Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH) 2012 - 2012

Summary: Efforts to expand adoption and use of health information technology (IT) rely in part on the alignment of health IT design and clinical practice, including the extent to which health IT supports health care providers and patients. The misalignment between health IT and its ability to fully and seamlessly support the workflow, systems, and processes of health care providers limits the technology’s positive impact on the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care.

The Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare (WISH) was initiated in 2010 to address design limitations and other issues that stymie the development and adoption of health IT. WISH provides a forum for sharing research, experiences, and perspectives that enable progress in the design and development of health IT; spurs communication and interdisciplinary dialog on health IT and interactive systems in health care; and promotes ideas and innovation by convening health IT research communities from a variety of disciplines, including biomedical informatics, human-computer interaction, computer science, sociology, and medical anthropology.

WISH 2012 was organized and led by co-chairs Drs. Wanda Pratt, Katie Siek, and Andrea Hartzler. A steering committee comprised of biomedical informatics, public health, policy, and human-computer interaction professionals identified and recruited potential speakers, helped choose topic areas for presentations, and reviewed and selected submissions for presentation at the workshop. The format of the workshop included keynote speakers; panel discussions; technical presentations on topics such as design, methodology, evaluation, and technology; informal breakout sessions; and poster sessions. The workshop also included a mentorship program to pair promising junior researchers and students with prominent senior researchers in a related field.

Specific Aims:

• Develop research agendas for interactive systems in health care and identify strategies and mechanisms for studying them. (Ongoing)
• Discuss and develop consensus around research methodological and technical issues with regard to design and evaluation of interactive systems in health care. (Ongoing)
• Establish a new channel for dissemination and implementation of research on interactive systems in health care. (Ongoing)
• Provide a forum for developing new partnerships among researchers and stakeholder organizations and building their capacity to participate in research activities and using the results of research on interactive systems in health care. (Achieved)
• Establish a mentorship program for junior researchers in the field and provide them with the opportunity to meet with leading researchers in the areas related to interactive systems in health care. (Achieved)

2012 Activities: WISH 2012 was held on November 3-4 in Chicago, IL as a day-and-a-half interdisciplin research symposium in conjunction with the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) An Symposium. Approximately 75 people from a variety of disciplines, including medical informa and computer science, attended. WISH 2013 will be held again in conjunction with the AMIA An Symposium on November 16, 2013 in Washington, DC.

Preliminary Impact and Findings: WISH organizers administered a survey to obtain attendees’ feedback on the workshop. The survey data indicated that the attendees overall were pleased with the format of the workshop and quality of the speakers and presentations. Survey respondents also reported they valued the learning and networking opportunities offered by WISH.

The organizers of WISH 2012 created a LinkedIn group titled WISH - Workshop on Interactive Systems in Healthcare to serve as an online forum to bridge communities, promote conversation, and enable cross-discipline networking among researchers and practitioners who are interested in health IT.

Target Population: General

Strategic Goal: Develop and disseminate health IT evidence and evidence-based tools to improve health care decisionmaking through the use of integrated data and knowledge management.

Business Goal: Knowledge Creation