Discussion: Foundational Pioneers in Informatics
The smartphone has become an increasingly valuable tool in the field of medicine. Because of the phone's small size and powerful computing capabilities, doctors, nurses, and researchers use these smartphones in a wide range of areas. For example, smartphones can be used as an electrocardiogram, to perform ultrasound procedures, to track patient progress, and as a decision support tool for generating diagnoses (Ozdalga, Ozdalga & Ahuja, 2012). Like most innovative technologies, the smartphone and its applications are a result of many years of incremental research and development.
In this Discussion, you focus on those who set the stage for the field of informatics today. By Day 1, your Instructor will assign you one of the pioneers in the field of informatics to research.
To prepare:
Read the articles listed in the Learning Resources for your assigned informatics pioneer.
Conduct research in the Walden Library or on the Internet to find additional works by or information about the individual.
Determine his or her area of interest and affiliations in the medical world.
Reflect on the contributions he or she made to the field of informatics. What most interests you? What most surprises you?
Consider how these contributions impact the field of informatics today.
Assess why it is important to be familiar with the foundational documents of nursing informatics.
Post a minimum of 550 words essay in APA format with a minimum of 3 scholarly references (See list provided below), which addresses the level one headings below:
1) An overview of the individual to whom you were assigned, including his or her principal areas of interest and medical affiliations.
2) Highlight the contributions this individual made to the field of informatics, and explain how these contributions impact the field of informatics today.
3) Comment on the importance of being familiar with the foundational documents of nursing informatics.
Required Readings
Kaplan, B., Brennan, P., Dowling, A., Friedman, C., & Peel, V. (2001). Towards an informatics research agenda: Key people and organizational issues. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 8(3), 235-241.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
This article highlights key areas in the field of health informatics in which additional research needs to be conducted. The authors cite organizational and social trends, and they suggest questions that need to be addressed in these areas.