Search

Quality assurance (QA) is an important process in ensuring that systematic reviews and other evidence syntheses are supported by a high‐quality search. This paper describes how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK established a development pathway to ensure its information specialists had the skills, knowledge and confidence to undertake search QA. The key component of the pathway is that it blends technical knowledge with interpersonal skills. The pathway develops technical skills in the early steps before using peer support activities to build confidence while undertaking a range of searches. QA is effective when the search lead communicates the contextual information that has influenced search development. QA is treated as a collaboration to get the right search for the review. The key requirements for search QA, alongside technical knowledge, are communication, collaboration and negotiation skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To learn more about information needs and satisfaction with provided information among cancer patients and whether dissatisfaction with information has any association with how therapy decisions are made. An online survey was conducted during March 2015 and January 2016 by the German non-profit patient organization "Das Lebenshaus e.V." among their members with rare solid tumors. A total of 338 records was analyzed. The majority found information on their disease important and was satisfied with the provided information. The participants were less satisfied with the information concerning management of side effects than with other aspects of information (p < .001). Support groups, lectures, and the oncologist were rated as the most helpful sources of information followed by a second opinion and media. Participants who were dissatisfied with the information more often made the decision on the treatment alone by themselves (p < .001). Our results show a high satisfaction with disease-related information among our study participants. Improvements could be made by offering more information on the management of side effects and by giving more information about support groups, reliable websites, and other helpful media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: 70% of Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) in Singapore occur in residential areas, and are associated with poorer outcomes. We hypothesized that an interventional bundle consisting of Save-A-life (SAL) initiative (cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)/automated external defibrillator (AED) training and public-housing AED installation), dispatcher-assisted CPR (DA-CPR) program and myResponder (mobile application) will improve OHCA survival.Methods: This is pilot data from initial implementation of a stepped-wedge, before-after, real-world interventional bundle in six selected regions. Under the SAL initiative, 30,000 individuals were CPR/AED trained, with 360 AEDs installed. Data was obtained from Singapore's national OHCA Registry. We included all adult patients who experienced OHCA in Singapore from 2011 to 2016 within study regions, excluding EMS-witnessed cases and cases due to trauma/drowning/ electrocution. Cases occurring before and after intervention were allocated as control and intervention groups respectively. Survival was assessed via multivariable logistic regression.Results: 1241 patients were included for analysis (Intervention: 361; Control: 880). The intervention group had higher mean age (70 vs 67 years), survival (3.3% [12/361] vs. 2.2% [19/880]), pre-hospital return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (9.1% [33/361] vs 5.1% [45/880]), bystander CPR (63.7% [230/361] vs 44.8% [394/880]) and bystander AED application (2.8% [10/361] vs 1.1% [10/880]). After adjusting for age, gender, race and significant covariates, the intervention was associated with increased odds ratio (OR) for survival (OR 2.39 [1.02-5.62]), pre-hospital ROSC (OR 1.94 [1.15-3.25]) and bystander CPR (OR 2.29 [1.77-2.96]).Conclusion: The OHCA interventional bundle (SAL initiative, DA-CPR, myResponder) significantly improved survival and is being scaled up as a national program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a highly important complement to modern medicine and is widely practiced in China and in many other countries. The work of Chinese medicine is subject to the two factors of the inheritance and development of clinical experience of famous Chinese medicine practitioners and the difficulty in improving the service capacity of basic Chinese medicine practitioners. Heterogeneous information networks (HINs) are a kind of graphical model for integrating and modeling real-world information. Through HINs, we can integrate and model the large-scale heterogeneous TCM data into structured graph data and use this as a basis for analysis.Methods: Mining categorizations from TCM data is an important task for precision medicine. In this paper, we propose a novel structured learning model to solve the problem of formula regularity, a pivotal task in prescription optimization. We integrate clustering with ranking in a heterogeneous information network.Results: The results from experiments on the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China (ChP) demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed model for discovering useful categorizations of formulas.Conclusions: We use heterogeneous information networks to model TCM data and propose a TCM-HIN. Combining the heterogeneous graph with the probability graph, we proposed the TCM-Clus algorithm, which combines clustering with ranking and classifies traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions. The results of the categorizations can help Chinese medicine practitioners to make clinical decision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to increase