Biomedica

Health Informatics Journal
http://jhi.sagepub.com/

Special Issue From research to development to implementation: challenges in health informatics and health information management
Peter A. Bath Health Informatics Journal 2008 14: 243 DOI: 10.1177/1460458208096553 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jhi.sagepub.com/content/14/4/243

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Editorial

Health Informatics Journal

Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC) Vol 14(4): 243–245 [1460-4582(200701)14:4; 243–245; DOI: 10.1177/1460458208096553] www.sagepublications.com

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Special Issue From research to development to implementation: challenges in health informaticsand health information management
This special issue arises from the Twelfth International Symposium for Health Information Management Research (ISHIMR 2007) hosted by the University of Sheffield, 18–20 July 2007. This annual conference is organized by the Centre for Health Information Management Research (CHIMR) at the University of Sheffield, and returned to Sheffield following successfulconferences organized in collaboration with City Liberal Studies in Thessaloniki, Greece (ISHIMR 2005) and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (ISHIMR 2006). The theme for the conference – ‘From Research to Development to Implementation: Challenges in Health Informatics and Health Information Management’ – was developed to support researchers and practitioners in disseminating andpresenting their work and to promote discussion on the challenges of undertaking research and development in information management and information and communications technology (ICT) in healthcare. This special issue contains the best papers from the conference, as selected by the Health Informatics Journal editor Rob Procter following the ISHIMR peer review process. In addition to encouraging thoseinvolved in researching, developing and implementing information and ICT interventions in healthcare to present their work, ISHIMR encourages health informatics and health information management researchers and practitioners to discuss areas of interest. The distinction between health informatics and health information management has been discussed recently [1]. However, ISHIMR emphasizes the overlapbetween these areas, and what brings them together is a common interest in how information and ICT can be used to improve health and healthcare. While the papers were selected by Rob Procter for their quality, they represent an interesting cross-section of articles describing research, development and implementation

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•••••Health Informatics Journal 14 (4)
in health informatics and health information management. The papers describe a range of research methodologies. The selection includes the paper by MacDonald et al., the lead author of which was awarded the prize for the best paper presentation at ISHIMR 2007. The prize, a year’s subscription to the Health Informatics Journal, is decided by popular vote among theconference attendees and is sponsored by Sage Publications. The special issue commences with MacDonald et al.’s research on the information needs and information behaviours of healthcare decision makers working in a non-clinical setting. The study involved semi-structured interviews with paid and voluntary members of a rural district health authority. The paper discusses one of the major themes...