Increasingly, care is provided in multiple settings thus creating a need for clinicians to share data with providers at other locations and to pool them with other clinical data in order to provide a complete picture of an individual patient. Advances in computer networking and wireless communication technology have now made it possible for clinicians to access these data from any location whether it is in the office, the hospital, at home, or even when traveling out of town.

There are many challenges in effectively implementing clinical information systems including their high cost, the need to change clinical “workflow”, the need for providers to learn new skills, and challenges in capturing clinical data with a minimum of time and effort on the part of clinicians and representing it in computers for optimal use. Concerns about security and confidentiality must also be addressed. Clinical informatics research is actively addressing these concerns.

Researchers in UMDNJ’s Informatics Institute are studying the encoding and deployment of clinical practice guidelines through the electronic medical record. More details may be found at http://infolab.umdnj.edu.

Individuals with interests in Clinical Information Systems are encouraged to contact Dr. Frank Sonnenberg