IHF Journal: World Hospitals and Health Services

Virtual patient simulation for prevention of medical error: beyond just technical upskilling
Virtual patient simulation is a well established mode of medical education for many technically oriented clinical skills

e-Health readiness assessment: Promoting ‘hope’ in the healthcare institutions of Pakistan
This report presents results from in-depth interviews conducted during a larger study and presents views of managers and health-care providers from various institutions in Pakistan about the usefulness of e-health readiness assessment tools.

Habits of Internet users and usefulness of websites in Spanish for health education
When health professionals recommend a website to a patient (web prescription) they must consider both, the quality of the information, and the style for surfing on the Net.

e-Health development policies in new Member States in Central Europe
The paper brings insights on the process of e-health development in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which joined European Union in 2004 years.

Sharing and management of EHR data through a national archive: Experiences from Finland
The management of Electronic Health Records is a complex business ranging beyond just digital archiving. This article looks at the challenges involved, the different models for EHR data archiving and the impact on health-care provider systems.

E-Governance in the developing world in action the case of District Net in Uganda
E-Governance is a powerful tool to bring about change to the government processes in the developing world. E-governance operates at the cross roads between Information and Communication Technology and government processes and is divided in three overlapping domains: e-administration, e-services and e-society.

Pilot study of an internet patient physician communication tool for heart failure disease management
This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and patients' acceptability of using the Internet to communicate with patients with symptomatic heart failure.

Health care IT adoption could save USD162 billion
This article looks at how healthcare IT can save hospitals and health services valuable funding and how these saving compare to the costs involved.

The ehealth agenda for developing countries
Delivering eHealth in developing countries faces different health and socio-economic challenges to the developed one. But, if a global health infrastructure is to evolve, then developing countries need to play their part.

Computerizing a health service: the potential barriers to success
Any project to computerise the complex health services will take time and be beset with problems. However, some of these problems arise from barriers which could have been anticipated. This article describes how the National Health Service in England is approaching such a complex subject.

What is eHealth?: a systematic review of published definitions
The widespread use of the term eHealth suggests that it is an important concept, and that there is a tacit understanding of its meaning. This compendium of proposed definitions may improve communication among the many individuals and organisations that use the term.

eHealth in Europe: Towards higher goals
The initiatives and actions of the European Commission are presented vis-à-vis those of national Member States, particularly in terms of strategic priorities and implementation actions. The review is accompanied by an analysis of expert feedback on eHealth drivers and barriers.

Open source approaches to health information systems in Kenya
This paper focuses on the experience to date of an installation of a Free Open Source Software (FOSS) product, Care2X1, at a church hospital in Kenya.