access to medical services, expanding coverage has long been the preferred solution of policy makers and advocates alike. The calculus appeared straightforward: provide individuals with insurance, and they will be able to see a provider when needed. However, this line of thinking overlooks a crucial intermediary step: provider networks. As provider networks offered by health insurers link available medical services to insurance coverage, their breadth mediates access to health care. Yet the regulation of provider networks is technically, logistically, and normatively complex. What does network regulation currently look like and what should it look like in the future? We take inventory of the ways private and public entities regulate provider networks. Variation across insurance programs and products is truly remarkable, not grounded in empirical justification, and at times inherently absurd. We argue that regulators should be pragmatic and focus on plausible policy levers. These include assuring network accuracy, transparency for consumers, and consumer protections from grievous inadequacies. Ultimately, government regulation provides an important foundation for ensuring minimum levels of access and providing consumers with meaningful information. Yet, information is only truly empowering if consumers can exercise at least some choice in balancing costs, access, and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social media platforms have become an important lifestyle aspect. Therefore, we implemented communication via social media platforms to recruit new donors and to motivate repeat donors. Here, we report a survey among donors of our blood donation facility to evaluate the impact of different strategies for donor motivation from the donors' perspective.Study Design and Methods: During 8 consecutive weeks, all whole blood donors were asked to participate. The survey consisted of a questionnaire including the demographic items sex, age, number of prior donations, and 14 potential motivators for blood donation. Social media included the items "Facebook" and "Jodel" (German local mobile application).Results: Of 3320 consecutive donors, 2920 (88%) participated in the survey. Social media motivated 7.4% of our donors, among them mainly young and female donors. For first-time donors (FTDs; n = 157) the three strongest motivational factors were friends and/or relatives (73%), social media (15%), and "I do not need additional motivation" (11%). Repeat donors (n = 2693) most often stated that they do not need additional motivation (72%) and only 7% were motivated by social media.Conclusion: Social media have become the second most important motivator to recruit FTDs beside relatives and friends who are by far the main motivators for FTDs. For repeat donors, social media play a less important role. Social media are becoming increasingly important for transfusion services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past two decades, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has supported the involvement of patient advocates in both internal advisory activities and funded research projects to provide a patient perspective. Implementation of the inclusion of patient advocates has varied considerably, with inconsistent involvement of patient advocates in key phases of research such as concept development. Despite this, there is agreement that patient advocates have improved the patient focus of many cancer research studies. This commentary describes our experience designing and pilot testing a new framework for patient engagement at SWOG, one of the largest cancer clinical trial network groups in the United States and one of the four adult groups in the NCI's National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN). Our goal is to provide a roadmap for other clinical trial groups that are interested in bringing the patient voice more directly into clinical trial conception and development. We developed a structured process to engage patient advocates more effectively in the development of cancer clinical trials and piloted the process in four SWOG research committees, including implementation of a new Patient Advocate Executive Review Form that systematically captures patient advocates' input at the concept stage. Based on the positive feedback to our approach, we are now developing training and evaluation metrics to support meaningful and consistent patient engagement across the SWOG clinical trial life cycle. Ultimately, the benefits of more patient-centered cancer trials will be measured in the usefulness, relevance, and speed of study results to patients, caregivers, and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the emergence of the Internet, the volume of cyberattacks has been progressively growing and, therefore, adequate security of information has a crucial role in IT systems. Organisations face complex decisions regarding the selection of security controls that allow protecting their information assets. The implementation of these controls should ensure an adequate level of protection. However, their selection requires knowledge about the vulnerabilities and threats existing in the organisation, and the investment in security must comply with economic constraints. This work proposes a framework to support an organisation to identify security vulnerabilities and optimise a portfolio of security controls to mitigate them. Those security controls may be of a mixed nature, such as hardware controls, software controls, policies, procedures and training actions. The framework is established using the standards ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and ISO/IEC 27002:2013 to support the identification of vulnerabilities/threats and the choice of controls that can mitigate them. Once the existing vulnerabilities/threats are identified, one has to select the