Includes bibliographical references and index

pt. 1. Foundations of health care informatics -- ch. 1. Major theories supporting health care informatics -- Systems theory -- Information theories -- Learning theories -- Change theories -- ch. 2. Computer, information, and health care informatics literacy -- Information literacy -- Computer literacy -- Evaluating and improving literacy -- Applications of professional knowledge -- ch. 3. Understanding databases -- Database models -- Why use a database? -- Anatomy of databases -- Physiology of databases (data views and data manipulation) -- Overview of database features -- Obtaining the answers to a simple question -- Relational databases -- Overview of planning a relational database -- Planning a database for a specific situation -- ch. 4. Supporting administrative decision making -- Overview of administrative decision making and decision support -- What is an administrative decision support system? -- Survey of administrative decision support applications and software -- Emerging developments in administrative decision support

ch. 5. Supporting clinical decision making -- Decision making in clinical care -- Background of decision making and knowledge representation -- Decision making in clinical settings -- Opportunities for new approaches -- Using knowledge discovery in large data sets for clinical decision support system development -- Requirements for future development of clinical decision support systems -- pt. 2. Health care information systems -- ch. 6. The purpose, structure, and functions of health care information departments -- Structure of health care information departments -- ch. 7. Applications for health care information systems -- Systems overview -- What is a health care information system? -- Data handling -- Types of system applications -- Information system configuration -- ch. 8. Strategic and tactical planning for health care information systems -- Rationale -- Planning -- Automated tools to support planning

ch. 9. The life cycle of a health care information system -- Strategic information plan -- Tactical information plan -- Principles of project management and organization -- Methods of selecting a vendor product -- Initial search for information -- System selection task force -- Negotiation of the contract -- Agreement on the scope of the project -- Finalization of project details -- Fast-track design-and-build methods -- Implementing the project -- Product evaluation methods -- Maintenance -- Support of ongoing product development -- A decision to change the product -- ch. 10. Electronic health records -- The electronic health record -- Need for the electronic health record -- Historical perspectives -- Functions and features -- Costs and benefits of electronic health records -- eHealth, the electronic health record, and the Internet -- Achieving the vision : a status report -- Factors, forces, and issues affecting the adoption of the electronic health record -- Electronic health record research

pt. 3. Using technology to deliver health care and education -- ch. 11. Technological approaches to communication -- A framework for following technology trends -- Wringing out the old : the static and changing roles of traditional technologies -- The Internet : how data networks are driving communication -- Communications integration : bringing it all together -- ch. 12. Technology and distributed education -- Societal impetus to use technology in education -- Access to learning -- Role of the teacher -- Uses of technology -- Technology in the classroom -- Tools for teaching with technology -- Technology in distributed education -- The World Wide Web as an information source -- Process for helping faculty to adopt technology as an educational strategy -- Quality of Internet-based distance education -- Consumer education

ch. 13. eHealth trends and technologies : the impact of the Internet on health care providers and patients -- Defining eHealth -- Internet computing standards -- eHealth's emerging sectors -- The social and economic context for eHealth -- The Internet and health care information systems -- An eHealth case study : doing community-wide case management on the Web -- Barriers and challenges to and concerns for eHealth -- pt. 4. The impact of informatics on the sociocultural environment of health care -- ch. 14. The impact of health care informatics on the organization -- Relevance of theories about organizations to health care informatics -- Information needs and challenges in today's health care environment -- Advances in health care informatics in the clinical area -- Changes in professional practice due to advances in health care informatics -- Changes in management roles due to advances in health care informatics -- Case study : design of a clinical information system using standardized nursing languages

ch. 15. Human-computer interaction in health care organizations -- Human-computer interaction -- Definitions of terms -- A framework for human-computer interaction in health care contexts -- Performing usability assessments -- ch. 16. The implications of information technology for research -- Locating research information -- The Internet and health-related research -- g Electronic dissemination of research results : sharing results with others -- Use of the Internet for research -- Ethics of online research -- Sources of information, support, and organizations for informatics research -- Current research in health care informatics -- pt. 5. Infrastructure to support health care informatics -- ch. 17. Technical standards used in health care informatics -- Standards coordination and promotion activities -- Establishing international standards -- Identifier standards -- General communications (message format) standards -- Specific communications standards -- Content and structure standards -- Clinical data representation (codes) -- Standards for software applications -- Telecommunications standards

ch. 18. Professional health care informatics standards -- The people within a health care system -- The content within health care -- The context of the health care system -- ch. 19. The implications of accreditation and governmental regulations for health care informatics -- Accreditation and certification -- Governmental regulation -- Case example -- ch. 20. Protection of health care information -- Dimensions of performance -- Transition from paper to a virtual health record -- Legal and policy implications -- pt. 6. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow -- ch. 21. The history of health care informatics -- History and development of computing and informatics in health care -- Historical development of educational programs in health care informatics

ch. 22. The future of health care informatics education -- Assumptions, driving forces, and guiding principles -- Future educational programs and health care informatics -- ch. 23. Future directions in health care informatics -- What is futures research? -- Purpose of futures studies -- Approaches for predicting -- Trends influencing health care informatics -- Future directions in health care informatics -- Glossary

Informatics -- studying the use of computer hardware, software, systematic languages, and data manipulation to collect and apply information -- is united with health care in this new interdisciplinary textbook. It focuses on topics in informatics relevant to all fields of health care, in a textbook format complete with chapter outlines, objectives, key terms, and discussion questions. A unique online supplement complements the book to offer complete, electronic support for both instructors and students. Written by experts in health care informatics, this text provides a comprehensive overview of all the major concepts in informatics, discussing trends and innovative strategies from a contemporary, mainstream perspective