CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Medical Information and Record Systems -- Integration at the Enterprise and Individual Levels 1994 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Spring Congress PARC Fifty Five Hotel -- San Francisco May 4-7, 1994 The themes of the 1994 AMIA spring congress will be (1) integration of medical information systems (including patient record systems) at the institutional or enterprise level and (2) the clinical use of personal mobile computing and wireless communication systems. Information technologies are having a profound impact on clinical practice and biomedical research. They are also changing the way medical students learn and the way institutions are administered. There are mounting pressures to control costs; to understand and improve clinical decision-making; to provide more consistent, high-quality care; and to assure that care is available to all members of society. These factors are making the use of electronic information systems for biomedicine an imperative. We are at an excellent point of opportunity to take advantage of technological improvements, in the context of practical experience and societal awareness, to overcome remaining obstacles. There is still much to be learned, however, and implementation of computer-based information systems in biomedical settings is disruptive in many ways -- to institutions and to individuals. We must define and adopt necessary standards, and develop system architectures that facilitate implementation and that scale-up appropriately. We must incorporate evolving computing, communications, and human-computer interface technologies (such as pen-based mobil systems) to provide better individual and global access. At the same time, we must ensure adequate electronic privacy and system reliability. We have to identify and make available necessary information resources, and accommodate essential heterogeneity and legacy data systems. We must learn how to adapt organizational structures, seamlessly integrate technology solutions to enhance work flow, build universally accessible information infrastructures, and retrain personnel. Above all, we must demonstrate that electronic information systems yield tangible benefits and improvements for all whom they affect. We are soliciting abstracts that describe current work and results relevant to either of the two themes. We are especially interested in examples of successful experiments and solutions, the synthesis of effective integration strategies, the identification and analysis of impediments of all sorts with approaches for overcoming them, the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of (particularly mobile) computing and communications technologies, and the definition of future research and development priorities. Examples of appropriate submittal areas include: * Studies of benefits gained from integrated information and patient record systems, and analyses of impediments to achieving full benefits. How have enterprise systems affected the ways people do their jobs and work together, and the ways institutions meet their goals? * Discussions of new enterprise system building architectures, methods, and tools (for example methods that facilitate software and knowledge-base development, reusability, and maintenance; that improve use interfaces; that accommodate heterogeneity; and that ensure system security and integrity). How can solutions developed for one institution be generalized and made useful to other institutions? * Analyses of strategies and solutions for incorporating legacy information systems in enterprise integration environments. For example, what are the trade-offs between using uniform standards (for vocabularies, schemata, interfaces, etc.) as opposed to mediators to integrate diverse information system elements? * Examples of how integration can best be achieved within different institutional organizational structures -- e.g. those with centralized management, those with more distributed autonomous management, and ultimately across institutions. How must technological solutions be selected, adapted, and restructured as a function of organizational structure? How can workplace analysis methods be used to guide these decisions and designs? * Descriptions of applications of information systems (clinical, educational, research or administrative) that benefit from mobil and/or pen-based computer interfaces. What are the requirements these applications place on hardware, software, and communications technologies to realize these benefits? * Examples and demonstrations of applications using available mobile, pen-based computers, with or without communication links, to improve user interface capabilities and integration. What are the best ways to design pen-based user interfaces (as compared to those for stationery workstations)? What new systems infrastructure is needed to support mobile computing interfaces? ABSTRACT SUBMISSION We invite you to participate in this Congress. If you wish to make a presentation, please submit an abstract which is not to exceed 1,000 words. To receive the appropriate abstract forms and submittal instructions, please contact AMIA at 301-657-1291. Deadline for receipt of abstracts is December 10, 1993. IMPORTANT DATES December 10, 1993 Deadline for receipt of abstracts/proposals for panel discussions February 18, 1994 Notification to authors/panelists of acceptance or rejection of submitted abstracts/proposals March 7, 1994 Preliminary Program and Advance Registration materials mailed April 22, 1994 Advance Registration Deadline May 4-7, 1994 AMIA Spring Congress 1994 PROGRAM COMMITTEE Thomas C. Rindfleisch (Chair) Departments of Medicine and Computer Science Stanford University tcr@CAMIS.Stanford.EDU Walter B. Panko (Vice Chair) Medical School, University of Michigan J. Robert Beck Baylor College of Medicine Ifay F. Chang IBM TJ Watson Research Center Paul D. Clayton Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center Simon P. Cohn Kaiser Permanente Lawrence M. Fagan Stanford University School of Medicine Mark E. Frisse Washington University School of Medicine Sherrilynne Fuller University of Washington Health Science Library Paul C. Tang Hewlett Packard Laboratories