subset of controls to implement, assuring an adequate mitigation at the lowest cost. An integer programming model is used to address this optimisation problem within the framework, which has been implemented as a prototype decision support tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Wraparound services (i.e., community-based collaborative care) for children with severe mental health needs have been reported as effective. Yet, no attention has been given to aggregating treatment results across racially and economically diverse groups of youth. While controlling for socioeconomic status (i.e., free/reduced lunch status) this study explored potential racial disparities in response to wraparound services.Method: Data from a diverse statewide sample (N = 1,006) of low-income youth (ages 6-18 years) identified as having a serious emotional disturbance were analyzed for differences in wraparound attrition, fidelity, and effectiveness.Results: African American youth receiving free/reduced lunch failed to complete wraparound services at significantly higher rates when compared to Caucasian youth. For those who met treatment goals (i.e., completed services), mean intervention fidelity scores showed services to be implemented similarly across youth. Furthermore, wraparound services resulted in improvements in mental health functioning, though racial background and attrition status impacted exit scores.Discussion: Collaborative community-based mental health services improve youth outcomes and physicians and school personnel should strive to be part of these teams. Further research is needed to more closely examine the challenges of helping youth to meet the goals associated with their wraparound services. Relatively higher service attrition rates in low-income African American youth warrants further investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Search filters aid clinicians and academics to accurately locate literature. Despite this, there is no search filter or Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) term pertaining to paramedics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create two filters to meet to different needs of paramedic clinicians and academics.Methods: We created a gold standard from a reference set, which we measured against single terms and search filters. The words and phrases used stemmed from selective exclusion of terms from the previously published Prehospital Search Filter 2.0 as well as a Delphi session with an expert panel of paramedic researchers. Independent authors deemed articles paramedic-relevant or not following an agreed definition. We measured sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and number needed to read (NNR).Results: We located 2102 articles of which 431 (20.5%) related to paramedics. The performance of single terms was on average of high specificity (97.1% (Standard Deviation 7.4%), but of poor sensitivity (12.0%, SD 18.7%). The NNR ranged from 1 to 8.6. The sensitivity-maximising search filter yielded 98.4% sensitivity, with a specificity of 74.3% and a NNR of 2. The specificity-maximising filter achieved 88.3% in specificity, which only lowered the sensitivity to 94.7%, and thus a NNR of 1.48.Conclusions: We have created the first two paramedic specific search filters, one optimised for sensitivity and one optimised for specificity. The sensitivity-maximising search filter yielded 98.4% sensitivity, and a NNR of 2. The specificity-maximising filter achieved 88.3% in specificity, which only lowered the sensitivity to 94.7%, and a NNR of 1.48. A paramedic MeSH term is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Previous studies from western countries demonstrated the effectiveness of Teratology Information Service (TIS) counselling in reducing the teratogenic risk perception of pregnant women. Objective To assess whether TIS counselling would be effective in reducing the teratogenic risk perception of the Turkish pregnant women. Setting A TIS (Terafar) operating in a university hospital in Turkey. Methods A cross-sectional survey study. Pregnant women with non-teratogenic medication exposures were asked to assign scores on visual analogue scales (VAS) in response to the questions aiming to measure their teratogenic risk perception. The mean score before and after counselling were compared and the associations with maternal socio-demographic characteristics were analysed using SPSS (Version 20.0). Main outcome measures The differences in the mean scores of the perception regarding the baseline risk of pregnancy, own teratogenic risk and the likelihood of termination of pregnancy before and after counselling and their possible associations with maternal socio-demographic characteristics. Results 102 pregnant women participated in the study. The counselling significantly reduced the mean own teratogenic risk perception score and the mean score for the likelihood of termination of pregnancy whereas the mean baseline risk perception score was not significantly changed. Pregnancy week <8 and the exposed number of active ingredients <3 were significantly associated with the difference in the mean score for the likelihood of termination of pregnancy. Conclusions TIS counselling lowers the teratogenic risk perception of Turkish pregnant women and increases their likelihood to continue the pregnancy as it does in the western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on aspects of international serials and electronic resource management. Updates are offered on the awards granted by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the publication of "Output of the NISO Alternative Assessment Project" by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO)," the Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) program, and the 2017 ALPSP conference in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Objective: