Browsing by Subject "Standards"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Analysis of high-level electronic operative report documentation structure
    (2015-02) Melton-Meaux, Genevieve B.
    Operative report documentation (ORD) is a fundamental part of surgical practice that has a direct and significant role in quality, medico-legal and billing, and other secondary uses of operative reports. Traditionally, operative reports are created by the primary surgeon through dictation and subsequent transcription of details of the operative procedure after its completion. With the advent of widespread electronic health record (EHR) adoption, there is a potential opportunity to improve aspects of ORD through synoptic reporting and templating of operative reports, as well as to leverage operative report sections and high-level phases described with surgical procedures in operative report. This research seeks to illuminate knowledge about high-level ORD structure including an assessment of attitudes and opinions towards ORD in surgical education, evaluation of structured operative report section names, and appraisal of high-level phases of surgical descriptions in operative reports with the application of automated methods to classify these phases. An electronic survey about ORD teaching and practices was sent to surgical program directors. While most program directors responding to the survey consider ORD teaching a priority, few provide ORD instruction, and significant barriers were perceived by program directors for ORD instruction and ORD using synoptic reporting. To evaluate operative report sections, the HL7 Implementation Guide for Clinical Document Architecture Release 2.0 Operative Note Draft Standard for Trial Use (HL7-ON DSTU) Release 1 and Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC®) structured sections were evaluated on 384 unique section headers from 362,311 operative reports. HL7-ON DSTU alone and HL7-ON DSTU with LOINC® section headers covered 66% and 79% of sections headers (93% and 98% of header instances), respectively. Section headers contained large numbers of synonyms, formatting and word form variation, as well as coverage gaps in the current terminology sources. In a third study, high-level phases of the "Surgery Description" from operative reports were identified by surgeons. Automatic classification with support vector machines using topic analysis and information gain for feature selection was then used to identify these high-level phases, followed by assessment of subtopics for phases. Five high-level "Surgery Description" section phases were identified: Preliminaries, Getting Started, Main Part, Closure, and Epilogue, as well as need for Observations to describe findings, events, and other important clinical information. Automated classification of high-level sections performed well on a set of laparoscopic cholecystectomy and random surgery operative reports and was associated with the identification of meaningful subtopics. Overall, this research demonstrates the variability in ORD practices for surgeons nationally and individually with respect to section structure, as well as the value of high-level phases to group content in these important clinical documents. Future work will seek to leverage our understanding of ORD structure to improve information extraction and natural language processing (NLP) techniques for secondary use of operative reports.
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    Curriculum policy, controversy, and change: Minnesota's profile of learning, 1993-2003
    (2008-10) DeLapp, Peggy Reed
    This historical case study of Minnesota's Profile of Learning examines how and why the policy was created, implemented, and finally repealed. The Profile of Learning, Minnesota's first attempt at a statewide standards-based curriculum policy, was developed beginning in 1993, officially adopted in 1998, and repealed in 2003. Intended to stimulate change through statewide high expectations for students and associated improvements in curriculum and instruction, it instead became controversial and contested. The study uses a conceptual framework that addresses the social and political context for the policy, the policy actors and their beliefs about the purpose of schooling and the knowledge that should be contained in the curriculum, and the policy levers of curriculum, instruction, and teacher learning. Through the use of primary and secondary source documents and interviews, a chronology of significant events in the life of the Profile was constructed. The story was then examined to determine probable causes for the policy's failure. These included shifts in the state and national political contexts, varied policy stances on the part of policy actors and stakeholders, interest group activity from a group strongly opposed to the policy, conflicting beliefs about purpose and knowledge, and the use of ineffective policy levers. The case study suggests the need for improved attention to the policymaking process, particularly at the transition points between the policy ideas and formulation and subsequently between policy formulation and implementation. The lack of clear policy goals, appropriate policy instruments, and attention to feasibility contributed to later difficulties with the policy, as did the failure to use evaluative information to make adjustments during the implementation process. In addition, stronger collaboration between policymakers and practitioners is needed for the development of effective curriculum policy.
