Healthy Living Data Overload As Well As Wellness Decision-Making (Part 1)

With the force to improve decision-making amongst electronic wellness records too related wellness information technology, a fundamental query to hold upwardly answered is: How should nosotros bargain amongst information overload?

I’m defining information overload equally a acre of having to a greater extent than information available than 1 tin readily assimilate, that is, people possess got difficulty absorbing the information into their base of operations of knowledge. This hinders decision-making too judgment past times causing stress too cognitive impediments such equally confusion, dubiousness too distraction.

Information overload tin adversely touching several types of data-intensive health-related decisions, including:

• Decisions most wellness (preventing illness, maintaining health), which ought to accept into business organisation human relationship information such equally a person’s behavioral too genetic adventure factors, grade of physical activity/exercise, stress too emotional distress levels, utilization of vitamins too dietary supplements, etc.
• Decisions most diagnoses (identifying an existing wellness problem), which ought to catch information such equally a person’s physical too psychological symptoms, lab exam results (of which in that place are over 4,000), medical history, allergies, demographics, psychosocial problems, genetics, the mind-body connection, etc.
• Decisions most handling alternative too implementation (intervening to process a medical too psychological wellness problem), which ought to hold upwardly based on a person’s diagnostic information, evidence-based guidelines, personal preferences, social back upwardly network, available resources, etc.

Obtaining all this information requires the collection too analysis of a wealth of various data, including (but non express to):

• Physiological/biomedical problems too adventure factors, e.g., torso organ too organisation dysfunctions/disturbances; physical pain; lay out energy too attentional excesses too deficits; eating, sleeping, too sexual disorders; mobility problems; allergies; etc.
• Vital signs (e.g., optic beat, breathing rate, temperature, too blood pressure)
• Lab exam results (e.g., full general blood & urine screenings, microbiology, virology, cytopathology, histopathology, cytogenetics)
• Imaging studies
• Medications existence taken
• Interventions existence rendered
• Dietary supplements existence used
• Medical/treatment history too personal demographics
• Affective-motivation-characterological dysfunctions/problems, e.g., intensity, frequency, too duration of negative touching too emotional stability; maladaptive too unsafe behaviors including impulsivity, compulsions, too suicidality; personality too psychiatric disorders; etc.
• Psychological vulnerabilities, e.g., feel of helplessness too hopelessness; ineffective coping strategies; depression frustration tolerance; disturbing thoughts too negative emotions associated amongst them; traumatic experiences; self-image problems; etc.
  Psychosocial distress, e.g., occupational, educational, too social/interpersonal dysfunctions; electrical flow life-stressors; etc.
• Psychoactive essence use, including alcohol & essence abuse, dependency, withdrawal
• Psychological-physiological (mind-body) interactions, including (a) biomedical illnesses/traumas that may sweat or exacerbate psychological symptoms, (b) medication side-effects that may sweat or exacerbate psychological symptoms, too (c) psychological factors that may sweat or exacerbate physical symptoms
• Genetic markers
• ICD too DSM diagnostic codes; CPT procedures codes
• Intake too discharge/outcomes data
• Healthcare utilization data
• Consumer satisfaction
• Motivation for self-care.

If a someone has a wellness work for which a substantial constituent of this information would improve decisions, information overload becomes a existent adventure because in that place is merely equally good much information for a human heed to handle. So, shouldn’t nosotros utilization computers to collect too analyze all the information that may hold upwardly relevant to a person’s condition?

I bet most would tell utilization of computers to collect volumes of information most a person'e wellness problems makes feel if they could : (a) obtain, organize, too analyze all the relevant information without non bad difficulty, inconvenience, too expense; (b) maintain sensitive patient information secure; (c) permit the information to hold upwardly shared amongst authorized persons; too (d) utilization artificially intelligent software programs to brand feel of it all too assist people brand amend decisions.

Unfortunately, this rational vision has non been realized. While calculator mightiness too artificial tidings capabilities hand to increase exponentially (e.g., run across Ray Kurzweil’s majority “The Singularity is Near”), too piece in that place are efficient too effective ways to collect, organize, analyze, too portion all these data, humanity currently lacks the noesis too agreement needed to railroad train a software organisation able to contain all this information to assist guide health-related decisions.

So, what should nosotros do? Focus on collecting “minimal measure information sets” that provides to a greater extent than or less useful information too avoids overload, but are non plenty to improve wellness decisions substantially? Or should nosotros start collecting comprehensive information fifty-fifty though nosotros lack the mightiness to utilization it all to back upwardly decisions, fifty-fifty at the adventure of information overload? What do you lot think?

This topic continues here.

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