Health Information Technology Trends in Social Media: Using Twitter Data / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the health technology trends and sentiments of users using Twitter data in an attempt to examine the public's opinions and identify their needs. METHODS: Twitter data related to health technology, from January 2010 to October 2016, were collected. An ontology related to health technology was developed. Frequently occurring keywords were analyzed and visualized with the word cloud technique. The keywords were then reclassified and analyzed using the developed ontology and sentiment dictionary. Python and the R program were used for crawling, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis. RESULTS: In the developed ontology, the keywords are divided into ‘health technology‘ and ‘health information‘. Under health technology, there are are six subcategories, namely, health technology, wearable technology, biotechnology, mobile health, medical technology, and telemedicine. Under health information, there are four subcategories, namely, health information, privacy, clinical informatics, and consumer health informatics. The number of tweets about health technology has consistently increased since 2010; the number of posts in 2014 was double that in 2010, which was about 150 thousand posts. Posts about mHealth accounted for the majority, and the dominant words were ‘care‘, ‘new‘, ‘mental‘, and ‘fitness‘. Sentiment analysis by subcategory showed that most of the posts in nearly all subcategories had a positive tone with a positive score. CONCLUSIONS: Interests in mHealth have risen recently, and consequently, posts about mHealth were the most frequent. Examining social media users' responses to new health technology can be a useful method to understand the trends in rapidly evolving fields.

A Paradigm Shift in the Healthcare Delivery System with the Emergence of the 'Ambient Care' Environment / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: Patients are becoming more active in communicating with doctors, forming e-communities, and participating in decision-making process of their treatment plans. However, only a few studies have examined how digitalized healthcare affects patients' and doctors' attitudes towards medical care services and deliverance structure, and the problems that might stem from these changes. In this study, we 1) explored the current changes in patients' healthcare utilization patterns and delivery structures, 2) examined the emerging behaviours and awareness of the participants, and 3) proposed how to prepare for such changes. METHODS: Face-to-face interviews and a group discussion with both Korean and US experts on consumer health informatics were conducted. Interview guidelines were developed based on reviews of recent studies on consumer health informatics. RESULTS: While the American scholars had larger expectations about the scope of the changes in the health care system induced by the digitalization of healthcare, compared to the Korean scholars, the interviewees and group discussion participants from both countries all agreed on the changes in medical environment and the increasing importance of medical information. The changes induced by the digitalization of healthcare were categorized as follows: (1) in the structure and location of healthcare service delivery, (2) in the doctor-patient communication methods, and (3) in the role of patients and increasing emphasis in empowerment. CONCLUSION: We expect that digitalized healthcare will continue to affect the doctor-patient relationship and change the deliverance structure. In order to better prepare for the fundamental paradigm shift in the healthcare system and increase the benefits to society of these changes, continuous and concerted policy efforts to protect the privacy and security of private information, alleviate the digital divide, and secure the quality of digitalized clinical knowledge will be required.

The Issues and Trends of Consumer Health Informatics Research / 대한의료정보학회지

The Consumer Health Informatics has been developing very fast recently as the new trends of consumerism emerged. This article reviewed the numerical expansion of the CHI researches since 1989 based on the search results of the PubMed database, and classified the main issues of CHI researches and categorized them into 10 issues. The trends of the CHI researches were analyzed by the categories and the timeline.

Consumer health informatics: ethics, evaluation and standards / Cosumidor de salud informática: ética, evaluación y estándares / O consumidor de saúde informática: ética, avaliação e modelos

This article discusses the ethical issues involved in consumer health informatics -specifically those issues surrounding the provision of medical information for patients on the World Wide Web. The discussion includes concerns and suggestions relating to: quality control and error avoidance, Internet governance and Web site responsibility, and intellectual property and control. These issues are argued to be of exceptional importance in the developing world, including Latin America and the Caribbean.

Este artículo discute los temas éticos involucrados en la información en salud, específicamente aquéllos en torno a la entrega de información médica a los pacientes que ingresen a la World Wide Web. La discusión abarca preocupaciones y sugerencias en relación con el control de calidad, evitar los errores, el gobierno de Internet, la responsabilidad del sitio Web y el registro de la propiedad intelectual. Se argumenta que estos temas tienen gran importancia en el mundo en desarrollo, incluyendo a Latinoamérica y el Caribe.

Este artigo discute os temas éticos envolvidos na informação em saúde, especificamente no fornecimento de informação médica aos pacientes que ingressam na World Wide Web. A discussão envolve preocupações e sugestões em relação ao controle de qualidade, evitar os erros, o governo de Internet, a responsabilidade do site Web e o registro da propriedade intelectual. Argumenta-se sobre questões e temas de grande importância no mundo em desenvolvimento, incluindo a América Latina e o Caribe.

The Comparison Analysis of Opinions towards the Concept of Consumer Health Informatics among Korean and American Health Informatics Academic Society Members / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: Consumer Health Informatics is an increasingly important research area within health informatics, however, it is as yet not a well recognized discipline. The purpose of this study was obtaining consensus on a definition and description of Consumer Health Informatics among members of health informatics related society in Korea and the United States. DESIGN AND MEASUREMENT: The Consumer Health Informatics? Working Group's "Survey of Definitions of Consumer Health Informatics" was administered via the World Wide Web in English and Korean. RESULTS: Differences found between two groups were opinions on the definition of Consumer Health Informatics and in recognition of importance for related disciplines. CONCLUSION: Visions and recommendations for the future of Consumer Health Informatics are provided.

Selection Criteria and Utilization of Health Information on the Internet by Consumers / 대한의료정보학회지

This study was conducted to investigate selection criteria of health information and utilization pattern of health information on the Web by the consumers. Data were collected through off-line and on-line surveys. The off-line survey was conducted with 64 white color office workers in seven companies. The on-line survey was conducted on JoongAng Ilbo 'Healthcare' and KIHASA 'Healthguide' Web sites and 216 participated in the survey. To compare the selection criteria of the consumers with that of health informatics experts, an e-mail survey was done with twenty-six health informatics experts. Selection criteria of health information rated by consumers were in order of accuracy of content, scope and depth of content, privacy and confidentiality, and readability. Experts ranked in order of accuracy of content, purpose of sites, scope and depth of content, and readability. Seventy eight percent of consumers used the Internet once a month to search health information, 60.4% visited health-related Web sites via Internet search. The majority (85%) visited 2-5 different Web sites when they searched for health information. Eighty three percent of consumers regarded the health information on Internet as reliable. Ninety percent of consumers said that the health information on Internet was useful. Consumers used the Internet 'to find disease-related information' (86.1%), 'to find information on exercise and nutrition' (77.9%), 'to get an on-line advice' (42.5%), and 'to buy products or medicine for health' (18.9%). The results of the present study suggested what the health informatics experts should consider when they provide health information on the Internet and what consumers demand when they filter quality health information.