•   When: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 from 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM
•   Speakers: Bo Yu
•   Location: Research Hall, Room 401
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Abstract

Procedure-oriented medical treatment specifies processes, which embody standards that are based on years of experience to avoid known pitfalls in care procedures, that need to be followed by members of care teams. These processes are referred to as medical treatment workflow or careflow, which are not currently embedded in and enforced by the existing Electronic Medical Record systems (EMRs). This dissertation demonstrates a method to incorporate medical workflows, with sufficient flexibility to handle unanticipated exceptions, into existing EMRs. This dissertation also shows the utility and flexibility of the proposed method by developing prototypes for surgical procedures and hemodialysis procedures.

Secondly, receiving medical treatment, choosing an alternative treatment, or terminating a treatment requires the patient's explicit or derived informed consent regardless of the electronic nature of a healthcare system. Failure to obtain informed consent is one of the top ten reasons for medical malpractice claims in the United States. Consequently, e-healthcare systems need to have an effective and accurate consent management system. Obtaining and enforcing consent in EMRs is complex due to the fact it's governed by state laws, institutional policies, and treatment types. However, it becomes even more complicated if requesting an appropriate consent involving a minor. This dissertation provides a method to incorporate medical treatment consent into existing EMRs. The utility and flexibility of this method are also shown by prototyping a system that enforces treatment consent for treating adolescent patients across all fifty states. The method provided shows how both the current state-specific wide-variety regulations, and any future changes of the regulations can be incorporated and enforced by a single system.