http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. There are increasing pressures for health care providers to make individual-level data readily available for research and policy making. But Canadians are more likely to allow the sharing of their personal data if they believe that their privacy is protected. http://phys.org/news232019955.html Other Sciences Mon, 08 Aug 2011 10:59:40 EST news232019955 Four out of five Internet users have searched for health information online, but the Web is still no substitute for the doctor when it comes to a personal medical issue, said a US study Thursday. http://phys.org/news224396528.html Technology Thu, 12 May 2011 06:00:01 EST news224396528 Clinicians have an ethical imperative to share important decisions with patients, and patients have a right to be equal participants in their care, say a group of experts today. http://phys.org/news220039898.html Medicine & Health Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:12:08 EST news220039898 Patients who participate in clinical trials expect that their personal information will remain confidential, but a recent study led by Dr. Khaled El-Emam, Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the CHEO Research Institute, found that the security practices used to transfer and share sensitive files were inadequate. http://phys.org/news217081346.html Medicine & Health Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:22:50 EST news217081346 Use of electronic health records by hospitals across the United States has had only a limited effect on improving the quality of medical care, according to a new RAND Corporation study. http://phys.org/news212332232.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:28:03 EST news212332232 (PhysOrg.com) -- In a new paper published by the Society for Risk Analysis, a UC Berkeley researcher argues for caution when dealing with carbon nanotubes. Because environmental and health information on carbon nanotubes is incomplete and sometimes conflicting, an "anticipatory governance" approach to the technology is needed, says post-doc researcher Mark Philbrick. http://phys.org/news209278526.html Nanotechnology Thu, 18 Nov 2010 05:20:01 EST news209278526 An original and progressive report on health information technology (HIT) vendors, their customers and patients, published online today, makes ground-breaking recommendations for new practices that target the reduction or elimination of tensions that currently mar relationships between many HIT vendors and their customers, specifically with regard to indemnity and error management of HIT systems. In light of the Obama Administration's $19 billion investment in HIT, paid out in ARRA stimulus funds, these recommendations are particularly significant in helping to foster greater use of electronic health records and other tools in the transition from paper records, largely understood to be a hindrance to quality patient care. http://phys.org/news208693627.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:40:01 EST news208693627 Privacy legislation and protocols to safeguard the health information of members of the military are lacking, and the head of Canada's military must take action to ensure health privacy for all staff, states an editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CAMJ). http://phys.org/news208437805.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Nov 2010 11:23:40 EST news208437805 Use of a fall prevention tool kit, which included a fall risk assessment, patient-specific prevention plan, an educational handout and a poster for over the patient's hospital bed reduced the number of older patients with falls in hospitals, according to a study in the November 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on aging. http://phys.org/news207918374.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Nov 2010 12:07:44 EST news207918374 Awareness of genetic testing was higher among adults in Puerto Rico compared to previous U.S. population-based studies, while use of genetic testing was lower, according to data presented at the Third AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held Sept. 30 to Oct 3, 2010. http://phys.org/news205236133.html Medicine & Health Sat, 02 Oct 2010 12:10:01 EST news205236133 One hundred and sixty-six years after Samuel Morse used dots and dashes to telegraph "What hath God wrought?" opening up a whole new world of communication, Indiana has become the first state in the nation to use a potentially equally revolutionary tool, the Nationwide Health Information Network, to convey public health information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). http://phys.org/news204285874.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:04:49 EST news204285874 Studies show that nearly half of all Americans have difficulty understanding health information. Confusing medical directions, such as dosage and timing of prescription medicine, can lead to serious consequences including health setbacks, inappropriate hospital admissions and, sometimes, death. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions are examining what health care facilities can do to increase patient understanding and positive outcomes. http://phys.org/news203787222.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:33:58 EST news203787222 In an article published in the Sept. 15 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA), author Edward H. Shortliffe, MD, PhD, points out that although information underlies all clinical work, and despite the growing role that information management and access play in healthcare delivery and clinical support, there is a dearth of informatics competency being developed in America's future corps of physicians. Formalized education in the application of informatics and the use and methodologies of health information technology and exchange, Dr. Shortliffe observes, is not typically a specific part of medical education. http://phys.org/news203702681.html Medicine & Health Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:40:01 EST news203702681 Persuading influential medical centers to adopt electronic medical records helps speed adoption by their neighboring hospitals, according to the Management Insights feature in the current issue of Management Science, a flagship journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®). http://phys.org/news200918925.html Medicine & Health Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:48:57 EST news200918925 Approximately 10% of low back pain (LBP) sufferers experience persistent pain and significant disability. In a study published in the August issue of Pain, a group of Australian researchers investigating the relevance of health literacy in patients with chronic lower back pain (CLBP) found that LBP-related beliefs and behaviors affect a person's disability more than pain intensity or a standard measure of functional health literacy. However, when delving deeper into aspects of health literacy, important factors were identified which might help to explain disability associated with CLBP, highlighting important factors to consider in the delivery of information for CLBP. http://phys.org/news197694318.