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Training the next generation of informaticians: the impact of "BISTI" and bioinformatics--a report from the American College of Medical Informatics.

In 2002-2003, the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) undertook a study of the future of informatics training. This project capitalized on the rapidly expanding interest in the role of computation in basic biological research, well characterized in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical Information Science and Technology Initiative (BISTI) report. The defining activity of the project was the three-day 2002 Annual Symposium of the College. A committee, comprised of the authors of this report, subsequently carried out activities, including interviews with a broader informatics and biological sciences constituency, collation and categorization of observations, and generation of recommendations. The committee viewed biomedical informatics as an interdisciplinary field, combining basic informational and computational sciences with application domains, including health care, biological research, and education. Consequently, effective training in informatics, viewed from a national perspective, should encompass four key elements: (1). curricula that integrate experiences in the computational sciences and application domains rather than just concatenating them; (2). diversity among trainees, with individualized, interdisciplinary cross-training allowing each trainee to develop key competencies that he or she does not initially possess; (3). direct immersion in research and development activities; and (4). exposure across the wide range of basic informational and computational sciences. Informatics training programs that implement these features, irrespective of their funding sources, will meet and exceed the challenges raised by the BISTI report, and optimally prepare their trainees for careers in a field that continues to evolve.

Computational Biology↗

Informatics and education in the health professions.

Informatics, the applied use of information science, is undergoing definition and development in the health professions with the encouragement of the National Library of Medicine and other professional organizations. Medical informatics and disciplinary subsets such as nursing and dental informatics look to optimize a growing range of applications ranging from video-disks to expert systems. Recommendations call for the integration of informatics into the education of health care professionals. Academic health sciences centers are developing informatics programs; the University of Maryland Campus for the Professions has convened a task force and a national advisory board on informatics.

Health Occupations↗

Informatics education and the professions.

This Perspectives is the outgrowth of work begun at Maryland under the Informatics Task Force and its national and international advisory groups. In a theoretical discussion of what information science can contribute to the health professions, the authors address questions of definition and describe application and knowledge models for the emerging profession of informatics. A review of existing programs includes curriculum models and provides details on informatics programs emphasizing information and computer science; programs emphasizing the health sciences; and specialized informatics programs (undergraduate, master, and doctoral level). Focus is placed on models for informatics program development. The authors hope to build upon the database reported on in this article, and thereby foster the informatics education for the professions.

Canada↗

Current issues in health care informatics.

Health care informatics has emerged as a diverse and important new field of study. The field can be very broadly defined as the science that addresses how best to use information to improve health care. The field includes the four areas of bioinformatics, medical informatics, public health informatics, and consumer health informatics. Health care informatics applications can be used to improve the quality of patient care, to increase productivity, and to provide access to knowledge. After providing an overview of the field, the 10 articles contained in this special issue are briefly discussed. The first six articles address a diverse set of topics such as the use of health care informatics to conduct research, clinical information systems used by the U.S. Air Force, electronic medical records and physician satisfaction in Oman, and a point of care documentation system used by hospice care providers. The last four articles discuss the complex issues raised by the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Delivery of Health Care↗

An international course on strategic information management for medical informatics students: aim, content, structure, and experiences.

We report on a course for medical informatics students on hospital information systems, especially on its strategic information management. Starting as course at the Medical Informatics Program of the University of Heidelberg/University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn, it is now organized as international course in the framework of the International Partnership for Health Informatics Education (http:// www.iphie.org) jointly for medical information science students from the University of Amsterdam, medical informatics students, as well as health information management students from the Universities of Heidelberg/Heilbronn. In 2002, medical informatics students from the Master of Science program of the newly founded University for Health Informatics and Technology Tyrol (UMIT) at Innsbruck, Austria, joined. We report about the aim of this course, its audience, and the educational programs involved, about its content and structure, as well as about our experiences gained so far.

