Motivation: The molecular subtyping of gastric cancer (adenocarcinoma) into four main subtypes based on integrated multiomics profiles, as proposed by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) initiative, represents an effective strategy for patient stratification. However, this approach requires the use of multiple technological platforms, and is quite expensive and time-consuming to perform. A computational approach that uses histopathological image data to infer molecular subtypes could be a practical, cost- and time-efficient complementary tool for prognostic and clinical management purposes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Bali, Indonesia, presents significant infectious and non-infectious health risks for Australian travellers. Understanding this spectrum of illnesses has the potential to assist clinicians in evaluating unwell returning travellers and guide provision of pre-travel advice.
Aim: To describe the spectrum of illnesses seen in returned travellers from Bali.
Objective: The Medical Assessment and Planning Unit (MAPU) model provides a multidisciplinary and 'front end loading' approach to acute medical care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 10-bed MAPU in Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) on hospital length of stay.
Methods: A pre-post study design was used.
Significant problems in health care, such as access block and long waiting lists for elective surgery, have led to calls for keeping hospital occupancy at no more than 85%. It is elementary queueing theory that a finite-capacity system with variable demand cannot sustain both full utilisation and full availability. However, the statement that there is a single level of ideal or safe occupancy suitable for all situations is a simplistic interpretation and application of the underlying science.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Electron Healthc
January 2010
Hospital managers have a large range of information needs including quality metrics, financial reports, access information needs, educational, resourcing and decision support needs. Currently these needs involve interactions by managers with numerous disparate systems, both electronic such as SAP, Oracle Financials, PAS' (patient administration systems) like HOMER, and relevant websites; and paper-based systems. Hospital management information systems (HMIS) can be thought of sitting within a Technology Ecosystem (TE).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHospital managers have to manage resources effectively, while maintaining a high quality of care. For hospitals where admissions from the emergency department to the wards represent a large proportion of admissions, the ability to forecast these admissions and the resultant ward occupancy is especially useful for resource planning purposes. Since emergency admissions often compete with planned elective admissions, modeling emergency demand may result in improved elective planning as well.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccess to care for patients remains a concern for all parties in the provision of hospital services. It is the subject of patient complaints, large investments of funds and vigorous debate in the community, hospitals and the political arena. This is a common problem in developed nations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To identify patient safety measurement tools in use in Australian public hospitals and to determine barriers to their use.
Design: Structured survey, conducted between 4 March and 19 May 2005, designed to identify tools, and to assess current use of, levels of satisfaction with, and barriers to use of tools for measuring the domains and subdomains of: organisational capacity to provide safe health care; patient safety incidents; and clinical performance.
Participants And Setting: Hospital executives, managers and clinicians from a nationwide random sample of Australian public hospitals stratified by state and hospital peer grouping.
Aust Health Rev
February 2007
This paper reports on a survey of health care managers and other stakeholders which assesses the need for a framework regarding predictive technologies in health care management. In the context of this paper, predictive technologies are defined as those that enable an insight into, or measurement of, events yet to occur. A framework could include the ability to classify the problems confronting managers, and the range of possible tools and techniques that could be used to address those problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF