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Objectives: To report about the themes and about experiences with practicums in the management of information systems in health care settings (health information management) for medical informatics students.Methods: We first summarize the topics of the health information management practicums/projects that the authors organized between 1990 and 2003 for the medical informatics programs at Heidelberg/Heilbronn, Germany, UMIT, Austria, as well as for the informatics program at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Experiences and lessons learned, obtained from the faculty that organized the practicums in the past 14 years, are reported.Results: Thirty (of 32) health information management practicums focused on the analysis of health information systems. These took place inside university medical centers. Although the practicums were time-intensive and required intensively tutoring students with regard to health information management and project management, feedback from the students and graduates was mainly positive.Discussion: It is clearly recommended that students specializing in medical informatics need to be confronted with real-world problems of health information systems during their studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We introduce the 3LGM(2) tool, a tool for modeling information systems, and describe the process of modeling parts of the hospital information system of the Leipzig University Hospital (UKL(a)). We modeled the sub information systems of five patient record archiving sections to support the creation of a proposal for governmental financial support for a new document management and archiving system. We explain the steps of identifying the model elements and their relations as well as the analyzing capabilities of the 3LGM(2) tool to answer questions about the information system.Methods: The 3LGM(2) tool was developed on the basis of the meta model 3LGM(2) which is described in detail in [1]. 3LGM(2) defines an ontological basis, divided into three layers and their relationships. In addition to usual meta CASE tools, the 3LGM(2) tool meets certain requirements of information management in hospitals. The model described in this article was created on the base of on-site surveys in five archiving sections of the UKL.Results: A prototype of the 3LGM(2) tool is available and is currently tested in some projects at the UKL and partner institutions. The model presented in this article is a structured documentation about the current state of patient record archiving at the UKL. The analyzing capabilities of the 3LGM(2) tool help to use the model and to answer questions about the information system.Conclusions: The 3LGM(2) tool can be used to model and analyze information systems. The presentation capabilities and the reliability of the prototype have to be improved. The initial modeling effort of an institution is only valuable if the model is maintained regularly and reused in other projects. Reference catalogues and reference models are needed to decrease this effort and to support the creation of comparable models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on "Using Data from Ambient Assisted Living and Smart Homes in Electronic Health Records". Background: Concepts of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) support a long-term health monitoring and further medical and other services for multi-morbid patients with chronic diseases. In Germany many AAL and telemedical applications exist. Synergy effects by common agreements for essential application components and standards are not achieved. Objectives: It is necessary to define a communication architecture which is based on common definitions of communication scenarios, application components and communication standards. Methods: The development of a communication architecture requires different steps. To gain a reference model for the problem area different AAL and telemedicine projects were compared and relevant data elements were generalized. The derived reference model defines standardized communication links. Results: As a result the authors present an approach towards a reference architecture for AAL-communication. The focus of the architecture lays on the communication layer. The necessary application components are identified and a communication based on standards and their extensions is highlighted. Conclusion: The exchange of patient individual events supported by an event classification model, raw and aggregated data from the personal home area over a telemedicine center to health care providers is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present infrared-UV double resonance spectra and quantum chemical calculations of the natural di-peptide H–Trp–Ser–OH. Two conformers are present in the supersonic expansions. They have a compact folded structure with two hydrogen bonds and with the serin residue stacked above the indole ring and an unusual NH(Trp)⋯OC interaction in the lowest energy conformer. Conformational assignments are based on comparison with calculated (B97-D/TZV2P) structures and vibrational frequencies. Inclusion of dispersion in the quantum chemical calculations is mandatory for an accurate description of the conformer energies. We provide comparisons between methods often used in biochemistry and the dispersion-corrected double hybrid functional (B2PLYP-D) as a reference. Only concerted experimental and theoretical studies can unravel the conformational complexity already present in a dipeptide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]