Showing posts with label devices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label devices. Show all posts

Monday, 21 July 2014

The Cost of Things: The quality of what is fixed and what is marginal

individual
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
group

Internet of Things 
(IoT)
http://www.thezeromarginalcostsociety.com/
The Zero Marginal Cost Society

IoT is not just an incredible prospect it is an incredible happening.

Let us not forget however
the Fixed Costs of Social Care



Should some of the costs that assure High Quality be fixed, or remain intangible?

Wednesday, 9 July 2014

ERCIM News No. 98 Special theme: "Smart Cities"

http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98
ERCIM NEWS #98
Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 98 has just been published at:
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98

Special Theme: "Smart Cities"
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98/special/

featuring a keynote by Eberhard van der Laan, Mayor of Amsterdam
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en98/keynote-smart-cities

Guest editors:
- Ioannis Askoxylakis, ICS-FORTH, Greece
- Theo Tryfonas, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, UK

This issue is also available for download as:
pdf:  http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN98/EN98-web.pdf
epub: http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN98/EN98.epub

Next issue: No. 99, October 2014 - Special Theme: "Quality Software"
(see Call at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News.
Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Best regards,
Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor

Includes:
Urban Civics - Democratizing Urban Data for Healthy Smart Cities
CityLab@Inria - A Lab on Smart Cities fostering Environmental and Social Sustainability
‘U-Sense’, A Cooperative Sensing System for Monitoring Air Quality in Urban Areas 
---------------------------------
ERCIM News
is published quarterly by ERCIM, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics.
The printed edition will reach about 6000 readers.
This email alert reaches over 7500 subscribers.
-------------------------------------------------------
About ERCIM
ERCIM - the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics - aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Leading European research institutes are members of ERCIM. ERCIM is the European host of W3C.
http://www.ercim.eu/

Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ercim_news
and join the open ERCIM LinkedIn Group
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/ERCIM-81390

Saturday, 22 February 2014

Call for contributions: 'Interpreting the Information Age' new avenues for research and display

November 24 – 26 2014
Science Museum, London

In autumn 2014, the Science Museum will open a new permanent gallery, Information Age. The gallery will expose, examine and celebrate how information and communication technologies have transformed our lives over the last 200 years. To mark this launch, the Museum is hosting a three day conference which will discuss how the history and material culture of information can be made relevant for today’s audiences.

From the development of global telegraph and computer networks, the creation of constellations of satellites that silently orbit our earth, and the growth of radio, telephony and cellular networks; each technology can be understood through a network of people, practices, devices and infrastructure. Approaches which focus on overly technical histories, individual innovation or inevitable progress fail to acknowledge the role of users in the history of technologies and marginalise a majority of readers or visitors who are engaged by human stories and social history. By contrast, Information Age has taken a user-centric approach, not only in the stories and objects selected for display, but in the way the gallery has been designed and developed. Participation with a diverse range of audiences has been at the heart of the process, providing new avenues for research, fresh perspectives on our collections and original ways to interpret the information networks of which we are all part. We invite papers that include insights from researchers, academics, museum professionals, community partners and participants.

The conference structure is proposed to include:

Day 1: New avenues in the history of information and communication technologies

Day 2: Interpreting and displaying the history of information and communication technologies

Day 3: Reflections on the process and practicalities of participatory practice

We are especially interested in papers that address the following themes, but are happy to consider other proposals. Please contact the organisers for guidance. 

New avenues in the history of information and communication technologies

  • From devices to networks: taking a broader approach to the history of information and communication. How has historical analysis expanded our understanding of information networks as inherently social-cultural phenomena? How can museums move beyond displays of devices, to reveal how networks unite people, places and ideas?
  • User-driven innovation: technological change does not only occur at the moment of invention, but in the hands of users, who adapt and appropriate new technologies. What tools and techniques can we use to reveal previously hidden user stories?
  • Spaces and places of information: How are institutions celebrating the local and global stories in the history of information and communication technology? What partnerships are being formed to support this?