Cancer incidence and mortality are increasing in Africa, which is leading to greater demands for palliative care. There has been little progress in terms of research, pain management, and policies related to palliative care. Palliative care in Africa is scarce and scattered, with most African nations lacking the basic services. To address these needs, a guiding framework that identifies care needs and directs palliative care services could be utilized. Therefore, using the supportive care framework developed by Fitch (Fitch, 2009), we here review the literature on palliative care for patients diagnosed with cancer in Africa and make recommendations for improvement.Method: The PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Medline databases were searched. Some 25 English articles on research from African countries published between 2004 and 2014 were selected and reviewed. The reviewed literature was analyzed and presented using the domains of the supportive care framework.Results: Palliative care patients with cancer in Africa, their families, and caregivers experience increasing psychological, physical, social, spiritual, emotional, informational, and practical needs. Care needs are often inadequately addressed because of a lack of awareness as well as deficient and scattered palliative care services and resources. In addition, there is sparse research, education, and policies that address the dire situation in palliative care.Significance Of Results: Our review findings add to the existing body of knowledge demonstrating that palliative care patients with cancer in Africa experience disturbing care needs in all domains of the supportive care framework. To better assess and address these needs, holistic palliative care that is multidomain and multi-professional could be utilized. This approach needs to be individualized and to offer better access to services and information. In addition, research, education, and policies around palliative care for cancer patients in Africa could be more comprehensive if they were based on the domains of the supportive care framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores on the regulations for the administration of Internet e-mail services business in China. Topics discussed include the lawful rights of Internet e-mail service users, the public security for the transmission of Internet e-mail services and the legal procedures for filing of records for noncommercial Internet information services.

The article explores on the regulations for the management of Internet protocol (IP) address records in China. Topics discussed include the security of the Internet information resources, the management of the IP addresses information and the use of the national Internet address database which filed electronically in the Web sites.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the provisional regulations for the management of Internet sites, the dissemination of audiovisual programs through Internet and the Internet information services records.

The article explores on the regulations for the administration of protection for Internet copyrights in China. Topics discussed include the right of transmission on information networks, the engagement of the telecommunications administrative authorities with information industry and the administrative legal liability for the restoration of information.

The article explores on the provisions for personal information security in the telecommunication industry in China. Topics discussed include the administration of Internet information services, the collection of information in providing telecommunications business services and the importance of consumer protection in the telecommunications and Internet industries.

The article explores on the interim measures for the management of digital paid channel business by the radio and television industry in China. Topics discussed include the legitimate rights of the operating entities of radio and television cable digital paid channel business, the engagement of cable networks in the business of paid channel signal transmissions and the supervision of paid channels business.

The article explores on the interim regulations in the management of Internet drug information services business in China. Topics discussed include the supervision of the Internet drug information services, the commercial and noncommercial drug information services and the conduct of commercial-type Internet drug information services.

The article explores on the regulations for the market order of Internet information services business in China. Topics discussed include the healthy development of the Internet industry, the legitimate rights of the Internet service providers and the services or products of Internet information service providers.

The article explores on the interim regulations for the administration of Internet information services in China. Topics discussed include the healthy and orderly development of Internet culture, the dissemination of information services through Internet and the importance of Internet security to promote consumer protection.

The article explores on the regulations in the administration of Internet news information services in China. Topics discussed include the legitimate rights of Internet news information service entities, the provision of electronic bulletin services and the engagement of Internet news information services with the Internet news information service entities.

The article explores on the measures for the management of noncommercial Internet information services records in China. Topics discussed include the healthy development of the Internet information services business, the performance of recording procedures and the engagement of the noncommercial Internet information services with the local provincial communications authorities.

