BME203 Sem 1

Question 1

What is Biomedical Informatics?

Answer 1

•The scientific field that deals with biomedical information, data & knowledge – their storage, retrieval, & optimal use for problem-solving & decision-making.
•It touches on all basic & applied fields in biomedical science & is closely tied to modern information technologies, notably in the areas of computing & communication.

Question 2

What are the functions of Health IT systems?

Answer 2

1. Data acquisition & presentation
   • Number of data to be collected & processed overwhelms human capabilities
2. Communication & integration of information
   •Myriad data collected by multiple health professionals who work in a variety of settings
   •Communication among team members essential for effective healthcare delivery
   •Data must be available to decision-makers when & where they are needed
3. Record keeping & access
   •Computers well-suited to performing tedious & repetitive data-processing tasks such as collecting & tabulating data, transcribing data from 1 form to another or formatting & producing reports
   •Speeds up services, reduce direct labor costs, minimize number of errors
4. Surveillance
   •Timely reactions to data crucial for quality in healthcare
   •Data overload (created by growth of IT) is detrimental to good decision-making as is data insufficiency
   •Data indicating a need for action may be available but are easily overlooked by overloaded health professionals
5. Information Storage & Retrieval
   •Storage & retrieval of information is essential to all computer systems
   •Permits sharing of information with people who are not available at the same time
   •Storage must be well-organized & indexed so that information recorded in a patient record system allows effective retrieval
   •The variety of users must be considered
6. Data Analysis
   •Data analysis systems aid decision-makers by presenting information in a clear & understandable form such as graphs to facilitate trend analysis or compute secondary parameters to help spot abnormalities
   •Clinical research systems perform powerful statistical analyses of large sets of patient data
   •For clinicians graphics are essential for interpretation of data & results
7. Decision Support
   •Distinction between decision support systems & systems that monitor events & issue alerts is not clear cut
   •Applications includes Clinical consultation systems and Nursing information systems
8. Education
   •Computer-assisted learning, computer-based education (CBE), computer-aided instruction (CAI)
   •Clinical teaching applications includes Computer-modeled patients or Clinical reasoning tools

Question 3

What are some designs of systems that make them more effective for users?

Answer 3

1. Quality & style of interface
   •Have clear presentations, avoid unnecessary detail, provide consistent interaction
   •Menus, graphics & the use of color make systems more attractive & simpler to learn & use
   •Alternative devices for interaction such as light pens, touch screens, speech recognition
2. Convenience
   •Number & placement of workstations & printers
   •Speed & response
   •Sufficient capacity to handle users’ demands for information
   •Timely access to data in the form that users need

3.Reliability
•Frequent data back up & redundant hardware to minimize loss of data & amount of time system is unavailable

4.Security
•Confidentiality of sensitive medical data
•Easily accessible to authorized personnel, yet should not release information to unauthorized users

5. Integration
   Allow exchange of information among independent systems

Question 4

What is SDLC ( Software Development Life Cycle )

Answer 4

•Conceptual model that describes the stages involved in an information system development project

•Various SDLC methodologies
◦The waterfall model
◦Rapid application development (RAD)
◦Joint application development (JAD)
◦The spiral model

•Usually several models are combined into a hybrid methodology

•Documentation should be done in parallel with the development process

Question 5

What are the 4 Software Development Life Cycles methodologies?

Answer 5

1. Waterfall model
2. Rapid Application Development
3. Spiral model
4. Agile model

Question 6

Elaborate on the waterfall model (strengths, weaknesses)

Answer 6

Feasibility
◦Determine if project should get the go-ahead
◦Project plan & budget estimates
Analysis
◦Gathers requirements for the system
◦Detailed study of business needs
Design
◦Program interactions
◦Interface design
◦Data design
Implement
◦Designs translated into code
Test
◦System testing
◦Integration testing
◦Volume testing
◦Acceptance testing
Maintain
◦Changes
◦Bug fixes
◦New features