Interpreting and displaying the history of information and communication technologies

  • Collecting information: what are the challenges of collecting the material culture of information and communication? How can opening collecting processes to wider audiences enhance understanding, and what are the benefits for both researchers and the wider public?
  • Displaying information: innovative approaches to the history, present or future of information and communication technologies.
  • Preserving information: the challenges for museums, libraries and archives in preserving our increasingly digital lives.
  • Whose story? As institutions strive to tell the story of information and communication technologies from the perspective of users and co-producers, how can we ensure that we are representing a diverse range of voices? 

Reflections on the process and practicalities of participatory practice

  • Breaking down barriers: what approaches are being taken to ensure museum collections are accessible to wider audiences? What interpretation approaches can be adopted?
  • Collaborative interpretation and design: how are institutions and audiences working together in exhibition development? What are the benefits to the museum, participant and ultimately the gallery visitor? What are the perceived risks to the museum’s authority?
  • Ensuring legacy: how do museums capture the process of participatory practice in a meaningful way? What evaluation methodologies can be adopted? How can museums support partners and participants in the longer-term? 

How to contribute

To submit a proposal, please send a 250 abstract outlining the topic of your paper, along with a 100 word biography, to [ research AT sciencemuseum.ac.uk ] by Friday 28th March 2014.

We welcome proposals which could be delivered either as paper presentations or for consideration as panel discussions with other contributors, along with proposals for workshops which practically address the conference themes.

My source: HUMANIST list

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Race Yourself for Google Glass transforms exercise

From ISPR - my source:
http://ispr.info/2014/01/27/race-yourself-for-google-glass-transforms-exercise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=race-yourself-for-google-glass-transforms-exercise
 
Get Fit This Year by Fleeing From Augmented Reality Zombies: Race Yourself Transforms Exercise Into a Game on Google Glass

Race Yourself is a New Fitness Startup for Google Glass, Aiming to Turn Exercise Into a Game.  By Racing Against a Virtual Projection of Yourself, Attaining Personal Bests, and Burning Calories, You Can Unlock New Game Modes Such as Running Away from Giant Rolling Boulders. Race Yourself has Already Raised £200,000 from Investors Lead by DN Capital, and is Now Launching a Crowd-Funding Campaign Via Their Website, www.raceyourself.com, on the 8th January.  ...


http://ispr.info/

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ------------------------------------------- mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

individual
Am I dreaming?

technology    virtual reality    physical health


Dreams of Peace
group - population

Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Infostandards.org: HSCIC supports the information standards community

Dear Peter,

You may have seen the publicity this week regarding the launch of a new website, www.infostandards.org, developed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, working with the Department of Health, NHS England and other commissioning partners.

Infostandsards.org has been developed to support information standards professionals across health and social care. The site provides a single place where all information standards can be located, along with valuable supporting material, such as e-learning, implementation guidance and case studies. It also enables users of the site to become active participants in the development and appraisal of standards, by providing the means to share material, draw on each others’ experiences and engage in discussions about existing and potential future standards.

TRUD is pleased to support this new venture and recognises the importance of engaging with information standards professionals across health and social care. The site provides a single place where all information standards can be accessed, along with valuable supporting materials, such as e-learning, implementation guidance and case studies. It also enables users of the site to share material, draw on each other’s experiences and engage in discussions about existing and potential future standards, collections and extractions.

The site’s scope and design will evolve continually to meet the needs and preferences of the community, so we encourage you to become active users and help shape its future development. It is the intention that the site will be an integral part of the assurance process for information standards and collections, details of which will be made available on the site in due course.

Dr Ken Lunn, Director of Information Standards Delivery, said:
"We have supported the creation of the infostandards.org website because openness and increased engagement with end users can only improve the development, delivery and adoption of effective information standards. Standards are essential to the delivery of improved, digitally enabled health and care services and by collaborating with the wider community we can tackle together the challenges we all face. I look forward to seeing how the site will be used by the community."
In support of implementation of the NHS dictionary of medicines and devices (dm+d) the Pharmacy Terminology team are currently updating some of the dm+d implementation guidance. Following feedback from the community a starter guide to dm+d providing an overview of dm+d, an explanation of the Standard, how it relates to the SNOMED CT UK Drug Extension and some fundamentals on content, structure and the release itself has been drafted and is available for comment on infostandards.org.

http://www.infostandards.org/topic/prescribing/dmd-draft-user-guide-available-for-review

The guidance is not currently ready for formal consultation but we would value your input at this juncture to see if the contents are useful and useable.

