Please join us at the CIS 720 seminar from 4:30-5:30pm on Monday, 11/08, as we welcome visiting scholar Dr. Paulina Sockolow, who will present on “Health Informatics: Challenges and Opportunities.”
Abstract:
Since 2006, the federal government has led the effort to increase electronic medical (health) record system adoption in the United States (US). The stated objectives have been to reduce medical errors and enable people to access their own health information. Forward progress is propelled by information technology and constrained by characteristics of the US health system. For example, our rescue care system has created silos of information, and informaticians have developed data standards to enable interoperability (data communication). Health informatics opportunities include two recent efforts to proactively use patient data to augment clinical decision-making. Informatics is also adopting information and computer sciences methods for data analysis and presentation. Two exemplars of breaching data silos are presented to illustrate current challenges and avenues of future research.
Bio:
Paulina Sockolow DrPH, MS, MBA is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing and Health Professions of Drexel University. Dr. Sockolow’s program of research is focused on development and implementation of health information technology (HIT) analysis and evaluation methods, as a necessary step toward ultimate impact on health. Dr. Sockolow is a health informatician, trained as a National Library of Medicine/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Informatics Fellow at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health. In 2010 she became Johns Hopkins’s first graduated doctorally-prepared informatician, receiving her Doctor of Public Health degree. She has completed two home health care informatics studies funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to evaluate the impact of electronic health records (EHR) in home health care. The R21 investigated EHR use. The R01 examined nurse decision making during the admission. Her Electronic Health Record Nurse Satisfaction (EHRNS) survey instrument is in three item banks of instruments: the AHRQ HIT Library Survey Compendium; the Centre for Implementation Science at King’s College London and the Behavioural and Implementation Science research group at the University of East Anglia, UK; and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle WA). Dr. Sockolow has also conducted research in cross-national comparisons of electronic health record systems and in consumers’ use of mobile HIT to reduce health disparities. In addition to her health informatics research training, Dr. Sockolow has an applied background in informatics with over 20 years of experience. She successfully managed large projects implementing clinical information systems in academic hospitals. She has a Masters of Business Administration degree, with majors in health care systems and decision science, from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.