The application of technology acceptance and diffusion of innovation models in healthcare informatics

There have been many attempts to apply previously developed models of technology acceptance and the diffusion of innovations; however the models have weaknesses in predicting the behaviour of individuals and organisations, particularly within the complex health domain. The insights recent work on these models offer is relevant to health informatics development and innovation and need to be considered in the development of organisational strategies. This paper analyses the merits of several relevant models and explores their potential significance for the success or otherwise of health related Information Technology projects, highlighting their weaknesses in relation to the lack of differentiation between technological and human factors which limit their applicability in practice.     

Pediatric Power Wheelchairs: Evaluation of Function in the Home and School Environments

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of four power wheelchairs when used by children to perform a variety of indoor activities. Eight boys and eight girls performed a series of 11 functional tasks when positioned in each of four different power wheelchairs reflecting different design classes. There were no significant differences for many of the dependent variables. However, the Everaid Turbo was significantly better for functional positioning at a standard kitchen table and at school desks and for accessing objects at different heights. By contrast the Invacare Jaguar was better for straight-line driving speed. Other findings include children's subjective impressions of the four power wheelchairs.     

Testing the Index of Problematic Online Experiences (I-POE) with a national sample of adolescents

This article assesses the utility of the Index of Problematic Online Experiences (I-POE) in a national sample of adolescents in the United States. The study was based on a cross-sectional national telephone survey of 1560 Internet users, ages 10 through 17. Data were collected between August, 2010 and January, 2011. The I-POE is an 18-item binary response index which can be used to assess problematic internet use across multiple behaviors and activities. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported a revised index with two factors: a 9-item “excessive use” scale and a 9-item “online social and communication problems” scale among this population. The I-POE showed favorable psychometric properties including adequate internal consistency for the overall scale and for the two subscales. Scores correlate with offline emotional and behavioral difficulties and the I-POE could have value for use as a part of broad mental health assessment procedures in clinical or school settings.     

When are solar refrigerators less costly than on-grid refrigerators: A simulation modeling study

BackgroundGavi recommends solar refrigerators for vaccine storage in areas with less than eight hours of electricity per day, and WHO guidelines are more conservative. The question remains: Can solar refrigerators provide value where electrical outages are less frequent?MethodsUsing a HERMES-generated computational model of the Mozambique routine immunization supply chain, we simulated the use of solar versus electric mains-powered refrigerators (hereafter referred to as “electric refrigerators”) at different locations in the supply chain under various circumstances.ResultsAt their current price premium, the annual cost of each solar refrigerator is 132% more than each electric refrigerator at the district level and 241% more at health facilities. Solar refrigerators provided savings over electric refrigerators when one-day electrical outages occurred more than five times per year at either the district level or the health facilities, even when the electric refrigerator holdover time exceeded the duration of the outage. Two-day outages occurring more than three times per year at the district level or more than twice per year at the health facilities also caused solar refrigerators to be cost saving. Lowering the annual cost of a solar refrigerator to 75% more than an electric refrigerator allowed solar refrigerators to be cost saving at either level when one-day outages occurred more than once per year, or when two-day outages occurred more than once per year at the district level or even once per year at the health facilities.ConclusionOur study supports WHO and Gavi guidelines. In fact, solar refrigerators may provide savings in total cost per dose administered over electrical refrigerators when electrical outages are less frequent. Our study identified the frequency and duration at which electrical outages need to occur for solar refrigerators to provide savings in total cost per dose administered over electric refrigerators at different solar refrigerator prices.     

基于晶闸管导通角控制的脉宽调制旋转阳极控制技术的设计与实验

针对X线检查大型医疗设备整机价格昂贵、维保费用高、生命周期短、场地要求严苛等问题,研究一种能够应用于教学示教及技能培训、故障演练测试的教学器具,结合旋转阳极电路的基本功能要素,涵盖高压启动、低压维持、延时保护、运转检测等基本流程,结果表明,该装置能够准确地演练实际工作环境,起到培育医疗设备维修人员检修旋转阳极时所需要的实际技能的作用,降低了实际教学成本,满足了工位数需求,增加了实践动手训练机会,提升了技能培训效果。     

