The wide diffusion of healthcare monitoring systems allows continuous patient to be remotely monitored and diagnosed by doctors. The problem of congestion, namely due to the uncontrolled increase of traffic with respe...The wide diffusion of healthcare monitoring systems allows continuous patient to be remotely monitored and diagnosed by doctors. The problem of congestion, namely due to the uncontrolled increase of traffic with respect to the network capacity, is one of the most common phenomena affecting the reliability of transmission of information in any network. The aim of the paper is to build a realistic simulation environment for healthcare system including some of the main vital signs model, wireless sensor and mesh network protocols implementation. The simulator environment is an efficient mean to analyze and evaluate in a realistic scenario the healthcare system performance in terms of reliability and efficiency.展开更多
Nowadays, Health Care Training-based System (HCTS) is a vital component in the education and training of health care in 3D Virtual Environment (VE). The practice of HCTS continues to grow at rapid pace throughout all ...Nowadays, Health Care Training-based System (HCTS) is a vital component in the education and training of health care in 3D Virtual Environment (VE). The practice of HCTS continues to grow at rapid pace throughout all of the healthcare disciplines, however research in this field is still in its early stage. Increasingly, decision makers and developers look forward to offer more sophisticated, much larger, and more complex HCTS to serve the desired outcome and improve the quality and safety of patient care. Due to the rapidly increasing usage of personal mobile devices and the need of executing HCTS applications in environments that have no previous network infrastructure available, Mobile Health Care Training-based System (MHCTS) is an expected future trend. In such systems, medical staff will share and collaborate in a 3D virtual environment through their mobile devices in an ad-hoc network (MANET) in order to accomplish specific missions’ typically surgical emergency room. Users are organized into various groups (Radiologists, Maternity departments, and General surgery etc...), and need to be managed by a multicast scheme to save network bandwidth and offer immersive sense. MHCTS is sensitive to networking issues, since interactive 3D graphics requires additional load due to the use of mobile devices. Therefore, we need to emphasize on the importance and the improvement of multicast techniques for the effectiveness of MHCTS and the management of collaborative group interaction. Research so far has devoted little attention to the network communication protocols design of such systems which is crucial to preserve the sense of immersion for participating users. In this paper, we investigate the effect of multicast routing protocol in advancing the field of Health care Training-based System to the benefit of patient’s safety, and health care professional. Also, we address the issue of selecting a multicast protocol to provide the best performance for a particular e-health system at any time. Previous work has demonstrated that multicast operates at least as efficiently as traditional MAODV. A comprehensive analysis about various ad-hoc multicast routing protocols is proposed. The selection key factors for the right protocol for MHCTS applications were safety and robustness. To the best of our knowledge, this work will be the first initiative involving systematic literature reviews to identify a research gate for the use of multicast protocol in health care simulation learning community.展开更多
Purpose: To investigate 1) the development in the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria in hospitals and primary health care, 2) the contribution of primary health care to the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria, and ...Purpose: To investigate 1) the development in the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria in hospitals and primary health care, 2) the contribution of primary health care to the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria, and 3) the development in resistance patterns for all Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in relation to antimicrobial consumption in hospitals and primary health care. Methods: ESBL-data were retrospectively collected from bacterial isolates from all specimens received at the Department of Clinical Microbiology from 2003 to 2011 together with the corresponding patient data. ESBL-production was detected in isolates from 1067 of 59,373 patients (1.8%) with an E. coli infection and in 263 of 8660 patients (3.0%) with a K. pneumoniae infection. Results: From 2003 to 2009, an increase in patients with an ESBL-producing isolate occurred in both hospitals and primary health care at the same time as an increased consumption of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents was seen. Interventions to reduce prescription of cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin at the hospitals from 2010 resulted in a remarkable decrease in patients with ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae whereas a continuing increase was seen in patients with ESBL-producing E. coli both at hospitals and in primary health care. The proportion of patients with community-acquired ESBL-producing E. coli was stable with an increase of only 1.4% from 2007 to 2011. Conclusions: Reduction in prescription of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents at the hospital level had an important impact on the incidence of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae, but not on ESBL-producing E. coli.展开更多
The goal of screening tests for breast cancer is early detection and treatment with a consequent reduction in mortality caused by the disease. Screening tests, however, might produce misleading diagnoses and potential...The goal of screening tests for breast cancer is early detection and treatment with a consequent reduction in mortality caused by the disease. Screening tests, however, might produce misleading diagnoses and potentially significant emotional, financial and health costs. The effectiveness of a breast screening program has effects on the quality of life of the target population. Even if the screening units regularly attain coverage targets, it remains essential to ensure that women receive the same high standard of service wherever they live. In order to assess the relative efficiency of individual screening units we use stochastic D.E.A. models, which can be used as reliable tools for external audit. The technique is tested on breast cancer screening data of two Italian regions.展开更多
This article explores the progress of the healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the past two decades. Through continuous coordination and efforts to improve the quality and quantity of health services,...This article explores the progress of the healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the past two decades. Through continuous coordination and efforts to improve the quality and quantity of health services, the government has significantly increased the availability of health facilities across the nation. This steady growth has allowed the country to maintain an upward trajectory in healthcare sector development in comparison to other countries. The Saudi Arabian government is preparing to implement Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as part of their “Vision 2030.” By aligning with the goals of this visionary roadmap, the government aims to address the challenges faced by the existing healthcare system under the Ministry of Health (MOH). This strategic move is expected to transform the healthcare sector, positioning Saudi Arabia at par with its international counterparts and bolstering its economic competitiveness. This article highlights the historical context of Saudi Arabia’s healthcare system, and compares it with the forthcoming ACO implementation under “Vision 2030.” This information provides valuable insights into the trajectory of the country’s healthcare landscape and the potential impact of ACOs in shaping the Kingdom’s future in healthcare and economic development overall.展开更多
文摘The wide diffusion of healthcare monitoring systems allows continuous patient to be remotely monitored and diagnosed by doctors. The problem of congestion, namely due to the uncontrolled increase of traffic with respect to the network capacity, is one of the most common phenomena affecting the reliability of transmission of information in any network. The aim of the paper is to build a realistic simulation environment for healthcare system including some of the main vital signs model, wireless sensor and mesh network protocols implementation. The simulator environment is an efficient mean to analyze and evaluate in a realistic scenario the healthcare system performance in terms of reliability and efficiency.