Objective: To create a quick information evaluation tool (QIET) for judging the quality of online vaccination information sources.Setting: This information is intended to be used in a retail or a community pharmacy setting where immunizations are provided.Practice: The tool created can be used by immunization providers and patients to evaluate online sources of vaccination information.Description: The tool is the result of a consensus from surveyed websites that provide ways to evaluate the reliability of online information. These websites were highlighted as reliable resources in the American Pharmacists Association's (APhA) Immunization Handbook.Practice Innovation: Several websites provide ways to evaluate the reliability of online vaccine information; however, none were found that provided a consensus from several websites and examples of how to evaluate online information. This tool provides that consensus.Interventions: This tool provides a way to judge the merits of online immunization information using a single set of useful criteria in place of various criteria listed in many different sources.Evaluation: This tool will be successful if immunization providers and patients can use it to choose reliable sources of online vaccination information.Results: Using the QIET, several non-APhA sources are evaluated.Conclusion: The QIET is a potential resource that can be used by future studies to evaluate the reliability of online vaccine information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This systematic review synthesizes what is known about the effective presentation of health care performance information for consumer decision making.Methods: Six databases were searched for articles published in English between September 2003 and April 2014. Experimental studies comparing consumers' responses to performance information when one or more presentation feature was altered were included. A thematic analysis was performed and practical guidelines derived.Results: All 31 articles retained, the majority which tested responses to various presentations of health care cost and/or quality information, found that consumers better understand and make more informed choices when the information display is less complex. Simplification can be achieved by reducing the quantity of choices, displaying results in a positive direction, using non-technical language and evaluative elements, and situating results in common contexts.Conclusion: While findings do not offer a prescriptive design, this synthesis informs approaches to enhancing the presentation of health care performance information and areas that merit additional research.Practice Implications: Guidelines derived from these results can be used to enhance health care performance reports for consumer decision making including using recognizable, evaluative graphics and customizable formats, limiting the amount of information presented, and testing presentation formats prior to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the point of view of the development of libraries, technology has made possible the emergence and development of library automation; digital libraries; mobile libraries; and smart libraries. This article briefly describes the impact of technological developments and application in Health Science Libraries in China in relation to collections development, service provision and the role of library associations., (© 2023 Health Libraries Group.)

Defined is the list of meteorological parameters and weather phenomena for providing the safety of operations of preparation and launch of space rockets at the Vostochnyi cosmodrome. Assessed is the potential of modern prognostic systems for meeting the requirements to the quality of meteorological information. Carried out are original studies on the development of the technology of special weather forecasts in the cosmodrome area including the integration of prognostic products of leading operational forecasting centers and the results of meteorological, aerological, satellite, and lightning- detection observations which were carried out at the technical and launching sites of the cosmodrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Science & Studies of Accounting & Finance: Problems & Perspectives / Apskaitos ir Finansu Mokslas ir Studijos: Problemos ir Perspectyvos is the property of Vytautas Magnus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents information quality standards and considers their use as basic indicators for the development of ethically responsible and socially participative journalism. The author discusses the confusion between information and opinion, the balance between contrasting news sources and journalistic work and the lack of preciseness. He also considers Ecuadorian and international press situations in which the absence of such standards present the risk of news manipulation including the 2012 Venezuelan elections, the 2011 Popular Referendum on mass media in Ecuador and the media reporting on the 2013 bombing at the 2013 Boston marathon (in Boston, Massachusetts).

The binarization is applied in the first stage of segmentation process and has a very strong impact on the performances of the system of the automatic sorting of company documents and mail. We present in the beginning of this paper a complete study of the different existing binarization mechanisms that are developed to meet the needs of specific applications. These conventional approaches, present weaknesses that it is crucial to overcome and unfortunately they remain unsuitable for our real time application. The separation between the thresholding and the text zones location stages considerably increase the computation time and lead to an over-segmentation of the noise and of the paper texture on empty zones of the image. Indeed, none of the traditional methods (whether global or local) efficiently meets all the required conditions. We have managed to optimize this stage by applying a local threshold only near the text zones that can be located by the cumulated gradients method with the multi-resolution and mathematical morphology. We demonstrate the consistent performance of the proposed method on several types of business documents and mail with wide-ranging content and image quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) techniques are considered