Complexity of collaborative work in residential aged care facilities: An analysis of information exchange for medication management

Information exchange (IE) is a critical component of the complex collaborative medication process in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Designing information and communication technology (ICT) to support complex processes requires a profound understanding of the IE that underpins their execution. There is little existing research that investigates the complexity of IE in RACFs and its impact on ICT design. The aim of this study was thus to undertake an in-depth exploration of the IE process involved in medication management to identify its implications for the design of ICT. The study was undertaken at a large metropolitan facility in NSW, Australia. A total of three focus groups, eleven interviews and two observation sessions were conducted between July to August 2010. Process modelling was undertaken by translating the qualitative data via in-depth iterative inductive analysis. The findings highlight the complexity and collaborative nature of IE in RACF medication management. These models emphasize the need to: a) deal with temporal complexity; b) rely on an interdependent set of coordinative artefacts; and c) use synchronous communication channels for coordination. Taken together these are crucial aspects of the IE process in RACF medication management that need to be catered for when designing ICT in this critical area. This study provides important new evidence of the advantages of viewing process as a part of a system rather than as segregated tasks as a means of identifying the latent requirements for ICT design and that is able to support complex collaborative processes like medication management in RACFs. © 2012 IEEE.

Development and evaluation of a spatial decision support system for malaria elimination in Bhutan

Background: Bhutan has reduced its malaria incidence significantly in the last 5 years, and is aiming for malaria elimination by 2016. To assist with the management of the Bhutanese malaria elimination programme a spatial decision support system (SDSS) was developed. The current study aims to describe SDSS development and evaluate SDSS utility and acceptability through informant interviews. Methods: The SDSS was developed based on the open-source Quantum geographical information system (QGIS) and piloted to support the distribution of long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) in the two sub-districts of Samdrup Jongkhar District. It was subsequently used to support reactive case detection (RACD) in the two sub-districts of Samdrup Jongkhar and two additional sub-districts in Sarpang District. Interviews were conducted to ascertain perceptions on utility and acceptability of 11 informants using the SDSS, including programme and district managers, and field workers. Results: A total of 1502 households with a population of 7165 were enumerated in the four sub-districts, and a total of 3491 LLINs were distributed with one LLIN per 1.7 persons. A total of 279 households representing 728 residents were involved with RACD. Informants considered that the SDSS was an improvement on previous methods for organizing LLIN distribution, IRS and RACD, and could be easily integrated into routine malaria and other vector-borne disease surveillance systems. Informants identified some challenges at the programme and field level, including the need for more skilled personnel to manage the SDSS, and more training to improve the effectiveness of SDSS implementation and use of hardware. Conclusions: The SDSS was well accepted and informants expected its use to be extended to other malaria reporting districts and other vector-borne diseases. Challenges associated with efficient SDSS use included adequate skills and knowledge, access to training and support, and availability of hardware including computers and global positioning system receivers.

Intuitive interaction in a mixed reality system

Tangible physical systems are more intuitive than Intangible virtual Systems. Mixed reality systems are considered as an alternative to virtual systems, bringing advantages of tangible systems into an interaction. However, past research has mainly focussed on technical aspects of incorporating pervasive-ness and immersive-ness in the virtual systems. This paper reports on an empirical study of intuitive Interaction in a Mixed Reality game system for children and the design aspects that could facilitate intuitive Interaction in such systems. A related samples Friedman’s test showed that the Mixed Reality game system demonstrated more intuitive interactions than non-intuitive Interactions. A linear regression analysis further established that the variation in intuitive Interaction in the Mixed Reality system could be statistically significantly explained primarily by physical affordances offered by the Mixed Reality system and to a lesser extent by the perceived affordances in the system. Design guidelines to develop intuitive Mixed Reality systems are discussed. These guidelines should allow designers to exploit the wonders of advances in technology and at the same time allow users to directly interact with the physical real world. This will allow users to access maximal physical affordances, which are primary contributors to intuitive interaction in Tangible and Mixed Reality systems.

