Healthcare IT News - January 2009 - (Page 10) 10 Healthcare IT News n January 2009 hoSpItalS & IdNs www.HealthcareITNews.com and synchronized virtual reality and electroencephalography (EEG) prototype to measure how users respond to architectural cues. “With this study we want to find out how a virtual model of some architectural model compares to a real building,” says Schulze. “We hope that the results are comparable, but if they are not, the differences may reveal significant information about effective cues.” Edelstein has not yet done studies on healthcare using the StarCave, but she says now the technology is set up to make this possible. “Although we didn’t study it in this experiment, we did discuss the emotional effects of a building on a person with respect to how the person feels – whether they feel comfortable or safe, whether or not they feel like they know where they are,” Schulze says. “We can imagine that the equipment is capable of giving us the answers to these questions.” Edlestein says she’s in “collaboration with several hospitals internationally to see how neuroscience and evidence influence healthcare design.” Recent studies have shown that building design, color and lighting all can affect patient health. For example, getting lost in a building can be not only stressful and time consuming but according to a 2004 study published in U.K. medical journal The Lancet. It can also be costly. The study found that staff at one large hospital spent 4,500 hours each year giving directions to lost patients, at an associated annual cost of $220,000. When a patient is critically ill ease of navigation in a complex setting can not only bode badly for the patient, but if that patient is infected, Edelstein points out, they could infect others by getting lost and wandering into a clean environment. The hospital form is great for an initial focus, she says because it embodies everything we need from architecture. n More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: DeSIGN 0109 Scientists measure a person’s reaction to his environment. New technology relates navigation events to concurrent brain responses while subjects move freely within a virtual environment. DrRoth_09Ad_8.125x10.625:Layout 1 12/19/08 9:21 AM Page 1 desIgN Continued from page 9 Biology and a Calit2 governing board member. “Unlike magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) — which records brain responses in prone, immobile subjects — this technology relates navigation events to concurrent brain responses while subjects move freely within the virtual reality CAVE,” says Edelstein. Researchers have used the StarCave to develop an interactive “Before PowerScribe® we were very inefficient. We were dictating on cassette tapes that took forever to get transcribed. Now radiology report turnaround time has been reduced from three days to as little as ten minutes. Duplicate reads have been virtually eliminated. The referring physicians are thrilled because they’re able to get reports almost instantaneously. That’s because as soon as I sign a report, PowerScribe automatically routes it to the desired recipients. That same report is also immediately available in the hospital’s information system, web-based physician portal and our PACS. PowerScribe has become our department’s de facto RIS. Best of all, the number of phone calls we get in the reading room asking for the results of our studies is way down. I’m not at all surprised that one out of every three radiologists in the U.S. is a PowerScribe user.” l oNsCreeN Continued from page 9 “I needed a way to turn our 100,000 exam reports around faster. I got it from Nuance Healthcare.” Dr. Gerald Roth Radiologist, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital CEO, Tower Imaging Los Angeles ©2009 Nuance Communications, Inc. www.nuance.com /healthcare | 1.800.350.4836, EXT. D698 hospital’s existing computer infrastructure. Maine Medical Center, the largest community hospital in Maine, uses Netpresenter screen savers as an alternative to e-mail. “The majority of our staff are physicians, nurses and other clinical staff who work various shifts, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” said Abigail Greenfield, communications relation manager for the hospital. “We must be able to reach this group of people quickly, easily and efficiently, particularly in an emergency situation.” “George Washington University Hospital demonstrates what effective communication can do for organizations,” said Frank Hoen, Netpresenter’s CEO, “and that includes improving hospital safety, gaining and maintaining patients’ trust and increasing employee satisfaction.” Items broadcast on staff PCs and monitors in restricted areas include internal hospital news, urgent news such as IT upgrades expected to disrupt the workflow, news on drug issues from suppliers and a few healthcare news items automatically imported from an online news site. n More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: oNScreeN 0109 Speech-driven clinical documentation and communication for healthcare leaders™ e l Connect: NuaNce 0109 l http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.nuance.com/healthcare http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/new-tech-could-change-hospital-design http://www.nuance.com/healthcare http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/hospitals-go-screen-info http://www.nuance.com/healthcare
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