relevant building blocks for the Internet of Things. The interoperability across different RFID software and hardware infrastructures is a key requirement for achieving effective and wide-scale Internet of Thing deployments. In this context, the EPC Information Service (EPCIS) is a set of standard specifications for sharing RFID-related data (i.e., EPC events) both within and across enterprises. Although the EPCIS specifies a set of HTTP and Web Service interfaces for querying and adding EPC events, interoperability and easiness of use is hindered by the fact that client applications should be aware of the repositories that are authoritative for one or more given queries and links among related events are not explicitly represented in response messages. In this paper we argue that, by leveraging emerging REST and Linked Data paradigms, EPC events can be handled as a graph of globally-addressable information resources that can be navigated, queried, and aggregated through a uniform interface and seamlessly across organization domains. To validate this approach, we have developed a prototype that exposes the EPCIS interfaces as a set of REST APIs. The prototype implementation exploits the information modeling and management capabilities provided by a framework, called InterDataNet (IDN), that we conceived and developed to ease the realization of the Web of Data and Linked Data applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nothing can function well without standards and best practices, including the information world. The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) works with the information community to develop standards and best practices to improve interoperability and workflow efficiency in a wide range of areas from metadata transfer to information retrieval. To ensure a community consensus, NISO brings every interested party into the process of developing standards and best practices through working groups. Current work and updates from two NISO-sponsored working groups, Open Discovery Initiative and Presentation and Identification of E-Journals, were covered in this presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. We examined how National Cancer Institute-funded Community Network Programs (CNPs) operationalized principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Methods. We reviewed the literature and extant CBPR measurement tools. On the basis of that review, we developed a 27-item questionnaire for CNPs to self-assess their operationalization of 9 CBPR principles. Our team comprised representatives of 9 of the National Cancer Institute's 25 CNPs. Results. Of the 25 CNPs, 22 (88%) completed the questionnaire. Most scored well on CBPR principles of recognizing community as a unit of identity, building on community strengths, facilitating colearning, embracing iterative processes in developing community capacity, and achieving a balance between data generation and intervention. CNPs varied in the extent to which they employed CBPR principles of addressing determinants of health, sharing power among partners, engaging the community in research dissemination, and striving for sustainability. Conclusions. Although the development of assessment tools in this field is in its infancy, our findings suggest that fidelity to CBPR processes can be assessed in a variety of settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of college and university archivists revealed that their roles and responsibilities are broad and diverse. Archival responsibilities have expanded across the board. For the purposes of this study, survey respondents were divided into two groups: archivists with and archivists without library responsibilities. Archivists with library responsibilities, or dual archivist/librarians, commented on a range of responsibilities that they find both beneficial and challenging. These dual archivist/librarians' roles and responsibilities are the focus of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Improving OpenURLs Through Analytics (IOTA) initiative was formed by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO) in 2010 to continue a Mellon-funded project on OpenURL quality begun at Cornell University. IOTA's objective is to develop a scoring system for measuring the quality of OpenURL links generated by content providers at the citation level. OpenURLs have a history of failing to resolve correctly, but no method has been devised to benchmark them even a decade after the introduction of the underlying standard. The proposed system would generate scores based on specific evaluation metrics and thus rate providers' OpenURL quality. The system's analytical approach would also enable OpenURL providers to pinpoint linking problems and thus optimize OpenURL improvements. A public OpenURL analysis tool, which relies on link data contributed by OpenURL providers and libraries, is currently in use. Recently, IOTA approached the Knowledge Bases And Related Tools (KBART) initiative about a possible collaboration on a related project, which would investigate OpenURL linking not at the citation level, but the full-text level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: To automatically evaluate the quality of health information on the Internet, we presents a method for detecting indicators for quality of health information. Methods: An automatic indicator detection tool (AIDT) was developed in the following steps: (1) 18 initial technical criteria were chosen; (2) multiple measurable indicators were defined for each criterion; (3) these measurable indicators on the Web pages were automatically detected by a computer program; (4) the detectable indicators were selected for each criterion based on detection accuracy and occurrence frequency, and detecting criteria on Web pages; (5) AIDT was developed based on the detectable indicators and criteria. The efficiency of detection tool was measured by recall and precision of detecting criteria. The performance of AIDT was tested using three data sets. Results: AIDT with validated detectable indicators can reach 93% recall and 98% precision on these data sets. AIDT can automatically and correctly detect measurable criteria on Web pages. Conclusions: Automatic detecting indictors for quality of health information is feasible and effective. Using an automatic detecting tool is a promising