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AMIA 2013 Annual Symposium – TRANSFoRm Panel

19 November, 2013/in Events /by TransformAdmin

“International perspectives on the digital infrastructure for The Learning Healthcare System”

B.Delaney, King’s College; J. Ethier, University of Rennes; V. Curcin, Imperial College; D. Corrigan, Royal College of Surgeons; C. Friedman, University of Michigan

Abstract: The Learning Healthcare System (LHCS) refers to the close coupling of practice of clinical medicine with both the conduct of research and the translation of research into practice. This panel presents an outline of the TRANSFoRm project (www.transform-project.org), a large EU FP7 Integrated Project to develop a digital infrastructure for the LHCS in European Primary Care, and discussion contrasts this with similar work in the USA, considering the opportunities for international collaboration.

Four presentations will cover: The aims, requirements, and informatics approach of the TRANSFoRm project. The method adopted to access clinical data using a common clinical data information model The techniques developed to capture the provenance of the research process in conjunction with generated data. An ontology for Clinical Prediction Rules to provide integrated Decision Support for diagnosis using chest pain, abdominal pain and shortness of breath as exemplars. A discussion will provide an overview of work on the LHCS in the USA, with opportunities for collaboration and international standards development.

Panels – http://www.amia.org/amia2013/panels

Symposium – http://www.amia.org/amia2013

Health Informatics Research Centres – Securing the UK as a world leader

31 October, 2013/in Project News /by TransformAdmin

Four Health Informatics Research Centres (HIRCs) were funded at a total budget of £17.5m over 5 years.

The objectives of the centres are to:

undertake high quality, cutting-edge research linking electronic health records and health-related data with other forms of research and routinely collected data in safe data environments;
build capacity in health informatics research.

The HIRCS, based at UCL London, Manchester, Swansea and Dundee involve a total of 19 UK universities and 2 MRC Units.

To add value to the HIRCs and support health informatics research in the UK more widely, a further £1.5m was allocated by the funders’ consortium1 to fund a UK health informatics research network. The objectives of the Network are to:

harness expertise in the wider UK research community
develop methodologies
share best practice
provide a central route for collaborating with industry, the NHS and policy
engage with the public to promote the benefits of using health records in research.

“Strengthening the UK’s capability in health informatics” conference, May 2013

The Health Informatics Research Centres were officially launched in May 2013 at the “Strengthening the UK’s capability in health informatics” conference held at the Royal College of General Practitioners. The aim of the meeting was to share views on state of the the current research landscape and look at the research challenges for UK health informatics. The latter was designed to inform the development of a research strategy for the new UK Health Informatics Research Network.

There were over two hundred attendees including IT and pharmaceutical industries, academics and professional societies, health professionals, research funding organisations and the media.

A summary of the proceedings can be viewed in the report along with copies of the presentations.

Further information available at: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/research/initiatives/health-and-biomedical-informatics/initiatives-in-informatics-research/