OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to design an integrated data management system based on the POCT1-A2, LIS2-A, LIS2-A2, and HL7 standard to ensure data interoperability between mobile equipment, such as point-of-care testing equipment and the existing hospital data system, its efficiency was also evaluated. METHODS: The method of this study was intended to design and realize a data management system which would provide a solution for the problems that occur when point-of-care testing equipment is introduced to existing hospital data, after classifying such problems into connectivity, integration, and interoperability. This study also checked if the data management system plays a sufficient role as a bridge between the point-of-care testing equipment and the hospital information system through connection persistence and reliability testing, as well as data integration and interoperability testing. RESULTS: In comparison with the existing system, the data management system facilitated integration by improving the result receiving time, improving the collection rate, and by enabling the integration of disparate types of data into a single system. And it was found out that we can solve the problems related to connectivity, integration and interoperability through generating the message in standardized types. CONCLUSIONS: It is expected that the proposed data management system, which is designed to improve the integration point-of-care testing equipment with existing systems, will establish a solid foundation on which better medical service may be provided by hospitals by improving the quality of patient service.
Clinical Laboratory Information Systems ; Database Management Systems ; Dietary Sucrose ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Point-of-Care Systems

This paper introduces the application of a calling and queuing system for blood sample collection in a large hospital in China. Besides the basic function, it has following functions. (a) A real name system: get the number according to the laboratory application form to prevent the phenomena of buying a number and an empty number. (b) Two times waiting: the patient should wait at the main hall, then at the blood sampling window so as to improve the work efficiency. (c) The flowchart for an outpatient blood testing is as following: getting the number --> waiting --> blood sampling --> getting the test information report. This system is capable of not only optimizing the work flow, but also improving the clinical environment. It shortens the patient's waiting time and raises the laboratory quality as well.
Ambulatory Care ; methods ; Ambulatory Care Information Systems ; Blood Specimen Collection ; Laboratories, Hospital ; organization & administration

This paper tells you how to build a faster and more reliable interface system between the Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) in the hospital and the Medical Insurance Information System (MIIS) in the Medical Insurance Affairs Management Center (MIAMC). The data standards of the hospital and MIAMC should be integrated in order to reduce the unnecessary real-time transmission, so as to establish and perfect the operation mode in offline status,and to improve the performance of the communication servers. Thus, it would be a more efficient software interface system with a higher bandwidth between HMIS and MIIS. The working efficiency of the interface system and the accuracy of the balance data in the MIAMC are increased while the dependence on the inter-network communication is decreased with an improvement of the reliability and suitability of the interface system.
Ambulatory Care Information Systems ; organization & administration ; Computer Communication Networks ; Hospital Information Systems ; organization & administration ; Insurance, Health ; Management Information Systems ; Microcomputers ; Software Design ; Systems Integration ; User-Computer Interface

OBJECTIVE: Providing a risk assessment method for the implementation of radiotherapy to identify possible risks in the implementation of the treatment process, and proposing measures to reduce or prevent these risks. METHODS: A multidisciplinary expert evaluation team was developed and the radiotherapy treatment process flow was drawn. Through the expert team, the failure mode analysis is carried out in each step of the flow chart. The results were summarized and the (risk priority ordinal) score was obtained, and the quantitative evaluation results of the whole process risk were obtained. RESULTS: One hundred and six failure modes were obtained, risk assessment of (20%) high risk failure model are 22 and severity (≥ 8) high risk failure model are 27. The reasons for the failures were man-made errors or hardware and software failures. CONCLUSIONS Failure mode and effect analysis can be used to evaluate the risk assessment of radiotherapy, and it provides a new solution for risk control in radiotherapy field.
Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis ; Risk Assessment

BACKGROUND: Occupational risk management is known as a catalyst in generating superior returns for all stakeholders on a sustainable basis. A number of companies in Ghana implemented health and safety measures adopted from international companies to ensure the safety of their employees. However, there exist great threats to employees' safety in these companies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of compliance of Occupational Health and Safety management systems and standards set by international and local legislation in power producing companies in Ghana. METHODS: The methodology is conducted by administering questionnaires and in-depth interviews as measuring instruments. A random sampling technique was applied to 60 respondents; only 50 respondents returned their responses. The questionnaire was developed from a literature review and contained questions and items relevant to the initial research problem. A factor analysis was also carried out to investigate the influence of some variables on safety in general. RESULTS: Results showed that the significant factors that influence the safety of employees at the hydroelectric power plant stations are: lack of training and supervision, non-observance of safe work procedures, lack of management commitment, and lack of periodical check on machine operations. The study pointed out the safety loopholes and therefore helped improve the health and safety measures of employees in the selected company by providing effective recommendations. CONCLUSION: The implementation of the proposed recommendations in this paper, would lead to the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses of employees as well as property damage and incidents in hydroelectric power plants. The recommendations may equally be considered as benchmark for the Safety and Health Management System with international standards.
Benchmarking ; Compliance ; Ghana ; Occupational Health ; Organization and Administration ; Power Plants* ; Risk Management ; Safety Management ; Surveys and Questionnaires

