School co-hosts workshop on public health informatics
| October 29, 2012 | |
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The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health recently sponsored its first interactive training and networking session on public health informatics. The Sept. 26 workshop, held in collaboration with the UNC School of Information and Library Science, drew more than 120 attendees – more than double the number expected.
Bill Gentry
“Public health informatics is an up-and-coming discipline and curriculum across the nation, and the workshop was used to gauge interest and [gain] academic bearing on what next steps may be taken by the School to further the discipline,” said Bill Gentry, MPA. Gentry is director of certificate programs in The Department of Health Policy and Management, including the new residential graduate certificate in public health informatics, which launched last spring. Those working in public and population health are faced with ongoing challenges of collecting, analyzing and integrating various data and information sources and translating these resources into public health action. The volume and types of data available to public health practitioners is only expected to rise in the era of electronic medical records.
“Practitioners and researchers need training and opportunities for collaboration in public health informatics in order to develop state-of-the-art, cost-effective methods for leveraging this information to improve public health outcomes,” Gentry said.
The workshop agenda provided attendees opportunities to network, foster new collaborations, and view demonstrations on systems developed and/or used in North Carolina across public health, hospital and academic informatics settings. Attendees included UNC students and faculty members, clinicians, state and county public health practitioners, physicians, public health informaticists and information technology managers.
David Ross, ScD, director of the Public Health Informatics Institute, delivered the keynote address.
“[Dr. Ross] framed the workshop wonderfully by emphasizing that public health informatics is not just about technology but rather encompasses the users, describes the problems, designs the solutions and links information tools to measure program performance,” Gentry said. “Simply stated, he said public health informatics is about getting the right information, in the right format, to the right person, in a timely manner.”
The Public Health Informatics Institute, founded in 1992 and based in Decatur, Ga., assists public health organizations in defining and leveraging the power of information systems to meet public health needs. The Institute grew out of All Kids Count, a program funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor at UNC’s public health school, reinforced the value of informatics in her welcoming remarks. Steven Cline, DDS, MPH, assistant secretary for health information technology in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, also presented on North Carolina’s statewide informatics direction and strategy. Other speakers addressed trends and careers in public health informatics, capacity building, and systems analysis.
Public health informatics is distinguished from other health care informatics specialties in its focus on population/community health, prevention orientation and the role of government agencies in public health practice.
More information about the School’s public health informatics program is available online.
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Linda Kastleman, communications editor, (919) 966-8317 or linda_kastleman@unc.edu.
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