Questions about www.infostandards.org can be sent to info.standards AT hscic.gov.uk and via twitter where you can follow us @infostandards

Regards

The TRUD support team
Health and Social Care Information Centre

Saturday, 21 September 2013

Health 2.0 Europe 2013: Nurses, registration and £££

This year I've really enjoyed the Health 2.0 Manchester chapter meetings and there's some great evening sessions to follow this northern autumn. In June as I posted on W2tQ I also spent a weekend at the NW Health Hack in Knutsford. 

For several months European Health 2.0 conference has been publicized at the Manchester meetings. I was keen to attend until I saw the registration fee even with a 15% reduction. The fee increased yesterday too as I was reminded by Pascal Lardier on twitter:
@pascal_lardier 19 Sep
Today is the last day to pay less for your ticket to Register here:
I retweeted the above and replied to Pascal and Health2eu, telling them what they already know - Health 2.0 rocks! but adding that I thought few nurses would be able to afford the registration fee.

NW Health Hack was a success for me (in addition to our group coming 3rd) because it was free, apart that is from driving there over the weekend on my days off (thanks again to all the sponsors). As the NHS is trying to save money I've also taken some unpaid leave this year.

NHS nurses, like many public sector groups have effectively had a pay cut these past few years. There are other general challenges:
  • Are those nurses who might attend already 'onboard'?
  • Does nursing engagement itself need a health check (what is 'clinical engagement' now)?
  • Much was made of achieving clinical engagement in previous NHS IT projects. How can clinical engagement that reaches nurses be assured now?
  • If (technical) innovation is to be a constant stream, please don't leave the nurses on an island: they can set sail too.
  • Are nurses, like the one writing this, tainted, having been sat on the fence (health care || ICT) for too long?
  • Once projects are established how can nurses, patients and carers stay the course and keep in touch and engaged?
  • As 'NHS clinicians' can nurses participate in initiatives such as the forthcoming Code4Health, or will operational constraints limit their involvement?
  • How are the socio-technical aspects and outcomes measured (hospital vs. home personal use vs. self-care...) ?
  • Is there a golden ratio for the mix of delegates?
  • If there's a strategic partner involved where's the strategy?
Pascal sliced through my query and many of the points above:

19 Sep
- then they should reach out to me!

So if the World Wide Health 2.0 conferences are of interest to you, do as Pascal suggests. New communities can provide new opportunities. Don't just help make your day, help make tomorrow too.

In 2012 the NHS employed 146,075 doctors, 369,868 qualified nursing staff, and 37,314 managers. 
http://www.nhsconfed.org/priorities/political-engagement/Pages/NHS-statistics.aspx#staff

Additional notes 29 Sept:


patients are also asking how can Health 2.0 Europe conference be made more accessible for them ?

they should email me pascal AT health2con.com there is a FREE reg code for them.

Friday, 12 July 2013

BCS: Webinar - Standards for the delivery of patient-centred care in the Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards initiative

Healthcare information standards are essential for the delivery of joined-up patient information and joined-up patient care, in the DoH Information Strategy and in the NHS ‘Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards’ Technology Fund. The establishment of Integrated Digital Care Records (IDCR) across all care settings is a firm expectation by 2018 according to the Secretary of State for Health.

