What is (Nursing/Medical/Clinical/Health/_____) Informatics?

As you all are likely (painfully) aware, the term and idea of "informatics" (as used in healthcare) means many things to many people. For your first assignment, we will begin the process of looking at what informatics is and is not. We begin with a fair amount of reading within the McConigle text followed by a written discussion of the text, and more importantly, your own experiences as healthcare professionals.

Grading

This assignment is worth 10 points or 10% of your overall class grade.

Due Date

Sunday, April 3, 11:59:59 PM

Late assignments will not be accepted.

Submission

Assignments should be submitted to Canvas as a PDF document with the following formatting guidelines:

• Times/Times New Roman, 12pt
• 1 in side margins
• 1.25 in top/bottom margins
• Page numbers on every page (except title)
• Title page with your group number and names of each member
• APA-style citations

Assignments will also be automatically processed using turnitin. You do not need to do anything as this is built into Canvas. However, you may see a report upon submission.

Reading

McConigle, pp. 89-166, 245-346

Writing

Part 1 - Defining Informatics

Within your groups, please discuss the reading but from your perspective as healthcare professionals. Based on the reading and on your experiences, please try to define "health informatics" within a single paragraph. The goal is to you and your group to think about the high-level descriptions of informatics as well as specific applications and how "informatics" is used in practice.

Some prompts for your discussion that may assist you with defining informatics:

• What are some common themes?
• Is "informatics" the same as "IT" as used in other fields?
  • If not, where does "IT" end and "informatics" begin?
• Is "informatics" simply "the use of computers in healthcare" - why or why not?
• Is there an overlap between informatics and medical devices? Why or why not?
• What is the difference between:
  • Nursing informatics
  • Health informatics
  • Medical informatics
  • Clinical informatics
  • ________ informatics
• Why are there so many different "types" of informatics within healthcare?

Part 2 - Informatics in [Your] Practice

In part 1, you looked at informatics fairly theoretically, trying to define it based on your own experiences as well as the McConigle reading.

For part 2, you will be discussing informatics specifically within the context of your organizations. This is a chance for you to discuss with each other about your experiences and it is also a chance for me to understand how you are currently using informatics and topics that may be of interest to you.

Following your discussion, please submit a brief (2-3 page) writeup covering the following points:

• How is informatics currently being used by your organization(s)?
• Do you have any planned or active projects for deploying, implementing, or using informatics in the next 6-36 months?
• What informatics topics would you consider important to understand for someone in your role/position?
• What specific informatics topics would you like to cover in more detail?