bims-librar Biomed News
on Biomedical Librarianship
Issue of 2018‒04‒29
three papers selected by
Thomas Krichel
Open Library Society


  1. Yearb Med Inform. 2018 Apr 22.
      OBJECTIVES:  To provide a model for ensuring the ethical acceptability of the provisions that characterize the interjurisdictional use of eHealth, telemedicine, and associated modalities of health care deliveiy that are currently in place.METHODS:  Following the approach initiated in their Global Protection of Health Data project within the Security in Health Information Systems (SiHIS) working group of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), the authors analyze and evaluate relevant privacy and security approaches that are intended to stem the erosion of patients' trustworthiness in the handling of their sensitive information by health care and informatics professionals in the international context.
    RESULTS:  The authors found that while the majority of guidelines and ethical codes essentially focus on the role and functioning of the institutions that use EHRs and information technologies, little if any attention has been paid to the qualifications of the health informatics professionals (HIPs) who actualize and operate information systems to deal with or address relevant ethical issues.
    CONCLUSION:  The apparent failure to address this matter indicates that the ethical qualification of HIPs remains an important security issue and that the Global Protection of Health Data project initiated by the SiHIS working group in 2015 should be expanded to develop into an internationally viable method of certification. An initial model to this effect is sketched and discussed.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1641196
  2. Asian J Psychiatr. 2018 Apr;pii: S1876-2018(18)30213-2. [Epub ahead of print]34 93-97
      BACKGROUND: Journal clubs (JCs) teach participants how to critically read and assimilate materials published in journals. Electronic JCs (eJCs) provide a similar platform through internet groups, allowing members to participate in and review JC activities as well as JC archives in their free time.METHODS: We describe the operations and the successes of eJCIndia, to our knowledge the first eJC in India in the field of mental health. eJCIndia was started for capacity building in teaching and research competence in the field.
    RESULTS: eJC India, with >400 members comprising academic psychiatrists and postgraduate students, is now 3 years old. eJCIndia conducts about a hundred activities a year; there is active participation from the membership. Activities include posting of educational materials of interest to the group; seeking and receiving guidance on academic and practical matters of interest to the group; providing and receiving training on how to review research manuscripts submitted to journals for consideration for publication; learning how to critically review published journal articles for strengths, limitations, and applications; and learning how to design studies, analyze data, and prepare manuscripts for publication. The activities of eJCIndia have resulted in the publication of about 20 articles and in the development of several research collaborations, including one multicenter study.
    CONCLUSIONS: The eJCIndia model can be replicated across medical disciplines in India and elsewhere. It may be the most efficient means for manpower development and capacity building in academic and research competence, given the inequitable geographical distribution of academic expertise in developing countries.
    Keywords:  Capacity building; India; Journal club; Psychiatry; Research methods; Statistics
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2018.04.026
  3. Yearb Med Inform. 2018 Apr 22.
      OBJECTIVE:  The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Open Source Working Group (OSWG) initiated a group discussion to discuss current privacy and security issues in the open data movement in the healthcare domain from the perspective of the OSWG membership.METHODS:  Working group members independently reviewed the recent academic and grey literature and sampled a number of current large-scale open data projects to inform the working group discussion.
    RESULTS:  This paper presents an overview of open data repositories and a series of short case reports to highlight relevant issues present in the recent literature concerning the adoption of open approaches to sharing healthcare datasets. Important themes that emerged included data standardisation, the inter-connected nature of the open source and open data movements, and how publishing open data can impact on the ethics, security, and privacy of informatics projects.
    CONCLUSIONS:  The open data and open source movements in healthcare share many common philosophies and approaches including developing international collaborations across multiple organisations and domains of expertise. Both movements aim to reduce the costs of advancing scientific research and improving healthcare provision for people around the world by adopting open intellectual property licence agreements and codes of practice. Implications of the increased adoption of open data in healthcare include the need to balance the security and privacy challenges of opening data sources with the potential benefits of open data for improving research and healthcare delivery.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1641201