This free webinar provides vital orientation for managers, clinicians and IT staff wishing to participate in these initiatives, who need to understand:
  • Why standards – their role in better patient care
  • How standards should be applied in the NHS ‘Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards’ Technology Fund
  • Which standards to use for exchange and storage of clinical documents
  • Which standards to use for mobile health devices and applications
  • Practical experience in the deployment of standards
Tuesday 16th July, 12.00 80 minute duration – lines open from 11.45 British Summer Time

Speakers:
  • Neil Robinson: IHE UK Chair:
    • Introduction and Closing Remarks
  • Kathy Farndon: Head of Health Information Standards and IG NHS England:
    • The Role of Standards
  • Inderjit Singh: NHS England:
    • Safer Hospitals, Safer Wards Technology Fund initiative
  • Dr Robert Worden: HL7 UK:
    • Clinical Documents and deployment of CDA & XDS
  • Dr Justin Whatling: BCS Health Chair:
    • The clinical need for standards
  • Dr Dave Harvey: IHE UK:
    • Standards needs in mobile applications
Registration:

To register for the free webinar please cut and paste the following link into your browser:
https://connectingforhealth.webex.com/connectingforhealth/j.php?ED=219725507&RG=1&UID=1629531582

SUPPORTED BY HSCIC & NHS ENGLAND

Thursday, 28 February 2013

Scaling Up mHealth: Where Is the Evidence? PLoS Med essay (c/o HIFA2015)

Dear HIFA members,

An essay in the open-access journal PLoS Medicine discusses the evidence base for mHealth and makes recommendations for scale-up. Below is the citation, summary points, selected extracts and recommendations for scale-up. The full text is available here:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001382

Best wishes,
Neil Pakenham-Walsh
HIFA moderator
[ HIFA2015: Healthcare Information For All by 2015 ]

CITATION: Tomlinson M, Rotheram-Borus MJ, Swartz L, Tsai AC (2013) Scaling Up mHealth: Where Is the Evidence? PLoS Med 10(2): e1001382. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001382

SUMMARY POINTS
- Despite hundreds of mHealth pilot studies, there has been insufficient programmatic evidence to inform implementation and scale-up of mHealth.
- We discuss what constitutes appropriate research evidence to inform scale up.
- Potential innovative research designs such as multi-factorial strategies, randomized controlled trials, and data farming may provide this evidence base.
- We make a number of recommendations about evidence, interoperability, and the role of governments, private enterprise, and researchers in relation to the scale up of mHealth.

SELECTED EXTRACTS:
'A recent World Bank report tracked more than 500 mHealth studies, and many donor agencies are lining up to support the 'scaling up' of mHealth interventions [7]. Yet, after completion of these 500 pilot studies, we know almost nothing about the likely uptake, best strategies for engagement, efficacy, or effectiveness of these initiatives...  mHealth is in a period very similar to the early days of the Internet: not creating robust, interoperable platforms will ensure failure for mHealth initiatives to be scaled to improve health outcomes for at least the next decade.'

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SCALE UP OF MHEALTH
- Existing standards for research should be reconsidered in order to provide guidance as to when scale up is appropriate.
- mHealth interventions should be guided by a plausible theory of behaviour change and should use more than one technique depending on the targeted behaviour [38].
- We need to establish an open mHealth architecture based on a robust platform with standards for app development which would facilitate scalable and sustainable health information systems.
- Implementation strategies such as factorial designs that are able to test the multiple features of interventions must be explored, in order to provide the necessary evidence base.
- Scale-up of mHealth in LAMICs should be preceded by efficacy and effectiveness trials so that they are founded on an appropriate evidence base.
Governments, funders, and industry must cooperate in order to set standards to create a self-governing commercially viable ecosystem for innovation.

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Call - 2nd Compendium of innovative health technologies: medical devices and eHealth solutions 2013

Call for theSecond Compendium of innovative health technologies:
medical devices and eHealth solutions 2013


Health - World Health Organization WHO

Call PDF file at: http://bit.ly/ZHF2Yo
eHealth Submission form: http://bit.ly/VSZxeh
Medical Device submission form: http://bit.ly/10fk0lh

The previous compendium 2012 can be found at: http://bit.ly/11g8YLG

The deadline for submission is 15 March 2013 Medical devices and eHealth solutions have the potential to improve lives. However, too many people worldwide suffer because they don’t have access to the appropriate health technologies. This call highlights the importance of these innovative technologies towards improved health outcomes and the quality of life. WHO aims to raise awareness of the pressing need for appropriate design solutions.
The Compendium series was initiated to encourage a dialogue between stakeholders and stimulate further development and technology dissemination.

