Dr Vitali Sintchenko

Research Fellow - Decision Support

MBBS FRCPA PhD (UNSW)

Profile

Dr Sintchenko started his career in health informatics in 1999 after completing ofhis specialist pathologist training with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. In his PhD Vitali examined the impact of decision complexity on the efficacy of decision support systems (DSS), and demonstrated that DSS improve clinical outcomes when used for antibiotic management. In recognition of these Dr Sintchenko was awarded a NICS Fellowship and have extended his expertise into public health informatics.

Dr Sintchenko is currently a CI on four ARC and NHMRC grants.

Research Interests

Dr Sintchenko explores markers for early detection of existing and potentially emerging infectious diseases. His research builds on his insights into the information-processing structure of risk assessment aids and molecular microbiology and is an important step towards solving the long-standing problem of low specificity with early warning systems.

Professional Affiliations

Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases
Australian Society for Microbiology
American Society for Microbiology
American Medical Informatics Association
Health Informatics Society of Australia

Selected publications

Sintchenko V, Wang Q, Gilbert GL, Early warning system for Salmonella surveillance based on molecular subtyping. National Communicable Diseases Conference, Canberra, 14-15 March 2007.

Sintchenko V, Coiera E. Decision complexity affects the extent and type of decision support use. In: Bates D (Ed). Proceedings of the Annual Scientific Meeting of American Medical Informatics Association. Washington DC, 11-15 Nov 2006. AMIA, 2006. PP.724-728.

Aitken R, Muscatello DJ, Zheng W, Sintchenko V, Miller G, Tankel A, Corben P, Detection of outbreak of enteroviral meningitis through syndromic
surveillance, Australasian Epidemiological Association Conference, Melbourne, Sept 2006.

Sintchenko V, Persson L, Lanser J. Communicable disease informatics - Emerging concepts in disease surveillance. In: Westbrook J & Callen J (Eds). Bridging digital divide: Clinician, consumer and computer/Proceedings of the 14th National Health Informatics Conference. Sydney, 20-22 Aug 2006. HISA,
Melbourne. PP.30-35.

Sintchenko V. Information processing in clinical decision-making. In: Lazakidou D (Ed). Handbook of Research on Informatics in Healthcare & Biomedicine. Idea Group, 2006. PP.147-153.

Sintchenko V, Iredell JR, Gilbert GL, Coiera E. Handheld computer-based decision support reduces patient length of stay and antibiotic prescribing in critical care. Journal of American Medical Informatics Association 2005;12:398-402.

Sintchenko V, Muscatello D, Churches T, Gilbert GL, Syndromic and laboratory-based electronic surveillance: A case for synergy. National
Communicable Diseases Control Conference, Sydney, 2-3 May 2005.

Sintchenko V, Coiera E, Iredell J, Gilbert GL. The impact of decision support on antibiotic prescribing decisions: an interactive web experiment. Journal of American Medical Informatics Association 2004;11:71-77.

Sintchenko V. Improving patient safety and quality of health care through pathology informatics. In: Transforming Australia's Health System/Proceedings of the National Health Information Summit, 6-7 Dec 2004, Melbourne, 2004. PP. 156-158.

Sintchenko V, Clinical microbiology meets informatics: new approaches to improve laboratory utilisation, Annual Scientific Meeting, Australian
Society for Microbiology, Sydney, Sept 2004.

Sintchenko V, Coiera E. Which clinical decisions benefit from automation? A task complexity approach. International Journal of Medical Informatics 2003;70:309-316.

Sintchenko V, Do pathology results matter? A web experiment to assess the impact of pathology reports on clinical decisions. Advancing Pathology
Informatics, Imaging and the Internet (APIII 2001). Scientific Session Abstracts. Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 2002; 126:786.

Sintchenko V, Gilbert GL, Coiera E, Dwyer DE. Treat or test first? Decision analysis of empirical antiviral treatment of influenza virus infection versus treatment based on rapid test results. Journal of Clinical Virology 2002; 25:15-21.

Sintchenko V, Iredell J, Gilbert GL. Antibiotic therapy for ventilator-associated pneumonia - a reapprisal of evidence in the era of microbial resistance. International Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 2001; 18: 223-229.

Sintchenko V, Iredell J, Gilbert GL, Coiera E. What do physicians think about evidence-based antibiotic use in critical care? A survey of Australian
intensivists and infectious disease practitioners. Internal Medicine Journal 2001; 31: 462-469.