment methods: a lack of consensus on attributes measured; inconsistent definition of the data quality attributes; a lack of mixed methods for assessing data quality; and inadequate attention to reliability and validity. Removal of these limitations is an opportunity for further improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of computerized information systems into health care practices may cause changes to the way healthcare workers conduct their routine work activities, such as work flow and the time spend on each activity. To date the available work measurement tools are confined to activities in hospitals and do not cover residential aged care facilities (RACFs). There is little evidence about the effects of technology on caregivers' work practices, including the distribution of time on activities in a RACF. This requires the measurement of caregivers' activities using a valid and reliable measurement tool. The contribution of this research is to develop and test such a tool. The tool was developed based on literature research and validation in two RACFs. The final instrument contains 48 activities that are grouped into seven categories. They include direct care, indirect care, communication, documentation, personal activities, in-transit and others. This measurement tool can be used to measure the changes in caregivers' work activities associated with the introduction of computerized information systems in RACFs, including the efficiency gains of such systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telemedicine is being used in an increasing number of countries as an alternative to face-to-face traditional healthcare, to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19. Although the use and benefits of telemedicine have been increasingly demonstrated for a long time, we do not know much about its adoption and use during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the community is confined by the social distancing restrictions. The main aim of this research is to study the factors affecting the adoption and use of telemedicine in patients during the period of COVID-19 restrictions. We also want to investigate the benefits of telemedicine for patients. We used a qualitative approach in this study. We interviewed six patients who used telemedicine during the COVID-19 restrictions. We find that telemedicine applications offered an overall positive experience for patients as a viable alternative way of medical care when physical attendance was restricted.

This study aimed to identify risk factors in medication management in Australian residential aged care (RAC) homes. Only 18 out of 3,607 RAC homes failed aged care accreditation standard in medication management between 7th March 2011 and 25th March 2015. Text data mining methods were used to analyse the reasons for failure. This led to the identification of 21 risk indicators for an RAC home to fail in medication management. These indicators were further grouped into ten themes. They are overall medication management, medication assessment, ordering, dispensing, storage, stock and disposal, administration, incident report, monitoring, staff and resident satisfaction. The top three risk factors are: "ineffective monitoring process" (18 homes), "noncompliance with professional standards and guidelines" (15 homes), and "resident dissatisfaction with overall medication management" (10 homes).

Thirty-nine electronic English and Chinese articles on data quality assessment of the Chinese AIDS information system were critically reviewed. Some performance assessment related indicators of data quality have improved since the system was launched in 2008. After a thematic analysis of the factors that may affect data quality, four domains were identified. They are data management, data collector, information system, and data collection environment. The findings are useful to guide data quality improvement effort.

Error-laden data can negatively affect clinical and operational decision making, research findings and funding allocation. This study examined the number and types of data errors in an electronic medical record (EMR) system in a Drug and Alcohol service. Specifically, errors in service data were examined. Three months after the implementation of the EMR system, 9,379 errors were identified from ten error reports generated between March 2015 and May 2016. The errors were grouped into four types: mismatched data fields (60.5%), duplicate medical record error (3.2%), date/time error (8.8%) and blank field error (27.4%). The errors can be prevented by adding functions, such as alert messages in the EMR system. How and why the errors occur need to be investigated in future studies.

The quality of data in public health information systems can be ensured by effective data quality assessment. In order to conduct effective data quality assessment, measurable data attributes have to be precisely defined. Then reliable and valid measurement methods for data attributes have to be used to measure each attribute. We conducted a systematic review of data quality assessment methods for public health using major databases and well-known institutional websites. 35 studies were eligible for inclusion in the study. A total of 49 attributes of data quality were identified from the literature. Completeness, accuracy and timeliness were the three most frequently assessed attributes of data quality. Most studies directly examined data values. This is complemented by exploring either data users' perception or documentation quality. However, there are limitations of current data quality assessment methods: a lack of consensus on attributes measured; inconsistent definition of the data quality attributes; a lack of mixed methods for assessing data quality; and inadequate attention to reliability and validity. Removal of these limitations is an opportunity for further improvement.

The introduction of computerized information systems into health care practices may cause changes to the way healthcare workers conduct their routine work activities, such as work flow and the time spend on each activity. To date the available work measurement tools are confined to activities in hospitals and do not cover residential aged care facilities (RACFs). There is little evidence about the effects of technology on caregivers' work practices, including the distribution of time on activities in a RACF. This requires the measurement of caregivers' activities using a valid and reliable measurement tool. The contribution of this research is to develop and test such a tool. The tool was developed based on literature research and validation in two RACFs. The final instrument contains 48 activities that are grouped into seven categories. They include direct care, indirect care, communication, documentation, personal activities, in-transit and others. This measurement tool can be used to measure the changes in caregivers' work activities associated with the introduction of computerized information systems in RACFs, including the efficiency gains of such systems.