Professor Pirkko Nykänen emphasises the evaluation of health informatics
Information technology and information systems can improve the efficiency and profitability of health care. However, the use of information technology can entail risks especially when the information systems do not work, when they are not user friendly and when they are not compatible with the operational environment of health care.
Pirkko Nykänen, Professor at the School of Information Sciences, thinks it is very important that the development and use of information systems is combined with evaluation. With the help of evaluation, you can get research-based information about the effects and outcomes of the use of the information systems. The evaluation and assessment of information systems is an emergent multidisciplinary field.
– There are ever more evaluation studies and different kinds of frameworks are created for use in the evaluation. However, for a long time, the problem has been the lack of a systematic approach and guidelines, says Pirkko Nykänen who is a Professor of Computer Sciences.
The European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) has faced the challenge by drafting a recommendation and guideline about how evaluation studies should be designed and conducted. The guideline was published in an article in the International Journal of Medical Informatics in December 2011.
Professor Nykänen led the writing of the article on the evaluation guidelines of health informatics.
– The guideline helps in the design of evaluation studies and in the examination of the relevant issues. A systematic approach makes the studies more easily comparable and improves their quality as well as the reliability of the research results, Nykänen emphasises.
IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association, has published the article in their 2012 yearbook. The IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics includes articles that are survey-type reviews as well as best paper selections in medical informatics.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Pirkko Nykänen, tel. 040 190 1720, pirkko.nykanen@uta.fi
The bibliographic information of the article:
Nykänen P, Brender J, Talmon J, deKeizer N, Rigby M, Beuscart-Zephir MC, Ammenwerth E, Guideline for good evaluation practice in health informatics (GEP-HI). Int J Med Inform 2011 Dec; 80(12):815-27.
IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2012
