Technology and Health Care - Volume 23, issue 4

Authors: Koumpouros, Yiannis | Toulias, Thomas L. | Koumpouros, Nicholas

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: The present research aims to identify the application of social media for marketing or communication purposes in healthcare. We studied the opinion of healthcare professionals, organizations and health consumers, trying to identify the current status, trends and beliefs. The research reveals that healthcare organizations have to move forward and engage with their customers. The health consumers are more mature than the health providers. The descriptive characteristics of the sample's responses collected during the survey are presented. OBJECTIVE: The current research tries to identify the application of social media for marketing or communication purposes …in healthcare in Greece. The scope of the paper is to investigate the status in Greece and compare it with other countries. METHODS: We studied the opinion of healthcare professionals, organizations and health consumers, trying to identify the current status, trends and beliefs. We formed adequate questionnaires which were distributed to the different target groups, while for statistical analysis we performed tests (in order to investigate the dependence between certain respondents' categories) as well as one-way ANOVA analysis for inference purposes. In this context, the results can depict the (average) behavior, as well as the homogeneity of the corresponding general population. RESULTS: The research conducted took into account the individualities of the Greek environment and revealed that both physicians and healthcare organizations have to move forward in order to engage with their customers. There is also a clear need to measure the effectiveness of any such media marketing effort. Most adopters are not yet-taking maximum advantage of the technology. Social networks are prevalent and several paradigms support their adoption for marketing purposes in the sensitive healthcare domain. Even though the expectations are ambitious, there is a lot of work to do in Greece in order to achieve the desired outcome. An important finding is that patients' attitudes are, in general, differentiated from those of healthcare professionals. Even though the results of the present paper can be generalized, according to the statistical analysis performed, further research would be warranted to cover all possible participants in the healthcare chain. It is clear that both physicians and healthcare organizations have to adopt social media marketing in their daily practice in order to meet the needs of their customers. The present paper advances the current state of knowledge, as there is not any prior study on this field in Greece. Show more

Keywords: Social media, marketing, health, Greece, social networks, social networking

DOI: 10.3233/THC-150918

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 495-507, 2015

Authors: Schiza, Eirini C. | Neokleous, Kleanthis C. | Petkov, Nikolai | Schizas, Christos N.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Medical practice and patient-doctor relationship will continue improving while technology is integrated in our everyday life. In recent years the term eHealth landmarked a new era with improved health provider's skills and knowledge, and increased patient participation in medical care activities. OBJECTIVE: To show why the design and implementation of a healthcare system needs to follow a specific philosophy dictated by the level of eHealth maturity of a country and its citizens. METHODS: Based on the maturity level, an adaptable framework for implementing an Electronic Health System at national level is …derived, guided by the Patient Centered Philosophy as defined and introduced by the EU directives. Implementation prerequisites are analyzed together with guiding principles for identifying the maturity level of an organization or country. RESULTS: Cyprus being a small EU country, it can be used as pilot site for the whole Europe, was chosen for this study and its maturity level analysis is presented. Recommendations that determine general steps needed to prepare the ground for an adequate patient-centered national healthcare system are accompanied. CONCLUSION: The implementation of an integrated Electronic Health Record at National level, as a prerequisite for a patient-centered eHealth environment is evidently demonstrated. Show more

Keywords: Electronic Health Record (EHR), eHealth, Personalized Medicine, Patient-Centered Medicine

DOI: 10.3233/THC-150919

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 509-522, 2015

Authors: Chen, C.-C. | Chen, S.-C. | Shih, Y.-Y. | Chen, Y.-L.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Needle-stick injuries accounts for a great proportion of all medical accidents in developing and undeveloped countries. The main cause of needle-stick accident injuries is the medical personnel's ``recovering'' the needle action after injection. OBJECTIVE: This study applies an electronic technique to the needling instrument for the purpose of automatically detaching the needle. The proposed method can effectively avoid needle-stick accident injury when ``recovering'' the needle. METHODS: The syringe needle auto-detaching device includes an abutment on which there is a turntable mechanism composed of a pedestal, a turn-table and a driving unit. …A photo interrupter on the pedestal detects the rotational angle of the turntable and controls the stepping motor through a control circuit. An optical sensor is located on the upper end of the sensing mechanism. When the syringe is inserted into the syringe plughole the exposed portion of the needle will be detected by the optical sensor. After the syringe is placed into the plughole, its needle will be detected by the sensor. At this time the needle will be detached from the syringe and automatically fall down into the needle collection box. RESULTS: The syringe needle auto-detaching device was fatigue tested for an extensive period of time (A group: 1000 times/day for 3 ml, B group: 1000 times/day for 5 ml, C group: 1000 times/day for 3 ml and 5 ml staggered, D group: 1000 times/day for 3 ml and 5 ml randomized). The needle and syringe detachment rates were 100% in all test groups. CONCLUSIONS: The syringe needle auto-detaching device developed in this study, in that the clinician performs only one step to dispose a needle. Six syringe needle sets can be managed sequence second by second. The proposed device without all of the risk factors of the traditional syringe needle detachment device. Show more

Keywords: Needle-stick, medical treatment, needling instrument, needle recovering

DOI: 10.3233/THC-150908

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 523-528, 2015

Article Type: Correction

DOI: 10.3233/THC-151030

Citation: Technology and Health Care, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 529-529, 2015