method for identifying quality criteria of health information, and eventually it can be used to develop instruments for evaluating the quality of health Websites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this study was to assess the readability of a nationwide sample of alcohol and drug abuse treatment programs' materials. Of 646 programs that were randomly selected from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information directory, 52 programs returned completed materials. The average readability grade level of materials was 11.84 (SD = 0.94). The program staff estimations were significantly lower than actual reading levels of materials, and no program characteristics correlated with readability levels. Thus, it was concluded that materials written at high readability levels may not be effective tools for all patients. Integrating knowledge regarding program materials' readability level and literacy levels of different populations could be successful aides to substance abuse treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: An exemplary sample of web sites relevant to personal health care and health promotion was chosen and evaluated.Methods: Both quantitative and qualitative data were converged to assess and rank the sites on nine attributes.Results: The sites provided a definitive range of value and variety of presentations, health care and health promotion information, and services covering the virtual choices currently available to users of the Internet.Conclusion: Discussion focused on methodological approaches and issues of web site evaluation serving the public interest, health care, and health promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed data gathered from a survey of online information on the intrauterine device (IUD) to determine the content and quality of information available to consumers and providers, as evidenced by the presence or absence of a series of attributes measuring the accuracy and objectiveness of information provided. While information on the IUD is consistently available on websites providing information about birth control options, there is a great deal of misinformation about the IUD on the Internet. A substantial percentage of sites, designed for both healthcare providers and consumers, state that the IUD increases risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility. This misinformation can effectively limit access to the IUD, so it is vital to monitor the quality of information available to consumers online and encourage clinicians to take an active role in correcting misperceptions among their patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To evaluate the use of an Internet-based information system on infectious disorders (INFPREG) in antenatal care in Sweden.Methods: A postal questionnaire was sent to all antenatal clinics in Sweden in 2000 (n = 515) and 2002 (n = 503). The questionnaire consisted of sections covering use of computers, availability of Internet connections and the use of INFPREG in patient care.Results: We received 404 completed questionnaires in 2000 and 501 in 2002. In 2000, 81% of the midwives had access to computers at their antenatal clinics, and this number had increased to 93% in 2002. Sixty-eight percent and 88% in 2000 and 2002, respectively, had computers with an Internet connection. Of the responding midwives, 74% in 2000 and 84% in 2002 had received information concerning INFPREG. In 2000, 29% of the midwives had visited INFPREG and this figure had increased to 58% in 2002. Of the midwives that had used INFPREG, 67% in 2000 and 81% in 2002 reported that the information obtained from the site was implemented in the patient care. Of the responders, 45% in 2000 and 43% in 2002 claimed that they needed more information on how to use INFPREG.Conclusions: A majority of midwives at antenatal clinics in Sweden have access to the Internet and are confident in using an Internet-based knowledge center on infectious disorders in pregnancy. The present study indicates a rapid acceptance among health care providers in antenatal care in Sweden of this new method for dissemination of information and guidelines. However, many midwives still want more information and knowledge on how to use an Internet-based information system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the impact of quality information on the willingness of consumers to enroll in health plans that restrict provider access.Data Sources and Setting: A survey administered to respondents between the ages of 25 and 64 in the West Los Angeles area with private health insurance.Study Design: An experimental approach is used to measure the effect of variation in provider network features and information about the quality of network physicians on hypothetical plan choices. Conditional logit models are used to analyze the experimental choice data. Next, choice model parameter estimates are used to simulate the impact of changes in plan features on the market shares of competing health plans and to calculate the quality level required to make consumers indifferent to changes in provider access.Principal Findings: The presence of quality information reduced the importance of provider network features in plan choices as hypothesized. However, there were not statistically meaningful differences by type of quality measure (i.e., consumer assessed versus expert assessed). The results imply that large quality differences are required to make consumers indifferent to changes in provider access. The impact of quality on plan choices depended more on the particular measure and less on the type of measure. Quality ratings based on the proportion of survey respondents "extremely satisfied with results of care" had the greatest impact on plan choice while the proportion of network doctors "affiliated with university medical centers" had the least. Other consumer and expert assessed measures had more comparable effects.Conclusions: Overall the results provide empirical evidence that consumers are willing to trade high quality for restrictions on provider access. This willingness to trade implies that relatively small plans that place restrictions on provider access can successfully compete against less restrictive plans when they can demonstrate high quality. However, the results of this study suggest that in many