Strengths
•Easy to understand, easy to use
•Provides structure to inexperienced staff
•Milestones are well understood
•Sets requirements stability
•Good for management control (plan, staff, track)
•Works well when quality is more important than cost or schedule

Deficiencies
•All requirements must be known upfront
•Deliverables created for each phase are considered frozen – inhibits flexibility
•Can give a false impression of progress
•Does not reflect problem-solving nature of software development – iteration of phases
•Integration is one big bang at the end
•Little opportunity for customer to preview the system (until it may be too late)

Question 7

Elaborate on RAD model

Answer 7

Initial system rapidly developed from very abstract specifications
Refined with user input to produce a system which satisfies the user’s needs

Principles
◦In certain situations, a usable 80% solution can be produced in 20% of the time that would have been required to produce a total solution
◦In certain situations, the business requirements for a system can be fully satisfied even if some of its operational requirements are not satisfied
◦In certain situations, the acceptability of a system can be assessed against the agreed minimum useful set of requirements rather than all requirements

Strengths
◦Reduced cycle time & improved productivity with fewer people means lower costs
◦User involved throughout the complete cycle minimizes risk of not achieving customer satisfaction & business needs
◦Focus moves from documentation to code (WYSIWYG)
◦Uses modeling concepts to capture information about business, data & processes

Deficiencies
◦Accelerated development process must give quick responses to the user
◦Risk of never achieving closure
◦Hard to use with legacy systems
◦Requires a system that can be modularized
◦Developers & users must be committed to rapid-fire activities

Question 8

Elaborate on Spiral model

Answer 8

•Emphasizes the need to go back & iterate earlier stages a number of times as project progresses
•A series of short waterfall cycles, each producing an early prototype representing a part of the entire project

Strengths
◦Provides early indication of insurmountable risks, without much cost
◦Users see the system early because of rapid prototyping tools
◦Critical high-risk functions are developed first
◦Design does not have to be perfect
◦Users can be closely tied to all lifecycle steps
◦Early & frequent feedback from users
◦Cumulative costs assessed frequently

Deficiencies
◦Time spent for evaluating risks too large for small or low-risk projects
◦Time spent planning, resetting objectives, doing risk analysis and prototyping may be excessive
◦The model is complex
◦Risk assessment expertise is required
◦Spiral may continue indefinitely
◦Developers must be reassigned during non-development phase activities
◦May be hard to define objective, verifiable milestones that indicate readiness to proceed through the next iteration

Question 9

Elaborate on Agile model

Answer 9

• Agile SDLC model is a combination of iterative and incremental process models
• Rapid delivery of working software product
• Agile methods break the product into small incremental builds (in
  iterations)
• Each iteration typically lasts from about 1 to 3 weeks
• Each iteration involves cross functional teams working simultaneously on areas like:
  - Planning, Requirements Analysis, Design, Coding, Unit Testing and Acceptance Testing
• At the end of the iteration, a working product is displayed to the
  customer and important stakeholders

Strengths
l Realistic approach to software development
l Promotes teamwork and cross training
l Functionality can be developed rapidly and demonstrated
l Resource requirements are minimum
l Suitable for fixed or changing requirements
l Delivers early partial working solutions
l Good model for environments that change steadily
l Minimal rules, documentation easily employed
l Enables concurrent development and delivery within an overall planned
context
l Little or no planning required
l Easy to manage
l Gives flexibility to developers

Deficiencies
l Not suitable for handling complex dependencies
l More risk of sustainability, maintainability and extensibility
l Require an overall plan, an agile leader and agile project management
practice without which it will not work
l Strict delivery management dictates the scope, functionality to be delivered,
and adjustments to meet the deadlines
l Depends heavily on customer interaction, so if customer is not clear, team
can be driven in the wrong direction
l There is a very high individual dependency, since there is minimum
documentation generated
l Transfer of technology to new team members may be quite challenging due
to lack of documentation