For the purpose of this call, the term ‘health technologies’ refers to medical devices and eHealth solutions.

In this context, ‘medical devices’ cover medical equipment and instruments, in vitro diagnostics and imaging devices as well as assistive devices and related health technologies excluding clinical procedures, medicinal products, vaccines, biological therapeutic products, or tissue-engineered medical products. 'eHealth solutions' refer to the use of information and communication technologies including electronic and communication devices and applications (such as telemedicine; mobile applications for surveillance, telehealth, diagnostics, appointment reminders; etc.) in support of health systems and services. All eHealth applications should conform to the existing standards.

Innovative health technologies in this context include: 
- New products or applications;
- Products or applications which have been commercialized for less than 5 years in high-resource settings but have not yet been widely used in low- and middle-resource settings;
- Non-health products or applications that have recently been adapted for a health purpose;
- Products available in low-resource settings for less than 5 years but not yet widely used.

Contributors to the previous compendium series whose technology advanced from ‘under development’ status to launched product are encouraged to submit their updated entry.

Eligibility

The ‘Call for innovative health technologies: medical devices and eHealth solutions for low-resource settings 2013’ is open to manufacturers, institutions, academia, individuals and non-profit organizations that design, manufacture and/or supply any type of innovative health technologies that are suitable for use in low-resource settings and address the global health concerns as outlined in section 4 at: http://bit.ly/ZHF2Yo 

Health problems to be addressed 

 The Call for innovative health technologies for low-resource settings 2013 puts a specific focus on the following technologies:

1. Medical device (including telemedicine solutions) that address one of the following key global health concerns:

- Birth asphyxia and birth trauma
- Cancer
- Cataracts
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Diabetes mellitus
- Diarrheal diseases
- Hearing loss
- Ischemic heart disease
- Lower respiratory infections
- Maternal health - Neonatal infections
- Pneumonia
- Prematurity and low birth weight
- Refractive errors
- Vascular diseases 

 2. eHealth solutions may support one of the following areas:

- Decision support systems
- Diagnostic and treatment support
- Electronic health/electronic medical record
- Emergency/humanitarian relief
- Geographic information system
- Healthcare management
- Health workforce training
- Heath information systems
- Health education
- Health surveys
- Management of patient information
- Management of hospital information
- Management of emergencies
- Patient monitoring
- Public health surveillance
- Telehealth/telemedicine
- Treatment compliance 

Selection of technologies

All submissions undergo an evaluation process; technologies will be assessed by an expert panel based on the material and evidence provided by the applicant as well as publicly available information. Note that inclusion in the Compendium does not constitute a warranty for fitness of the technology for a particular purpose nor endorsement of the product by WHO. Entries must demonstrate the technology’s suitability for use in low-resource settings.

Technologies are then selected for inclusion in the Compendium if they meet at least one of the criteria below:
  • The technology or the practice is better suited to address a health problem than existing solutions available or improves current health systems and services. Examples of improvements over existing technologies  may include superior effectiveness; enhanced ease of use and maintenance; reduced training requirements; labor saving; improved safety level for user, patient, and/or environment; increased social and cultural acceptability; technical superiority; improved accessibility, better cost-effectiveness and affordability; reduced energy requirements.
  • The technology provides an appropriate solution to a health problem not yet addressed by any other technology. 
KMC/2012/KMC
Twitter
http://twitter.com/eqpaho


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Monday, 8 October 2012

Call for Papers: 2nd European Design4Health Conference



I am pleased to [announce] the Call for Papers for the 2nd European Design4Health Conference, which will be held at Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK from Wed 3rd to Fri 5th July 2013.


The conference provides a platform for dialogue between designers, healthcare professionals, funding bodies, researchers and users. We invite submissions to the conference in the following forms:
  • Abstract submissions: extended abstracts that address the conference themes
  • Exhibition proposals: exhibits of innovative artefacts or systems that make significant progress in design for health
Please visit www.design4health.org.uk for full details.

Kind regards
Kirsty Christer and Dr Alaster Yoxall

Edited from source - JISCMAIL for context (no attachments). PJ