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    Curriculum Policy, Controversy, and Change: Minnesota's Profile of Learning, 1993-2003
    (2008-10) DeLapp, Peggy Reed
    This historical case study of Minnesota’s Profile of Learning examines how and why the policy was created, implemented, and finally repealed. The Profile of Learning, Minnesota’s first attempt at a statewide standards-based curriculum policy, was developed beginning in 1993, officially adopted in 1998, and repealed in 2003. Intended to stimulate change through statewide high expectations for students and associated improvements in curriculum and instruction, it instead became controversial and contested. The study uses a conceptual framework that addresses the social and political context for the policy, the policy actors and their beliefs about the purpose of schooling and the knowledge that should be contained in the curriculum, and the policy levers of curriculum, instruction, and teacher learning. Through the use of primary and secondary source documents and interviews, a chronology of significant events in the life of the Profile was constructed. The story was then examined to determine probable causes for the policy’s failure. These included shifts in the state and national political contexts, varied policy stances on the part of policy actors and stakeholders, interest group activity from a group strongly opposed to the policy, conflicting beliefs about purpose and knowledge, and the use of ineffective policy levers. The case study suggests the need for improved attention to the policymaking process, particularly at the transition points between the policy ideas and formulation and subsequently between policy formulation and implementation. The lack of clear policy goals, appropriate policy instruments, and attention to feasibility contributed to later difficulties with the policy, as did the failure to use evaluative information to make adjustments during the implementation process. In addition, stronger collaboration between policymakers and practitioners is needed for the development of effective curriculum policy.
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    Integration of Engineering education by high school teachers to meet standards in the physics classroom
    (2013-08) Kersten, Jennifer Anna
    In recent years there has been increasing interest in engineering education at the K-12 level, which has resulted in states adopting engineering standards as a part of their academic science standards. From a national perspective, the basis for research into engineering education at the K-12 level is the belief that it is of benefit to student learning, including to "improve student learning and achievement in science and mathematics; increase awareness of engineering and the work of engineers; boost youth interest in pursuing engineering as a career; and increase the technological literacy of all students" (National Research Council, 2009a, p. 1). The above has led to a need to understand how teachers are currently implementing engineering education in their classrooms. High school physics teachers have a history of implementing engineering design projects in their classrooms, thus providing an appropriate setting to look for evidence of quality engineering education at the high school level. Understanding the characteristics of quality engineering integration can inform curricular and professional development efforts for teachers asked to implement engineering in their classrooms. Thus, the question that guided this study is: How, and to what extent, do physics teachers represent quality engineering in a physics unit focused on engineering? A case study research design was implemented for this project. Three high school physics teachers were participants in this study focused on the integration of engineering education into the physics classroom. The data collected included observations, interviews, and classroom documents that were analyzed using the Framework for Quality K-12 Engineering Education (Moore, Glancy et al., 2013). The results provided information about the areas of the K-12 engineering framework addressed during these engineering design projects, and detailed the quality of these lesson components. The results indicate that all of the design projects contained components of the indicators central to engineering education, although with varied degrees of success. In addition, each design project contained aspects important to the development of students' understanding of engineering and that promote important professional skills used by engineers. The implications of this work are discussed at the teacher, school, professional development, and policy levels.
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    ITS and Transportation Safety: EMS System Data Integration to Improve Traffic Crash Emergency Response and Treatment
    (University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-01) Schooley, Benjamin; Horan, Thomas; Botts, Nathan; Noamani, Aisha
    This investigation is in response to the requirement for Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs), legislated by SAFETEA-LU, to address the need for data systems to allow for evidence-based safety planning. This study evaluates the use of information systems and intelligent transportation systems across the emergency response continuum of care to vehicle crash emergencies. Organizations that participate in the emergency response process often have siloed IT systems and are not able to share data with other agencies and organizations. An integrated system to produce data for real-time decision making and holistic performance and clinical analysis currently does not exist, but has the potential to improve emergency response and patient care. Proposed in this study is an Integrated Crash Trauma Information Network (ICTN) to allow for integrated information exchange. This study uses data collected from prior studies conducted in Minnesota, a literature review, case studies in Minnesota, and an in-depth analysis of the benefits of linking IT systems, the SHSP, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), 911, Trauma systems, and health information systems. A case study analysis was conducted across three overlapping dimensions to assess current challenges and potential benefits to integrated information sharing: operational, organizational, and governance. The study found potential health provision and data analysis benefits to integrated information sharing and posited a normative architecture to guide the design of systems to better use and analyze crash data. The design and development of a “proof of concept” system is recommended for the next phase of research.
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    The relationship between beliefs and practices of mathematics teachers who use a standards-based curriculum.
    (2011-06) Monson, Debra Sue
    The NCTM Standards encourage classroom teachers to teach rigorous mathematical content to all students using problem solving, reasoning, and communication. One particular high school curriculum, Core-Plus, embodies both the process and content standards included in the NCTM Standards. As teachers work with any curriculum, their beliefs play a role in the implementation of the curriculum and their daily practices. This study looks at the relationship between beliefs and practices of five high school teachers at Suburban High School who are using Core-Plus. The setting of this study is noteworthy because the entire district containing Suburban High School has used Standards-based curricula for over 10 years at all grade levels. There appears to be a compatible relationship between beliefs of the teachers and their practices with Core-Plus. Results indicate that several other factors, such as teacher collaboration, state standards, and students, are highly influential on these teachers‟ practices and these results provide a framework for looking at implementation of new curricula.