Post date: Dec 26, 2011 6:28:40 PM
Mini-Track Cochairs: Nelson King and Sweta Sneha
Healthcare information technology (HIT) is shaping the future of healthcare whether by mandate or the desire of healthcare organizations to improve the quality of patient care. The push is towards integrated HIT which arguably mirrors the push over the past 20 years to move from silos of automation to enterprise systems. This mini-track seeks papers that take a systems view towards clinical informatics.
Clinical informatics brings together clinical workflow and business strategies of a healthcare organization through timely and accurate exchanges of information. Healthcare organizations and the information they exchange are becoming increasingly complex necessitating fresh methodological and theoretical approaches on the part of researchers. Submissions with a systems orientation and clearly articulated context of use that showcase inter-disciplinary thought are trademarks of papers published in this area. The boundaries of the system should be defined and the interplay within and external to the system should be described.
By systems, we mean a broader view than a singular focus on the efficacy of a feature or function within a specific HIT. An integrated system might be multi-function HIT like an EMR/EHR or a set of technologies that result in measurable outcomes. Such outcomes should reflect the interplay between functionality, workflow, information and strategy. Alternatively, the implications of infrastructure on HIT functionality and system use could be explored (e.g., e-infrastructures). The system might also be the interplay between social and technical aspects of an HIT.
Submissions that can be readily extended to a quality journal article will be considered for fast-tracking by the editors of Health Systems Journal (HSJ) coordinated by Nelson King (Clinical Systems Area Editor). Any invitation would be subject to the willingness of reviewers to continue through the HSJ submission process and an assessment that a solid extension of the work is feasible.
A complete description of the Systems-oriented Clinical Informatics Mini-Track is available on the AMCIS 2012 website.