Curriculum↗

The life and death of URLs in five biomedical informatics journals.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the decay rate of Uniform Record Locators (URLs) in the reference section of biomedical informatics journals. METHODS: URL references were collected from printed journal articles of the first and middle issues of 1999-2004 and electronically available in-press articles in January 2005. We limited this set to five biomedical informatics journals: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: JAMIA, Methods of Information in Medicine, and Journal of Biomedical Informatics. During a 1-month period, URL access attempts were performed eight times a day at regular intervals. RESULTS: Of the 19,108 references extracted from 606 printed and 86 in-press articles, 1112 (5.8%) references contained a URL. Of the 1049 unique URLs, 726 (69.2%) were alive, 230 (21.9%) were dead, and 93 (8.9%) were comatose. URLs from in-press articles included 212 URLs, of which 169 (79.7%) were alive, 21 (9.9%) were dead, and 22 (10.4%) were comatose. The average annual decay, or link rot, rate was 5.4%. CONCLUSION: The URL decay rate in biomedical informatics journals is high. A commonly accepted strategy for the permanent archival of digital information referenced in scholarly publications is urgently needed.

Bibliometrics↗

The future of health informatics.

Whatever a future vision for health informatics entails, it must take into account the evolving nature of the field, a growing trend towards primary and preventive care and the explosive growth in global networking as exemplified by the Internet. While, historically, storage and retrieval of data has been the main target for information systems development, the need to capture knowledge itself is becoming the focus for development. In parallel, education in health informatics for tomorrow's healthcare professionals is now essential. The Asia Pacific Association for Medical Informatics (APAMI) is a regional group of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). While the newest of the IMIA regional organizations, its growth and activities in the Asia Pacific region aim to advance health informatics. Its triennial conferences act as a means of promoting and monitoring the growth of our field in this region, APAMI itself is a part of the future of health informatics.

Asia↗

Data information and knowledge: the health informatics model and its role in evidence-based medicine.

The health informatics model consists of three essential parts: data, information and knowledge. These elements are arranged in a hierarchy, with data at the base of the model providing the basis for establishing information and leading in turn to the potential generation of knowledge. The informatics model converges closely with the principles, aims and tasks of evidence-based medicine (EBM), particularly as they relate to searching, appraising, reviewing and utilizing information and research. The development of health informatics today has its origins in the growth of statistics in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a new and growing discipline, statistics burgeoned amidst the challenge of measuring, monitoring and ultimately governing societies in the throes of massive change and expansion. The governance role embraced by statistics in the past resembles many aspects of the role ascribed to audit, quality assurance and EBM today. There are some deep-seated paradoxes within the field of health informatics. The informatics model posits an oversimplified and linear progression of data to information and knowledge. Health informatics may involve the spreading and dissemination of information but this should be seen as only a part, not the equivalent, of the complex process of generating knowledge.

Data Collection↗

The WISDOM project: training primary care professionals in informatics in a collaborative 'virtual classroom'.

OBJECTIVES: The WISDOM project applies Internet technologies to create a virtual classroom in health informatics for primary care professionals. Participants use a facilitated E-mail discussion list supported by a web site which provides on-line resources and an archive of teaching materials. DESIGN: The project took an adult-learning model in which participants identify their learning needs, emphasized using informatics skills in practice, and focused on skills likely to enhance evidence-based practice. The paper describes the project and an evaluation of the first programme which ran in 1997 with 28 participants. Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires were used to assess perceived skills in informatics and evidence-based practice. SETTING: University of Sheffield. SUBJECTS: Primary care professionals. RESULTS: Participants reported statistically significant increases in eight informatics skills. There were no significant changes in evidence-based practice skills. The web-site, seminar programme and discussion list were highly rated as useful in delivering informatics training. CONCLUSIONS: The WISDOM approach is effective for the delivery of informatics training to primary care professionals, and may be used more widely for other subjects and professional groups. There is a need for further research into facilitating virtual classrooms.

Education, Medical, Graduate↗

A strategic vision for telemedicine and medical informatics in space flight.

