Health Informatics: A Beginner’s Guide to Meeting Diverse Community Needs

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Session Format: Mostly interactive online, with synthesis and panel Q&A at end of the session.

Objective: With technology and large amounts of health data becoming more accessible, more and more health sciences librarians are expanding their roles in health informatics. This interactive session will allow librarians with a background in health informatics to discuss the basics of this field and teach participants how to apply this information in their practice and to the communities they serve. Panelists will relate their areas of expertise and illustrate how their work meets the health informatics field characteristics. Participants will engage in small-group breakout discussions to identify informatics in their own work and brainstorm opportunities for further involvement in their own environment. Overall, the goals of this session will lead to a better understanding of the informatics field.

Methods: Panelists will break down the session into three parts based on the American Medical Informatics Association definition of biomedical informatics. The panelists will lead sessions focusing on their area of expertise in the field. The end of each part will include a poll question to help participants interact with the content. Participants will answer the question and be randomly separated into breakout rooms where a panelist will guide them through the scenarios in the polls. Participants will discuss how these topics apply to their work. The group will reconvene with panelists summing up what happened in the breakout rooms and sharing their expertise. This will continue until the last session, where participants will be asked to apply what they know to the communities they serve and how informatics can be used for better health outcomes. The last part of the presentation will be a debriefing and then a panelist question and answer period. Participants will engage with each other in a cooperative learning environment.
○ Draft schedule:
5 min Whole group Welcome to presenters, overview in the context of the definition focusing on scope and application in transforming diverse groups.
15 min Whole group The presenters talk about the scope and breadth of biomedical informatics. Participants will engage in polling about the scope and breadth from their environment. We will sort into random breakout rooms to discuss how broad the applications are.
10 min Small groups Discuss the results of polls and give examples of scope and breadth in their professional life.
15 min Whole group Moderators choose one question from the breakout rooms and lead into the next session about talk about theory, methodology, and the technological approach of health informatics. We will sort into random breakout rooms to discuss the above.
10 min Small group Discussion with small groups.
15 min Whole groups Panelists will discuss the results of polls and give examples of case studies in their own experience. Presenters will then discuss the human and social context of informatics and ask participants how they can apply their basic understanding of this field to better serve their community. Participants will randomly be sorted into breakout rooms.
10 min Small group Discussion with small groups.
10 min Whole group Summarize generated knowledge; Q&A with presenters

Participant Engagement: Participants will actively participate in guided small group discussions throughout the immersion session in breakout rooms. The chats will be moderated, and a panelist will respond to individuals with questions. There will be a panelist monitoring the chat to keep track of participant questions. The use of interactive polls will be part of the session so that participants can interact with the panelists and the group. There will also be an open Google Document for participants to write down their thoughts and questions. The link to this document will be sent out to all participants via email after the session. A hashtag will also be created so participants can follow up on Twitter and engage with each other there. A panelist will also moderate the chat feature for people who want to chat and people who may be blocked from Google Drive by their employer. Participants will be encouraged to participate however they feel is appropriate with panelists encouraging creativity and openness as they learn more about health informatics. The use of cloud technologies will allow participants to participate in various programs and allow the panelists to translate participants’ questions into applicable practice. At the end of the session, there will be a question and answer session so participants can discuss what was learned. The panelists will also supply some supplemental reading so participants can continue learning at home.

Sponsor(s): Medical Informatics Caucus, Clinical Librarians and Evidence-Based Healthcare Caucus, Innovation and Research Practice Hub, Hospital Library Caucus