The study involved 144 patients who were receiving anti-epileptic treatment. Among these, 58 patients belonged to management of provincial health care level, 50 patients came from the Institute for Mother and Newborn Protection and Care, 18 patients from B¹ch Mai Hospital, 8 patients from Military Health Care system and 10 patients have self-treated at home. The results showed that the compliance with medical order and revisit in epilepsy patients who were receiving outpatient treatment decreased over time from initial visit. The active and positive compliance with medical order in outpatients with epilepsy has an effect on the outcomes.
Compliance ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Epilepsy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to survey the prescription status of potentially teratogenic drugs to women of childbearing age in an emergency department (ED). In addition, the frequency of documentation of patient's pregnancy status was also evaluated. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted through the use of warehouse data at a tertiary care center. Women aged 20~39 years who were prescribed drugs that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies as class D or X were evaluated. The frequency of prescription of potentially teratogenic drugs and the rate of pregnancy tests performed at the ED were analyzed. RESULTS: Among the 7,742 women of childbearing age with ED visits, 1,962(25.3%) patients received at least one potentially teratogenic drug during 2006, based upon the FDA risk classification system. The most frequently prescribed drugs were non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) (50.8%), opioid drugs(26.3%), and benzodiazepines(10.3%). The number of pregnancy tests performed before prescribing potentially teratogenic drugs was 838 (39.0%). Among patients for whom a pregnancy test was not performed, only 87(7.6%) patients were advised by their doctors of drug teratogenecity. CONCLUSION: The frequency of prescription of potentially teratogenic drugs to women of childbearing age was 1 in every 4 visits at the ED. In addition, the rates of documentation of pregnancy status and explanation of teratogenecity were relatively low. Introducing a pregnancy information system and a pregnancy alerting system, as well as increasing the frequency of pregnancy tests before prescribing are necessary, not only for pregnant women and fetuses but also for emergency medical personnel at the point of care.
Aged ; Drug Information Services ; Emergencies ; Female ; Fetus ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Tests ; Pregnant Women ; Prescriptions ; Retrospective Studies ; Teratogens ; Tertiary Care Centers ; United States Food and Drug Administration

PURPOSE: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine current status of IT-based medication error prevention system construction and the relationships among system construction, medication error management climate and perception for system use. METHODS: The participants were 124 patient safety chief managers working for 124 hospitals with over 300 beds in Korea. The characteristics of the participants, construction status and perception of systems (electric pharmacopoeia, electric drug dosage calculation system, computer-based patient safety reporting and bar-code system) and medication error management climate were measured in this study. The data were collected between June and August 2011. Descriptive statistics, partial Pearson correlation and MANCOVA were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Electric pharmacopoeia were constructed in 67.7% of participating hospitals, computer-based patient safety reporting systems were constructed in 50.8%, electric drug dosage calculation systems were in use in 32.3%. Bar-code systems showed up the lowest construction rate at 16.1% of Korean hospitals. Higher rates of construction of IT-based medication error prevention systems resulted in greater safety and a more positive error management climate prevailed. CONCLUSION: The supportive strategies for improving perception for use of IT-based systems would add to system construction, and positive error management climate would be more easily promoted.
Adult ; Female ; Health Personnel/*psychology ; Hospital Information Systems ; Humans ; Male ; Medical Order Entry Systems ; Medication Errors/*prevention & control ; Medication Systems, Hospital/statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Perception ; Quality Assurance, Health Care ; Safety Management/statistics & numerical data ; User-Computer Interface

This article makes a pilot study on the key points of the quality management system of in-vitro diagnostic reagents by analyzing the technical characteristics and production methods of these products as well as the status in quo, and problems the in-vitro diagnostic reagent industry in China is facing nowadays. It can serve as a reference to the supervision departments and the manufacturers in this field which are establishing and running the quality management system.
China ; Equipment and Supplies ; standards ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; chemistry ; standards ; Pilot Projects ; Quality Assurance, Health Care ; organization & administration ; Quality Control ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; standards ; Safety Management ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; organization & administration ; standards ; Total Quality Management

BACKGROUND: Blood transfusions are complicated procedures, and are highly sensitive to mistakes that could seriously endanger the life of patients. The failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) can be used to inspect and improve high risk processes. Here, we aimed to identify the risk factors of a blood transfusion process and to improve its safety by optimizing the process. METHODS: We conducted a weekly meeting from March to April 2014. We investigated the frequency of events for 2013 (before FMEA) and 2015 (after FMEA). The FMEA process was performed in eight steps and the improvement priorities were determined in accordance with the magnitude of calculated fatalities (multiplied by severity, occurrence, and detection scores). RESULTS: The whole process of blood transfusion was analyzed by detailed steps: Decision of blood transfusion, blood transfusion request, pre-transfusion test, blood product discharge, delivery, and administration process. Then, we identified the types of failures and likelihood of occurrence, discovery, and severity. Based on the calculated risk priority number, strategies to improve the highest failure modes were developed. Eleven transfusion-related events occurred before FMEA, and three events occurred after FMEA. CONCLUSION: In this study, we analyzed the failure modes that may occur during a transfusion procedure. The FMEA was a useful tool for analyzing and reducing the risks associated with a blood transfusion procedure. Continuous efforts to improve the failure modes would be helpful to further improve the safety of patients undergoing blood transfusion.
Blood Transfusion ; Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis* ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Patient Safety ; Risk Factors ; Transfusion Medicine*