This Workshop was designed to assist in the ongoing development and application of telemedicine and medical informatics to support extended space flight. Participants included specialists in telemedicine and medical/health informatics (terrestrial and space) medicine from NASA, federal agencies, academic centers, and research and development institutions located in the United States and several other countries. The participants in the working groups developed vision statements, requirements, approaches, and recommendations pertaining to developing and implementing a strategy pertaining to telemedicine and medical informatics. Although some of the conclusions and recommendations reflect ongoing work at NASA, others provided new insight and direction that may require a reprioritization of current NASA efforts in telemedicine and medical informatics. This, however, was the goal of the Workshop. NASA is seeking other perspectives and views from leading practitioners in the fields of telemedicine and medical informatics to invigorate an essential and high-priority component of the International Space Station and future extended exploration missions. Subsequent workshops will further define and refine the general findings and recommendations achieved here. NASA's ultimate aim is to build a sound telemedicine and medical informatics operational system to provide the best medical care available for astronauts going to Mars and beyond.

Aerospace Medicine↗

Nursing informatics: the key to unlocking contemporary nursing practice.

Nursing informatics is a relatively new nursing specialty. Recognized by the American Nurses' Association in 1992, this field within nursing has grown exponentially. Once the purview of highly specialized individuals, nursing informatics has now crept into all dimensions of nursing, from domain of advanced nurse practitioners to prominence in critical care nursing. Nowhere is the management and processing of health-related information more important than in the care of the critically ill patient. Fast-paced environments, split-second decision making, wireless communications, monitoring systems run with computerized backbones, and computerized ordering and documentation, all things unimaginable just a decade ago, are now fundamental to nursing practice. Each requires a baseline understanding of informatics for true mastery. The domain of nursing informatics continues to grow as nursing incorporates expanded roles and new technology into practice. Education for nurse informaticians includes preparation from the baccalaureate level through the doctorate level and national board certification. Areas of practice are expansive, including hospitals, industry, education, policy-making, research, administration, and international settings. Although informaticians work with computers, computing technology is not the heart of the domain. Computers are simply tools that are used. Examples of informatics tools include handheld devices, point-of-care documentation, computerized provider order entry, and bar code medication administration. Nursing informatics plays an essential role in the future directions of healthcare by defining the relationship between nurses and information technology as well as the knowledge that can be gained when these domains work together.

Biomedical Technology↗

Informatics competencies for nurse practitioners.

Informatics knowledge and skills are essential if clinicians are to master the large volume of information generated in healthcare today. Thus, it is vital that informatics competencies be defined for nursing and incorporated into both curricula and practice. Staggers, Gassert, and Curran have defined informatics competencies for four general levels of nursing practice. However, informatics competencies by role (eg, those specific for advanced practice nursing) have not been defined and validated. This article presents an initial proposed list of informatics competencies essential for nurse practitioner education and practice. To this list, derived from the work of Staggers et al., 1 has been added informatics competencies related to evidence-based practice. Two nurse informaticists and six nurse practitioners, who are program directors, were involved in the development of the proposed competencies. The next step will be to validate these competencies via research.

Clinical Competence↗

Promoting patient safety and enabling evidence-based practice through informatics.

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this article are to highlight the role of informatics in promoting patient safety and enabling evidence-based practice (EBP), 2 significant aspects for assuring healthcare quality; to delineate some challenges for the future; and to provide key recommendations for education, practice, policy, and research. METHODS: First, we describe the components of an informatics infrastructure for patient safety and evidence-based practice. Second, we address the role of informatics in 4 areas: 1) information access; 2) automated surveillance for real-time error detection and prevention; 3) communication among members of the healthcare team; and 4) standardization of practice patterns. Last, we delineate some future challenges for nursing and for informatics and provide key recommendations for education, practice, policy, and research. RESULTS: The components of an informatics infrastructure are available and applications that bring together these components to promote patient safety and enable EBP have demonstrated positive or promising results. CONCLUSIONS: Challenges must be addressed so that an informatics infrastructure and related applications that promote patient safety and enable EBP can be realized.

Equipment Safety↗

What is primary care informatics?