心脏介入药物涂层球囊临床使用合理性评价及干预研究

目的对某三级医院心脏介入药物涂层球囊的临床使用情况进行分析，评价其临床使用合理性。方法参考HB-HTA评价维度，从安全性、有效性、经济性3个方面制定评价指标体系，通过与药物洗脱支架进行对比，评价药物涂层球囊临床使用合理性，并将评价结果应用于管理决策。结果该药物涂层球囊临床使用有效性与药物洗脱支架基本一致，经济性具有一定优势，但在安全性方面有71.1％的病例存在未按说明书使用情况。制定改进措施并实施后，药物涂层球囊未按说明书使用病例比例由69%降为0%，同时患者人均药物涂层球囊费用由23 203.1元降至20 350.0元。结论医院开展医用耗材临床合理使用管理工作时，可参考HB-HTA模式，建立临床使用合理性评价指标体系，并进行定期评价，为管理决策提供依据，以提升医院耗材管理水平。     

The moderating effects of demographic and individual characteristics on nurses' acceptance of information systems: A canadian study

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to educate on the moderating effects of demographic (i.e., educational level and age) and individual characteristics (i.e., years of nursing experience and computer knowledge) on nurses’ acceptance of information systems (IS). The technology acceptance model (TAM) with its constituent variables such as perceived usefulness (PUSS) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) was the theoretical framework used for this study.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Nova Scotia, Canada. Usable data was collected from 197 registered nurses (RNs). Relevant hypotheses were formulated and the partial least squares (PLS) technique was used for data analysis.ResultsThe results of the hypothesized relationships showed that education and computer knowledge have positive moderating effects on the influences of PEOU and PUSS on nurses’ attitudes toward IS (ATTI). The factors of nurses’ years of nursing experience and age did not yield meaningful results. ATTI impacted behavioral intentions to use IS, which positively impacted nurses’ use of IS. The nurses sampled in the study have positive IS use behaviors.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that relevant demographic factors and individual characteristics, if incorporated into frameworks used for investigating nurses’ acceptance of IS, could permit the emergence of useful insights for practitioners and researchers. Specifically, this study showed that nurses with higher educational attainments and more basic computer knowledge readily accept implemented IS at work. Hospital administrators benefit from insights such as the one presented in this study.     

Modelling assistive technology adoption for people with dementia

PurposeAssistive technologies have been identified as a potential solution for the provision of elderly care. Such technologies have in general the capacity to enhance the quality of life and increase the level of independence among their users. Nevertheless, the acceptance of these technologies is crucial to their success. Generally speaking, the elderly are not well-disposed to technologies and have limited experience; these factors contribute towards limiting the widespread acceptance of technology. It is therefore important to evaluate the potential success of technologies prior to their deployment.Materials and methodsThe research described in this paper builds upon our previous work on modelling adoption of assistive technology, in the form of cognitive prosthetics such as reminder apps and aims at identifying a refined sub-set of features which offer improved accuracy in predicting technology adoption. Consequently, in this paper, an adoption model is built using a set of features extracted from a user’s background to minimise the likelihood of non-adoption. The work is based on analysis of data from the Cache County Study on Memory and Aging (CCSMA) with 31 features covering a range of age, gender, education and details of health condition. In the process of modelling adoption, feature selection and feature reduction is carried out followed by identifying the best classification models.FindingsWith the reduced set of labelled features the technology adoption model built achieved an average prediction accuracy of 92.48% when tested on 173 participants.ConclusionsWe conclude that modelling user adoption from a range of parameters such as physical, environmental and social perspectives is beneficial in recommending a technology to a particular user based on their profile.     

回首创刊五周年,携手共创新辉煌

<正>《磁共振成像》杂志的创办,凝聚着国家卫生主管部门以及李果珍教授、刘玉清院士等放射影像学老前辈的殷切希望,肩负着加强国际国内学术交流、提升和规范我国磁共振成像诊疗技术、引领学术前沿和促进磁共振产业发展的重任。创刊五年来,《磁共振成像》杂志在读者、作者、编委和审稿专家关心、支持下,被评为中国科技核心期刊(ISTIC)和中国科学引文数据库源期刊(CSCD),