Resources> Medical informatics and medical usability

British Medical Informatics Society
A UK membership organisation for people interested in the application of informatics to the field of healthcare. The Society publishes its own Bulletin.
http://www.bmis.org/

British Journal of Healthcare Computing and Information Management
http://www.bjhc.co.uk/

E-Health-Media.com
Publishes a free weekly newsletter about IT in healthcare
http://www.e-health-media.com/

Do It By Design: An Introduction to Human Factors in Medical Devices (US FDA)
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/humfac/doitpdf.pdf

Handhelds for Doctors
http://www.handheldsfordoctors.com

Health Informatics Journal
http://www.sagepub.co.uk/journals/details/j0503.html

Human Error: Designing for Error in Medical Information Systems
or "Don't worry--it always beeps when you do that!"
http://www-smi.stanford.edu/people/felciano/research/humanerror/humanerrortalk.html

Human Factors and Reducing Use Error (US FDA)
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/useerror/

London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Despatch System
One of the most widely publicised system implementation failures of the 1990s. Among the findings of the official inquiry were poor user interface, staff alienation and inadequate testing. This website, run by Anthony Finkelstein of University College London, provides access to a wealth of resources, including official reports, academic articles and media coverage.
http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/A.Finkelstein/las.html

Medical Device Use-Safety: Incorporating Human Factors
Engineering into Risk Management (US FDA)
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/humfac/1497.pdf

National Electronic Library for Health (NeLH)
A digital library for NHS staff, patients and the public.
http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/

National Electronic Library for Health Informatics
Part of the NeLH
http://www.nelh.nhs.uk/nelhi/index.htm

NHS Information Authority
A special health authority of the NHS dealing with information strategy in both primary and secondary care.
http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/def/home.asp

Overview of FDA's New Human Factors Program Plan: Implications for the Medical Device Industry (US FDA)
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/humfac/hufacpbc.html

Putting Human Factors Engineering Into Practice
Some medical errors can be prevented by incorporating human factors considerations into a product's design and development
http://www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/02/07/003.html

TEHRE
An international conference on electronic medical records, attracting attendees and presenters from across Europe as well as the US. While a fair number of the sessions are commercial, there are many attendees of interest, and the most interesting encounters are often in the more informal contexts of the conference. This year's conference included streams on mobile computing, electronic prescribing and latest NHS IM&T developments. The 'big brother' conference is in the US (TEPR) next year in San Antonio, Texas, which I hear - from Garey Hesselton of Siemens US - is a great place.
http://www.medrecinst.com/conferences/tehre/index.shtml

Return to main Resources page.