Combinatorial Design of Secure Lightweight Data Dispersal Schemes (Work in Progress)

Dispersing a data object into a set of data shares is an elemental stage in distributed communication and storage systems. In comparison to data replication, data dispersal with redundancy saves space and bandwidth. Moreover, dispersing a data object to distinct communication links or storage sites limits adversarial access to whole data and tolerates loss of a part of data shares. Existing data dispersal schemes have been proposed mostly based on various mathematical transformations on the data which induce high computation overhead. This paper presents a novel data dispersal scheme where each part of a data object is replicated, without encoding, into a subset of data shares according to combinatorial design theory. Particularly, data parts are mapped to points and data shares are mapped to lines of a projective plane. Data parts are then distributed to data shares using the point and line incidence relations in the plane so that certain subsets of data shares collectively possess all data parts. The presented scheme incorporates combinatorial design theory with inseparability transformation to achieve secure data dispersal at reduced computation, communication and storage costs. Rigorous formal analysis and experimental study demonstrate significant cost-benefits of the presented scheme in comparison to existing methods.

Reasoning about discontinuance of information system use

While many studies have explored conditions and consequences of information systems adoption and use, few have focused on the final stages of the information system lifecycle. In this paper, I develop a theoretical and an initial empirical contribution to understanding individuals’ intentions to discontinue the use of an information system. This understanding is important because it yields implications about maintenance, retirement, and users’ switching decisions, which ultimately can affect work performance, system effectiveness, and return on technology investments. In this paper, I offer a new conceptualization of factors determining users’ intentions to discontinue the use of information systems. I then report on a preliminary empirical test of the model using data from a field study of information system users in a promotional planning routine in a large retail organization. Results from the empirical analysis provide first empirical support for the theoretical model. I discuss the work’s implications for theory on information systems continuance and dual-factor logic in information system use. I also provide suggestions for managers dealing with cessation of information systems and broader work routine change in organizations due to information system end-of-life decisions.

System-level analysis of network interfaces for hierarchical MPSoCs

Network Interfaces (NIs) are used in Multiprocessor System-on-Chips (MPSoCs) to connect CPUs to a packet switched Network-on-Chip. In this work we introduce a new NI architecture for our hierarchical CoreVA-MPSoC. The CoreVA-MPSoC targets streaming applications in embedded systems. The main contribution of this paper is a system-level analysis of different NI configurations, considering both software and hardware costs for NoC communication. Different configurations of the NI are compared using a benchmark suite of 10 streaming applications. The best performing NI configuration shows an average speedup of 20 for a CoreVA-MPSoC with 32 CPUs compared to a single CPU. Furthermore, we present physical implementation results using a 28 nm FD-SOI standard cell technology. A hierarchical MPSoC with 8 CPU clusters and 4 CPUs in each cluster running at 800MHz requires an area of 4.56mm2.

A model of social work classification in health care

The introduction of casemix funding for Australian acute health care services has challenged Social Work to demonstrate clear reporting mechanisms, demonstrate effective practice and to justify interventions provided. The term 'casemix' is used to describe the mix and type of patients treated by a hospital or other health care services. There is wide acknowledgement that the procedure-based system of Diagnosis Related Groupings (DRGs) is grounded in a medical/illness perspective and is unsatisfactory in describing and predicting the activity of Social Work and other allied health professions in health care service delivery. The National Allied Health Casemix Committee was established in 1991 as the peak body to represent allied health professions in matters related to casemix classification. This Committee has pioneered a nationally consistent, patient-centred information system for allied health. This paper describes the classification systems and codes developed for Social Work, which includes a minimum data set, a classification hierarchy, the set of activity (input) codes and 'indicator for intervention' codes. The advantages and limitations of the system are also discussed.

Hospital social work in Australia: Emerging trends or more of the same?

Social work in health care has been established for more than 100 years and is one of the largest areas of practice for social workers. Over time, demographic changes and growth in the aging population, increased longevity rates, an explosion in rates of chronic illness together with rapidly increasing cost of health care have created serious challenges for acute hospitals and health social workers. This article reviews the Australian health care system and policies with particular emphasis on the public hospital system. It then examines current hospital social work roles, including the continued role in discharge planning and expanding responsibility for emerging client problems, such as patient complexity, legal, and carer issues. The article concludes with a discussion of evolving issues and challenges facing health social work to ensure that social work remain relevant within this practice context.