пятница, 14 сентября 2012 г.

Health Care Informatics: an Interdisciplinary Approach. - Nursing Education Perspectives

by Sheila P. Englebardt, PhD, RN, CNR, and Ramona Nelson, PhD, RN, BC; St. Louis, MO: Mosby, 2002; 576 pages, $56.95

This book was written as a textbook and reference for health care informatics specialists. It helps the reader understand the theoretical framework that underlies health care informatics and provides a comprehensive overview of health care informatics practice.

The book is organized into six sections. Part 1 begins with a discussion of theoretical frameworks and an overview of computer and information literacy. It includes a chapter on databases that should be very useful to those planning a research career, thesis, or doctoral dissertation. Chapters on decision support for administrators and clinicians focus on theoretical principles and emerging developments, rather than on constantly changing software packages.

Part 2, consisting of six chapters, includes an overview of health care information systems, information about health care information departments, and a discussion of electronic health records. A detailed discussion of planning and implementation should be helpful to all organizations.

Part 3 focuses on using technology to deliver health care and education. Educators will be especially interested in Chapter 12, Technology and Distributed Education, which provides an overview of the role of the Internet and other technologies in educational programs. Examples of useful information in this chapter include criteria for evaluating websites, a faculty development plan, and benchmarks for quality in Internet-based distance education. Chapter 13 provides a very interesting discussion of eHealth, including the impact of the Internet in making health information easily available to the consumer.

Part 4 is an interesting examination of the impact of informatics on the sociocultural environment of health care, explored from both the theoretical and practical perspectives. This section is important and necessary because new information systems and advances in health care technology create an environment of constant and rapid change. These changes affect health care providers, administrators, patients, researchers, research subjects, faculty, and students, the expectations of each group, as well as the way each group interacts with the others.

Part 5 presents information about the infrastructure needed to support health care informatics. The focus is on standards and regulations governing health care information systems. The information provided about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards is essential for hospital environments and other settings. The book concludes with a discussion of historical factors and a brief, but thought-provoking discussion of future trends.

The publisher maintains a faculty and student support website located at http://www.mosby.com/MERLIN/Englebardt that includes a faculty forum organized by chapters. For each chapter, there are test questions, several exercises to help students integrate concepts explained in the book, a PowerPoint presentation, a list of Internet resources for supplementary information, and a list of MESH terms for Medline searches.

With its broad perspective, this text helps nurses see issues from a larger viewpoint than their own discipline. It should be very useful for those nurses whose focus is research, education, administration, or primary care practice. Indeed, viewing problems from the perspective of the information specialist provides helpful insights into some of the issues frequently encountered in practice. The specialist in nursing informatics, on the other hand, would undoubtedly benefit from more detailed information about software, databases, standardized languages, and issues specific to nursing.

Carol A. Kilmon, PhD, RN, associate professor, University of Texas at Tyler