Primary care informatics is an emerging academic discipline that remains undefined. The unique nature of primary care necessitates the development of its own informatics discipline. A definition of primary care informatics is proposed, which encompasses the distinctive nature of primary care. The core concepts and theory that should underpin it are described. Primary care informatics is defined as a science and as a subset of health informatics. The proposed definition is intended to focus the development of a generalizable core theory for this informatics subspecialty.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

Bioinformatics and medical informatics: collaborations on the road to genomic medicine?

In this report, the authors compare and contrast medical informatics (MI) and bioinformatics (BI) and provide a viewpoint on their complementarities and potential for collaboration in various subfields. The authors compare MI and BI along several dimensions, including: (1) historical development of the disciplines, (2) their scientific foundations, (3) data quality and analysis, (4) integration of knowledge and databases, (5) informatics tools to support practice, (6) informatics methods to support research (signal processing, imaging and vision, and computational modeling, (7) professional and patient continuing education, and (8) education and training. It is pointed out that, while the two disciplines differ in their histories, scientific foundations, and methodologic approaches to research in various areas, they nevertheless share methods and tools, which provides a basis for exchange of experience in their different applications. MI expertise in developing health care applications and the strength of BI in biological "discovery science" complement each other well. The new field of biomedical informatics (BMI) holds great promise for developing informatics methods that will be crucial in the development of genomic medicine. The future of BMI will be influenced strongly by whether significant advances in clinical practice and biomedical research come about from separate efforts in MI and BI, or from emerging, hybrid informatics subdisciplines at their interface.

Biomedical Research↗

Guideposts to the future--an agenda for nursing informatics.

As new directions and priorities emerge in health care, nursing informatics leaders must prepare to guide the profession appropriately. To use an analogy, where a road bends or changes directions, guideposts indicate how drivers can stay on course. The AMIA Nursing Informatics Working Group (NIWG) produced this white paper as the product of a meeting convened: 1) to describe anticipated nationwide changes in demographics, health care quality, and health care informatics; 2) to assess the potential impact of genomic medicine and of new threats to society; 3) to align AMIA NIWG resources with emerging priorities; and 4) to identify guideposts in the form of an agenda to keep the NIWG on course in light of new opportunities. The anticipated societal changes provide opportunities for nursing informatics. Resources described below within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Committee for Health and Vital Statistics (NCVHS) can help to align AMIA NIWG with emerging priorities. The guideposts consist of priority areas for action in informatics, nursing education, and research. Nursing informatics professionals will collaborate as full participants in local, national, and international efforts related to the guideposts in order to make significant contributions that empower patients and providers for safer health care.

Forecasting↗

Informatics training in pathology residency programs.

Information management is crucial in pathology, and previous reports have stressed the needfor improved informatics training in pathology residency programs. We surveyed 150 US programs to assess informatics training with respect to types of training, proficiency expectations, and computing infrastructure. Seventy-two programs (48.0%) responded. Of the respondents, 67 (93%) reported offering informatics training; of these, 52 (78%) required it. Most programs integrated informatics into another rotation, usually management. In 37 programs (55%), the amount of informatics training has increased during the last 3 to 5 years. The most common instructional methods were hands-on training and self-study; 61 programs (91%) used multiple methods. In all but 2 programs, computers were designated for residents; 9 programs offered individual computers to residents. All programs provided productivity software. These data suggest progress in informatics training but that considerable room for improvement exists. Our data also document for the first time detailed computing resources available to residents.

Internet↗

Information science for the future: an innovative nursing informatics curriculum.

Health care is increasingly driven by information, and consequently, patient care will demand effective management of information. The report of the Priority Expert Panel E: Nursing Informatics and Enhancing Clinical Care Through Nursing Informatics challenges faculty to produce baccalaureate graduates who use information technologies to improve the patient care process and change health care. The challenge is to construct an evolving nursing informatics curriculum to provide nursing professionals with the foundation for affecting health care delivery. This article discusses the design, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative nursing informatics curriculum incorporated into a baccalaureate nursing program. The basic components of the curriculum framework are information, technology, and clinical care process. The presented integrated curriculum is effective in familiarizing students with informatics and encouraging them to think critically about using informatics in practice. The two groups of students who completed the four-course sequence will be discussed.

Computer Systems↗