Telemedicine News Archives

Eve-Lynn Nelson Ph.D. Wins Robert Wood Johnson Research Grant

December 11, 2003

The Health e-Technologies Initiative is a $10.3-million National Program Office (NPO) of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that supports research which evaluates the effectiveness of interactive eHealth applications (i.e., Internet, interactive TV and voice response systems, kiosks, personal digital assistants, CD-ROMs, DVDs) for health behavior change and chronic disease management. The overarching goal of the Health e-Technologies Initiative is to foster systematic research on eHealth applications for health behavior change and chronic disease management. The program of funded research will advance discovery of scientific knowledge about these applications to improve processes and outcomes of care for culturally diverse groups of patients/consumers and support provider adherence to evidence-based care.For more information about Robert Wood Johnson’s eHealth Technologies Initiative.

KUMC project information
Development of an eHealth Provider-Patient Communication Measure
Principal Investigator: Dr. Eve-Lynn Nelson
The researchers are modifying the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS), the most widely used interaction analysis system in the medical setting for coding patient-provider communication, for use in the interactive televideo (ITV) setting. The RIAS classifies provider and patient behaviors including instrumental behaviors, affective behaviors and social conversation. The first phase of the project modified the RIAS for the telehealth setting based on input from a panel of experts across disciplines. The second phase is assessing the measure across KUCTT telehealth clinics. The measure will allow researchers to address key research questions about communication within telehealth practice, including comparing telemedicine and face-to-face clinics and comparing different eHealth technologies.