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Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics 2014 Highlights
July 21, 2014
Informatics Enabling Patient-Centered Care Across the Continuum
Judy Ozbolt, PhD, RN, FAAN, FACMI, FAIMBE
Visiting Professor and Chair, Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics
University of Maryland School of Nursing
Hundreds of nurses and other informatics professionals convened in Baltimore July 16-18 for the University of Maryland School of Nursing’s 24th Annual Summer Institute in Nursing Informatics (SINI), while dozens more followed the proceedings live via Web streaming. With support from sponsors ESD Consulting and HIMSS, this year’s SINI described new roles for clinicians and informaticians in using informatics tools to support patient-centered care across settings. In addition, experts in two think tanks conducted during SINI explored ongoing challenges in interoperability and data analytics, focusing particularly on issues arising from patient-generated data and health information exchange across settings.
National leaders in health informatics filled plenary sessions with a set of distinguished lectures. In the opening keynote address, Philip Fasano, executive vice president and chief information officer, Kaiser Permanente, described online tools that Kaiser members may use to manage their health and communicate with their providers.
Martin Kohn, chief medical scientist, Care Delivery Systems, Jointly Health, opened day two with a discussion about big data and clinical decision support. Later in the day, participants had the opportunity to hear a follow-up presentation by Eric Siegel, professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, about what must happen before Watson, IBM’s super computer, can support bedside care.
The focus shifted from big data to personal health management in a presentation by a representative of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Ellen Makar, senior policy advisor, described initiatives ONC is undertaking to help individuals and families engage in reaching their health goals through the use of computer-based and mobile health applications.
Molly McCarthy, chief nursing strategist, Microsoft U.S. Health and Life Sciences, opened day three by telling participants about new Microsoft initiatives in health care and personal health management.
Finally, Patricia Flatley Brennan, professor of nursing and industrial engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, gave the endnote address, inviting participants to look at emerging technologies that will transform both the delivery of health care and personal health management.
Interspersed with the distinguished lectures were 34 invited and peer-reviewed podium presentations offered in concurrent sessions. An additional 27 peer-reviewed poster presentations sparked lively discussions during the poster session.
Participants also enjoyed networking at the Exhibitor Evening. In addition to the showcase of products and services aimed at nursing informatics, participants met the authors of popular nursing informatics texts at a book signing and got acquainted with colleagues they had been following on Twitter at a Tweet Meet.
The essence of SINI remains the quality of the content, the expertise and generosity of the presenters, and the collegiality of the participants. We were honored to receive a large number of excellent abstracts. The abstracts were carefully reviewed and scored by the 16-member planning committee, and awards were given to the highest-rated abstracts for poster and podium presentations in the categories of research and practice. In addition, attendees at the poster session voted for a People’s Choice award.