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:05:37 EST news197694318 Analysis of a series of public health campaigns in the Swiss media has shown that, although the campaign was entirely focussed on positive messages, the resulting stories often featured 'negative' threats and warnings. The study, published in the open access journal BMC Research Notes, also found that the campaign was much more successful in the German media, compared to French or Italian. http://phys.org/news196517258.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:00:01 EST news196517258 Despite having the most expensive health care system, the United States ranks last overall compared to six other industrialized countries—Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—on measures of health system performance in five areas: quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. While there is room for improvement in every country, the U.S. stands out for not getting good value for its health care dollars, ranking last despite spending $7,290 per capita on health care in 2007 compared to the $3,837 spent per capita in the Netherlands, which ranked first overall. http://phys.org/news196488881.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:40:01 EST news196488881 The Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC), one of the highest volume health information exchanges in the United States, is expanding to include post-acute care facilities, bringing the benefits of secure health information exchange to a growing number of individuals who often have significant health care needs. http://phys.org/news195389332.html Medicine & Health Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:49:20 EST news195389332 The new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMI) must be inclusive and flexible in developing and implementing payment initiatives, continuously monitor their impact, and rapidly disseminate them if they appear to be successful, in order to realize the potential for improved health care delivery and reduced spending, according to a new Health Affairs article by Commonwealth Fund researchers. http://phys.org/news195195889.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:50:02 EST news195195889 Patients researching health conditions on the internet should use reputable and frequently updated websites and not see online research as a replacement for consulting healthcare professionals, according to a paper in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing. http://phys.org/news194000992.html Medicine & Health Tue, 25 May 2010 10:10:07 EST news194000992 As the United States moves toward the goal of a secure nationwide health information network (NHIN), a new study from the Regenstrief Institute provides a framework for evaluating the costs, effort and value of what is sometimes referred to as the health internet. http://phys.org/news192801736.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 May 2010 13:02:29 EST news192801736 In today's world more geographic information is being collected about us, such as where we live, where the clinic we visited is located, and where we work. Web sites are also collecting more geographic information about their users. This location information makes it easier to identify individuals, which can raise privacy concerns when location is coupled with basic demographics and sensitive health information. Individuals living in small areas tend to be more easily identifiable because they are unique on their local demographics. http://phys.org/news189942688.html Technology Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:10:01 EST news189942688 Hopes are high that health information technology will support care between office visits, boost efficiency and convenience, and help patients lead healthier lives. An evaluation in the April Health Affairs suggests how to make the most of this new approach: Routinely ask patients how they like it and what they want. http://phys.org/news189785983.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Apr 2010 16:50:04 EST news189785983 Several groups across the healthcare sector will rollout two new "Personal Health Record (PHR) Quick Reference Guides" in an effort to educate consumers and clinicians about how PHRs can be useful tools for making more informed healthcare decisions and enhancing care coordination. http://phys.org/news189685719.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Apr 2010 11:40:01 EST news189685719 Most kidney donors and recipients are in favor of exchanging personal health information that may influence success before scheduling a living organ donor transplant, while healthcare professionals are more reluctant, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that clinicians should consider supporting and facilitating more information sharing before transplantation. http://phys.org/news188138795.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:00:03 EST news188138795 The Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC), one of the highest volume health information exchanges in the United States, is expanding beyond central Indiana to serve patients from southwestern Indiana and southeastern Illinois. http://phys.org/news187363387.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:01 EST news187363387 The personal health and financial information stored in thousands of North American home computers may be vulnerable to theft through file-sharing software, according to a research study published online today in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. http://phys.org/news186661471.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:25:09 EST news186661471 Health information written by a doctor is rated as more credible when it appears on a Web site than in a blog or a homepage, according to a study of college students. http://phys.org/news184588174.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:40:01 EST news184588174 The push is on for healthcare providers to make the switch to electronic health records but it is hard to tell how well these complex health information technology systems are being implemented and used, writes a health informatics researcher at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in a Feb. 3 commentary in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://phys.org/news184434948.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:58:44 EST news184434948 As electronic health records become more widely deployed, increasing amounts of health information are being collected. This data has many beneficial applications, such as research, public health, and health system planning. In a recent study, Dr. Khaled El Emam, the Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the CHEO Research Institute argues that there is a need for robust de-identification of patient data to avoid the negative impact that individual consent requirements have on studies using health record data for secondary purposes. http://phys.org/news177918760.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:55:07 EST news177918760