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Faculty-Wide Survey on Informatics Research
Health informatics can be defined broadly as the effective organization, management, analysis and use of information in the health sciences. Despite this broad definition, and the use of synonymous terms such as medical informatics and biomedical informatics, many researchers and students at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere may be undertaking informatics-related research without it being recognized as such. Beginning in November 2006, an effort was undertaken to identify faculty and others at the University of Minnesota engaged in health informatics research, with the overall goal of identifying existing research themes, and promoting communication and collaboration.
Methods
Through personal communications and emails to relevant mailing lists, University faculty were invited to complete a short, web-based survey, which asked them to provide brief information on their research activities. Additionally, a comprehensive search was made of the MEDLINE bibliographic database, searching for citations relevant to informatics, and screening the results to identify University of Minnesota faculty. Respondents to the web-based survey were also searched for in MEDLINE, and the results added to the primary citation search.
Survey responses and citations were analyzed for their thematic content, and research was classified into four broad areas:
- Clinical Information and Clinical Information Systems: The structure and use of such systems, including the economics and impact of health information technology, telemedicine, medical vocabularies, evaluations of interventions/education, human/computer interfaces, web-based learning, and decision-support/expert systems.
- Analysis of Large Data Sets: The utilization of preexisting data sets such as insurance claims data, pharmacy information, and economic data.
- Bioinformatics and Genomics: Informatics applied to genetic and molecular biology data. This is a very broad area, with an emerging discipline of its own, and we did not focus our searching in this domain. However, research which showed a clear translational aspect (that is, direct applicability to clinical medicine) was retained and included here.
- Other: Informatics-related research which did not fall into the previous three categories.
Results
A total of 174 individuals affiliated with the University of Minnesota were identified as undertaking informatics-related research. They are classified according to college and research area in the following table:
| College/School | 1: Clinical Information Systems | 2: Analysis of Large Data Sets | 3: Bioinformatics and Genomics | 4: Other | Total Faculty
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| CBS | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| CFANS | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| CLA | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| CSOM | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| IT | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Dentistry | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Medicine | 58 | 17 | 21 | 1 | 70 |
| Nursing | 19 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| SPH | 36 | 32 | 1 | 0 | 44 |
| Pharmacy | 9 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 |
| Veterinary Medicine | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Total | 138 | 69 | 36 | 3 | 174 |
Note that cell counts and marginal totals do not always add up to 174. This is because many faculty are engaged in research in more than one of the four categories.
The broad scope of Category 1 (Clinical Information Systems) captured the bulk of faculty research interests. Research spanned technology and technology impact, web-based interventions and research, decision support, telemedicine, and imaging. Within Category 2 (Analysis of Large Data Sets), analysis of claims data was the largest area of research, and many faculty responding to the survey listed "data mining" as a particular research interest. The various schools and colleges of the Academic Health Center, particularly the Medical School, yielded the largest number of faculty. The School of Public Health was also well-represented, particularly via the domain of health services research, which formed a majority of Category 2 responses.
In the analysis of citation data, it was noted that relatively few faculty outside of the Division of Health Informatics published in specifically informatics-oriented journals. Instead, many faculty published to journals specific to their disciplines. This, as well as an informal review of publication lists of survey respondents, suggests that many faculty may be carrying out informatics research without particular awareness of similar efforts and research groups within the University community.
We conclude that there is a broad but diffuse research effort in health informatics at the University of Minnesota, carried out by faculty in the Academic Health Center and elsewhere. We believe that fostering greater communications and outreach to these faculty will yield more cohesive and fruitful interdisciplinary research efforts.
Institute for Health Informatics - February 13, 2007
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Last
modified on April 9, 2007