文摘Nowadays, Health Care Training-based System (HCTS) is a vital component in the education and training of health care in 3D Virtual Environment (VE). The practice of HCTS continues to grow at rapid pace throughout all of the healthcare disciplines, however research in this field is still in its early stage. Increasingly, decision makers and developers look forward to offer more sophisticated, much larger, and more complex HCTS to serve the desired outcome and improve the quality and safety of patient care. Due to the rapidly increasing usage of personal mobile devices and the need of executing HCTS applications in environments that have no previous network infrastructure available, Mobile Health Care Training-based System (MHCTS) is an expected future trend. In such systems, medical staff will share and collaborate in a 3D virtual environment through their mobile devices in an ad-hoc network (MANET) in order to accomplish specific missions’ typically surgical emergency room. Users are organized into various groups (Radiologists, Maternity departments, and General surgery etc...), and need to be managed by a multicast scheme to save network bandwidth and offer immersive sense. MHCTS is sensitive to networking issues, since interactive 3D graphics requires additional load due to the use of mobile devices. Therefore, we need to emphasize on the importance and the improvement of multicast techniques for the effectiveness of MHCTS and the management of collaborative group interaction. Research so far has devoted little attention to the network communication protocols design of such systems which is crucial to preserve the sense of immersion for participating users. In this paper, we investigate the effect of multicast routing protocol in advancing the field of Health care Training-based System to the benefit of patient’s safety, and health care professional. Also, we address the issue of selecting a multicast protocol to provide the best performance for a particular e-health system at any time. Previous work has demonstrated that multicast operates at least as efficiently as traditional MAODV. A comprehensive analysis about various ad-hoc multicast routing protocols is proposed. The selection key factors for the right protocol for MHCTS applications were safety and robustness. To the best of our knowledge, this work will be the first initiative involving systematic literature reviews to identify a research gate for the use of multicast protocol in health care simulation learning community.
文摘Purpose: To investigate 1) the development in the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria in hospitals and primary health care, 2) the contribution of primary health care to the incidence of ESBL-producing bacteria, and 3) the development in resistance patterns for all Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in relation to antimicrobial consumption in hospitals and primary health care. Methods: ESBL-data were retrospectively collected from bacterial isolates from all specimens received at the Department of Clinical Microbiology from 2003 to 2011 together with the corresponding patient data. ESBL-production was detected in isolates from 1067 of 59,373 patients (1.8%) with an E. coli infection and in 263 of 8660 patients (3.0%) with a K. pneumoniae infection. Results: From 2003 to 2009, an increase in patients with an ESBL-producing isolate occurred in both hospitals and primary health care at the same time as an increased consumption of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents was seen. Interventions to reduce prescription of cephalosporins and ciprofloxacin at the hospitals from 2010 resulted in a remarkable decrease in patients with ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae whereas a continuing increase was seen in patients with ESBL-producing E. coli both at hospitals and in primary health care. The proportion of patients with community-acquired ESBL-producing E. coli was stable with an increase of only 1.4% from 2007 to 2011. Conclusions: Reduction in prescription of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents at the hospital level had an important impact on the incidence of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae, but not on ESBL-producing E. coli.
文摘The goal of screening tests for breast cancer is early detection and treatment with a consequent reduction in mortality caused by the disease. Screening tests, however, might produce misleading diagnoses and potentially significant emotional, financial and health costs. The effectiveness of a breast screening program has effects on the quality of life of the target population. Even if the screening units regularly attain coverage targets, it remains essential to ensure that women receive the same high standard of service wherever they live. In order to assess the relative efficiency of individual screening units we use stochastic D.E.A. models, which can be used as reliable tools for external audit. The technique is tested on breast cancer screening data of two Italian regions.
文摘This article explores the progress of the healthcare sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the past two decades. Through continuous coordination and efforts to improve the quality and quantity of health services, the government has significantly increased the availability of health facilities across the nation. This steady growth has allowed the country to maintain an upward trajectory in healthcare sector development in comparison to other countries. The Saudi Arabian government is preparing to implement Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) as part of their “Vision 2030.” By aligning with the goals of this visionary roadmap, the government aims to address the challenges faced by the existing healthcare system under the Ministry of Health (MOH). This strategic move is expected to transform the healthcare sector, positioning Saudi Arabia at par with its international counterparts and bolstering its economic competitiveness. This article highlights the historical context of Saudi Arabia’s healthcare system, and compares it with the forthcoming ACO implementation under “Vision 2030.” This information provides valuable insights into the trajectory of the country’s healthcare landscape and the potential impact of ACOs in shaping the Kingdom’s future in healthcare and economic development overall.
