Consumers increasingly turn to commercial physician-rating websites, similar to those for restaurants and hotels, when searching for a new doctor, but the sites rarely have information that actually helps patients. “Consumers should still be careful about what they view on these sites,” says David Hanauer, an associate professor at the Medical School and the School of Information. A new study finds that most doctors… Read More »
Symptoms that patients describe to doctors may not always be documented in electronic medical records, a small study suggests. To test out how well the records match reality, researchers compared symptoms that 162 patients checked off on paper-based questionnaires with the information entered in patients’ electronic charts at eye clinics. Roughly one-third of the time, data on blurry… Read More »
The loss of her father in 2009 drew a sharp focus on the need for accurate and timely medical records for Patricia Abbott, associate professor of nursing. The experience gave her renewed purpose to continue her research, which explores how massive amounts of data can improve care for patients. Abbott is exploring a variety of innovative Big Data… Read More »
“Fake” news is not limited to politics or celebrity gossip. A study by Ceren Budak, an assistant professor at the School of Information, shows that the most popular health stories on social media may also be the least accurate. For example, four out of five popular posts on Facebook about Zika contained accurate information, but the ones containing… Read More »
A recent article published in Communications of the ACM examines the chronology of medical device security. The paper is the result of an interdisciplinary project, known as Trustworthy Health and Wellness, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Peter Honeyman, U-M research professor of computer science and engineering, collaborated on the article. Learn more.
A study published this month in the journal Health Affairs found problems with many smartphone health apps. Most concerning was what happened (or didn’t happen) with information that should have drawn warnings from the app—like selecting “yes” when the app asked if the user was feeling suicidal, or entering extremely abnormal levels for blood sugar levels. Only 28… Read More »
With a radio specifically designed to communicate through tissue, U-M researchers are adding another level to a computer platform small enough to fit inside a medical grade syringe. In the video below, David Blaauw, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and David Wentzloff, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, discuss how the technology will allow… Read More »