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Boot Camp Treatment for Web Obsession

An article in today's New York Times describes a boot camp in South Korea to treat compulsive Internet use. While South Korea claims to be the most wired nation on earth, mental health professionals have observed that "legions of obsessed users find that they cannot tear themselves away from their computer screens." According the the article, "up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk for Internet addiction," according to a recent three-year government-financed survey conducted by Hanyang University in Seoul. Up to a quarter million people are demonstrating rising levels of tolerance, withdrawl symptoms and craving.

A network of Internet-addiction counseling centers and treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals have been created to address this problem. Recently an Internet Rescue camp has been started where students spend their time exercising and doing group activities to wean them from the Internet. Korean researchers have also developed a checklist for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity, the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)

NY Times article

Technology and Pain

"Computers in the future may weigh less than 1.5 tons." Popular Mechanics, 1949

A special noteworthy issue of Pain Medicine - October 2007 was devoted to Computer and Information Technology in the Assessment and Management of Patients with Pain.

The issue editors describe that the intent of this supplement is to "present informative articles by well-respected clinicians and researchers on topics related to information technology and computers in pain management. Why do we need a special issue on computers and information technology? Consider that close to one in five adults in America experience chronic pain, and the incidence of noncancer pain will escalate with an ever-aging population. Increasingly, clinicians are under pressure to see more patients as efficiently as possible while at the same time patients want to have a one-to-one relationship with providers, to be informed of their diagnoses and treatment, and to take a more active role in their own care as educated consumers. Information technology has been shown to improve communication and potentially enrich the clinician-patient relationship with electronic medical records, email, and disease-specific web sites. These technologies are designed to improve efficiencies and reduce barriers to access."

Here are some of the articles and research included in this issue:
(links to abstracts)

"Computers in the future may weigh less than 1.5 tons." Popular Mechanics, 1949 (Editors Introduction)
Computer and Information Technology in the Assessment and Management of Patients with Pain
Electronic Monitoring in an Acute Pain Management Service
Electronic Diaries as a Tool to Improve Pain Management: Is There Any Evidence?
Assessment of Attention to Pain Using Handheld Computer Diaries
Development of a New Computer Method to Assess Children’s Pain
Using Item Response Theory (IRT) for Developing and Evaluating the Pain Impact Questionnaire
Using Interactive Voice Response to Measure Pain and Quality of Life
Computerized Decision-Support Systems for Chronic Pain Management in Primary Care
Computer Assessment and Diagnostic Classification of Chronic Pain Patients
Information Technology in Mental Health Research: Impediments and Implications in One Chronic Pain Study Population
Virtual Reality and Interactive Simulation for Pain Distraction
Web-based Health Survey Systems in Outcome Assessment and Management of Pain

Technology for Hospital's Competitive Advantage

Results of an October survey of health IT professionals showed that using electronic health records would improve a hospital's competitive advantage most significantly.

Twelve percent of respondents said clinical documentation would have the most impact on boosting a hospital's competitiveness, while 11% said computerized physician order entry and 8% said radiology picture archiving and communication systems. Just 7% of survey respondents said that electronic prescribing would have the most impact.

Interestingly, the survey also found that 41% of respondents said that consumers will use online hospital data to help them decide where to receive care. However, 25% of respondents said that as long as the current structure for paying for health care exists, posting hospital information online will not make a difference. Five percent of respondents said that the public does not care about this information and will not use it to make health care decisions.

Study conducted by Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS)
Story from iHealthbeat