cases, the level of quality required for consumers to accept access restrictions may be so high as to be unattainable. The results provide empirical support for the current focus of decision support efforts on consumer assessed quality measures. At the same time, however, the results suggest that consumers would also value quality measures based on expert assessments. This finding is relevant given the lack of comparative quality information based on expert judgment and research suggesting that consumers have apprehensions about their ability to meaningfully interpret performance-based quality measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council publishes annually performance comparisons on hospitals in nine regions of the state. As a result, hospitals are under public pressure to use these data in Total Quality Management programs. This article illustrates both the opportunity and the risk that pub licly funded information poses for hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this study of advertisements appearing in medical periodicals and by direct mail advertising to general practitioners, Dr. Stimson, a sociologist, concludes that from what is intended to provide therapeutic information hardly any therapeutic information is provided. He reminds the reader of the safeguards which surround all drug advertising by law and by the code of practice of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry but these safeguards do not appear to control real or potential sins of omission. Frequently in these advertisements the literature relating to the drug is quoted but Dr. Stimson found that it was difficult to trace all the papers quoted in different types of medical library. (Some references quoted were to unpublished papers but surely the blame should be shared in this situation?) Dr. Stimson also gives a vivid and fascinating glimpse of what he calls the 'images and stereotypes' of the patients who, it is claimed, would benefit from the drug being advertised. Certainly most general practitioners must be aware that when they prescribe that image is displaced by an individual but the portrait gallery is indeed depressing. However, to balance these advertisements drug companies issue data sheets which must be more informative than advertisements and conform to regulations in their format. Unfortunately data sheets are only issued every 15 months whereas the 'average general practitioner is potentially exposed to 1,300 advertisements every month'. In other words, the data sheet and not the advertisement should be the guideline but it arrives too infrequently to offset the lack of therapeutic information contained in advertisements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality; large numbers of patients require intensive care, which is placing strain on health care systems worldwide. There is an urgent need for a COVID-19 disease severity assessment that can assist in patient triage and resource allocation for patients at risk for severe disease.Objective: The goal of this study was to develop, validate, and scale a clinical decision support system and mobile app to assist in COVID-19 severity assessment, management, and care.Methods: Model training data from 701 patients with COVID-19 were collected across practices within the Family Health Centers network at New York University Langone Health. A two-tiered model was developed. Tier 1 uses easily available, nonlaboratory data to help determine whether biomarker-based testing and/or hospitalization is necessary. Tier 2 predicts the probability of mortality using biomarker measurements (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, D-dimer) and age. Both the Tier 1 and Tier 2 models were validated using two external datasets from hospitals in Wuhan, China, comprising 160 and 375 patients, respectively.Results: All biomarkers were measured at significantly higher levels in patients who died vs those who were not hospitalized or discharged (P<.001). The Tier 1 and Tier 2 internal validations had areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.79 (95% CI 0.74-0.84) and 0.95 (95% CI 0.92-0.98), respectively. The Tier 1 and Tier 2 external validations had AUCs of 0.79 (95% CI 0.74-0.84) and 0.97 (95% CI 0.95-0.99), respectively.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the validity of the clinical decision support system and mobile app, which are now ready to assist health care providers in making evidence-based decisions when managing COVID-19 patient care. The deployment of these new capabilities has potential for immediate impact in community clinics and sites, where application of these tools could lead to improvements in patient outcomes and cost containment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of European health technology assessment (HTA) goes back more than 30 years. Almost as old as HTA agencies themselves is the desire to achieve European collaboration. This gained further impetus with the establishment of the European Network of Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) in 2006. In this context, the field of information management faced specific challenges. Although these services are an integral part of HTA and information specialists play a key role here, this field is often not adequately represented in the HTA agencies within EUnetHTA. Furthermore, the organization of HTA production, including the types of HTAs produced, as well as funding, varies considerably. In order to meet these different conditions, information specialists have created various products and defined processes. With the EUnetHTA guideline, a common methodological understanding for the production of rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessments now exists. Furthermore, the Standard Operating Procedures map the complex information retrieval processes within EUnetHTA in a hands-on manner. The newly established Information Specialist Network (ISN) will in future ensure that information specialists are involved in all EUnetHTA assessments and that the methods are applied consistently in all assessments. In addition, the steering committee of the ISN manages enquiries and can be contacted to discuss methodological issues. Major barriers such as heterogeneity in the daily work of the EUnetHTA members can only be overcome through more collaboration and training.