25
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

      Evaluating eHealth Interventions: The Need for Continuous Systemic Evaluation

      discussion
      , *
      PLoS Medicine
      Public Library of Science

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          In the first in a series of three articles on evaluating eHealth, Aziz Sheikh and Lorraine Catwell outline the background to the series and discuss the importance of evaluating the widespread investments in and adoption of information communication technology in health care.

          Related collections

          Most cited references5

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: not found

          Evaluating informatics applications--some alternative approaches: theory, social interactionism, and call for methodological pluralism.

          A review of evaluation literature concerning CDSSs indicates that randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) are the 'gold standard' for evaluation. While this approach is excellent for studying system or clinical performance, it is not well suited to answering questions concerning whether systems will be used or how they will be used. Because lack of use of CDSS has been of concern for some years, other evaluation research designs are needed to address those issues. This paper critiques RCT and experimental evaluation approaches and presents alternative approaches to evaluation that address questions outside the scope of the usual RCT and experimental designs. A wide range of literature is summarized to illustrate the value of evaluations that take into account social, organizational, professional, and other contextual considerations. Many of these studies go beyond the usual measures of systems performance or physicians' behavior by focusing on 'fit' of the system with other aspects of professional and organizational life. Because there is little explicit theory that informs many evaluations, the paper then reviews CDSS evaluations informed by social science theories. Lastly, it proposes a theoretical social science base of social interactionism. An example of such an approach is given. It involves a CDSS in psychiatry and is based on Kaplan's 4Cs, which focus on communication, control, care, and context. Although the example is a CDSS, the evaluation approach also is useful for clinical guideline implementation and other medical informatics applications. Similarly, although the discussion is about social interactionism, the more important point is the need to broaden evaluation through a variety of methods and approaches that investigate social, cultural, organizational, cognitive, and other contextual concerns. Methodological pluralism and a variety of research questions can increase understanding of many influences concerning informatics applications development and deployment.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            Bad health informatics can kill--is evaluation the answer?

            Health care is entering the age of information society. It is evident that the use of modern information and communication technology (ICT) offers tremendous opportunities to improve health care. However, there are also hazards associated with ICT in health care. We want to present an overview of typical hazards associated with ICT in health care, and to discuss how ICT evaluation can be a solution. We analyze examples of failures and problems associated with ICT in health care. This collection is also made available on a website. Systematic, continuous evaluation of quality and effects of ICT during the whole life cycle of ICT components seems to be one important approach to detect and prevent possible ICT hazards and failures, supporting a higher quality of patient care. However, empirical studies proving this assumption are needed.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Prescribing safety features of general practice computer systems: evaluation using simulated test cases.

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                PLoS Med
                PLoS
                plosmed
                PLoS Medicine
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                1549-1277
                1549-1676
                August 2009
                August 2009
                18 August 2009
                : 6
                : 8
                : e1000126
                Affiliations
                [1]Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland
                Author notes

                ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: LC AS. Wrote the first draft of the paper: LC. Contributed to the writing of the paper: LC AS.

                Article
                09-PLME-ES-0739R2
                10.1371/journal.pmed.1000126
                2719100
                19688038
                deb39199-9297-411a-97de-ffc2ebc31d86
                Catwell, Sheikh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                Page count
                Pages: 6
                Categories
                Essay
                Public Health and Epidemiology

                Medicine
                Medicine

                Comments

                Comment on this article