Medical Informatics SIG
Membership to Special Interest Groups is open to all APA members.
To join a
SIG, click here
SIG Description
Pediatric healthcare practitioners interested in the use of information technologies to support patient care, teaching, research and health care administration. We have diverse backgrounds, talents, and interests. Some are "techies" and others just want use the technology to help them take care of patients. EVERYONE is welcome.
Mission/Goals
The Medical Informatics SIG goals are to:
- Provide a forum for APA members to discuss all aspects of pediatric medical and present their scholarly work in the field
- Offer opportunity to network with other pediatric professionals interested in pediatric medical informatics.
- Introduce other pediatric professionals to the field of medical informatics
The Medical Informatics SIG will present Christoph Lehmann, MD on "Clinical Decision Support" on Saturday May 1st from 8-11 AM, Room AM, Vancouver Convention Centre, Room 218.
Dr. Lehmann is a nationally recognized medical informatician with expertise in clinical decision support and provider education. He will be discussing his own research in the context of the broad field of clinical medical informatics. Dr. Lehmann has also been assisting the American Medical informatics Association in seeking approval to recognize Medical Informatics as its own medical specialty. Dr. Lehman will also speak on the current status of the specialty and how individuals hopefully can become certified in the future.
The "Medical Informatics Round Robin" will also feature several researchers discussing their own work with lively discussion from the group.
Anyone who is interested in using computers and technology in medicine is invited to join. Please contact Donna D'Alessandro at donna-dalessandro@uiowa.edu. with questions or comments.
June 2009 Newsletter Article
Our "Careers in Medical Informatics" was a huge success this year. Nationally recognized informaticians represented a breadth of careers and jobs in medical informatics discussed how they got to be in their present career and jobs, what a typical day is like, what knowledge and skills are needed to be successful in the job, and what they see as the future of the field. The discussion was incredibly rich. The panelists were:
Steven Downs - Medical Informatics Fellowship Director, Indiana University
George Kim, MD - Medical Informatics Researcher, Johns Hopkins University
Michael Leu - Medical Director for Clinical Effectiveness, Seattle Children's Hospital
Daniel Nigrin, MD - Chief Information Office, Children's Hospital Boston
Steven Downs also presented an opportunity for members to become involved with the American Academy of Pediatrics'"Partnership for Policy Implementation"(http://www.aap.org/visit/guidelineimplementation.htm) which is a program where informaticians assist guideline developers with improving the guideline clarity and their ability of to be implemented by pediatric health care providers.
According to the American Medical Informatics Association, "Biomedical and health informatics is an emerging, interdisciplinary and diverse field that: Combines health sciences (such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and allied health) with computer science, management and decision science, biostatistics, engineering and information technology. Solves problems in health care delivery, pharmaceutical, biomedical and health sciences research, health education and clinical/medical decision making. Is essential in all aspects of health care and biomedicine."
The APA Medical Informatics SIG goals are to:
- Provide a forum for APA members to discuss all aspects of pediatric medical and present their scholarly work in the field
- Offer opportunity to network with other pediatric professionals interested in pediatric medical informatics.
- Introduce other pediatric professionals to the field of medical informatics
We encourage anyone who is interested in using computers in medicine in any form to join the SIG. You don't have to be a technical person to be a member; many of us aren't! If you have ideas, suggestions, comments or questions, please contact Donna D'Alessandro.
We are also looking for one or two people for new leadership
of the SIG beginning next Spring. If you are interested or know someone who is please contact Donna D'Alessandro.
SIG Chair:
Donna D'Alessandro
donna-dalessandro@uiowa.edu
Join SIG Listserv
To Join the SIG and its listserve contact MI SIG Chair at:
Donna D'Alessandro,MD donna-dalessandro@uiowa.edu
What do I get if I join the Medical Informatics SIG?
We meet at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in May each year. We often have a theme presentation with lots of ensuing discussion. We also have had short presentations on different topics. It is a great forum to meet people and get ideas.
We also have our own private listserve that offers the opportunity for online discussions and communicates information to the MI SIG membership as well.
There is also the opportunity to work on potential projects through the MI SIG.
How do I join the Medical Informatics SIG?
E-mail SIG Chair:Donna D'Alessandro donna-dalessandro@uiowa.edu
2009 Annual Meeting Update
Our "Careers in Medical Informatics" was a huge success this year. Nationally recognized informaticians represented a breadth of careers and jobs in medical informatics discussed how they got to be in their present career and jobs, what a typical day is like, what knowledge and skills are needed to be successful in the job, and what they see as the future of the field. The discussion was incredibly rich. The panelists were:
Steven Downs, MD – Medical Informatics Fellowship Director, Indiana University
George Kim, MD – Medical Informatics Researcher, Johns Hopkins University
Michael Leu, MD – Medical Director for Clinical Effectiveness, Seattle Children's Hospital
Daniel Nigrin, MD – Chief Information Office, Children's Hospital Boston
Steven Downs also presented an opportunity for members to become involved with the American Academy of Pediatrics' "Partnership for Policy Implementation" which is a program where informaticians assist guideline developers with improving the guideline clarity and their ability of to be implemented by pediatric health care providers.
Previous Annual Meeting topics
- 2009 – Careers in Medical informatics
- 2008 – Medical Informatics Round Robin
- 2007 – Pediatric Medical Informatics and Public Policy
- 2006 – Health Information Technology Standards
- 2005 – Bioinformatics: Integrating Computers, Basic Science and Clinical Medicine
- 2004 – Clinical Physician Order Entry
What is Medical Informatics?
From the American Medical Informatics Association
(http://www.amia.org/inside. 2008) :
"Biomedical and health informatics applies principles of computer and information science to the advancement of life sciences research, health professions education, public health, and patient care. This multidisciplinary and integrative field focuses on health information and communication technologies (HICT), and involves the computer, cognitive, and social sciences. Biomedical and health informatics has developed its own areas of emphasis and approaches that sets it apart from other professions and disciplines.
Biomedical and health informatics is an emerging, interdisciplinary and diverse field that:
Combines health sciences (such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and allied health) with computer science, management and decision science, biostatistics, engineering and information technology.
Solves problems in health care delivery, pharmaceutical, biomedical and health sciences research, health education and clinical/medical decision making.
Is essential in all aspects of health care and biomedicine."
SIG Co-Chairs:
Donna D'Alessandro, MD
200 Hawkins Drive
Iowa City,IA52242-1009
Phone: (319) 353-7762
Fax: (319) 356-4855
donna-dalessandro@uiowa.edu
