Introduction

Speakers & Papers

Demonstrations & exhibitors

Travel, Accommodation & Social

Introduction

This was an interesting conference, in which some leading exponents in the field, presented work in progress and ideas for the future. The emphasis was very definitely on the human rather than technological aspects of computer networking. International, as well as UK perspectives were presented. Aspects of clinical information systems in acute and primary care were discussed along with educational applications. Some of the theoretical concepts underlying the human use of computer networks for communication were considered along with early reports of studies in progress. The Internet seems to be being replaced as the buzz word by Intranet, with the greatest emphasis on the value of these tools to support nursing and health care work.

Speakers & Papers

Thursday 19.9.96

A.M. Session

Introduction & Chair

Graham Wright ­ Director of Education and Professional Training,

The European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, University

of Surrey.

"Keynote Address" ­ Nursing Elements of a multidisciplinary

Electronic Patient Record (EPR).

Dr Bill Dodd, EPR Programme Director, Information Management

Group, NHS Executive

Bill set out the NHS & nursing context of the EPR, emphasising integration & communication of information. The importance of clinical leadership and the development of the "information culture" were highlighted. The incremental progression required to take most acute hospital systems from copper wires & dumb terminals to mobile PCs and fibre optic & wireless networks for full implementation of EPR was clearly described. Bill emphasised that the EPR does exist now and that it is a strategy not a product ­ he finished on the note that Performance/Speed is everything for future use. The discussion considered issues of cost/funding and the debate between acute & community services.

The Northampton route towards EPR ­ and the role of the

Associated Sites Network for the EPR Programme.

Keith Oswin ­ Assistant Director of Resources ­ IT, Northampton

general Hospital NHS Trust

Keith discussed various models of implementation for moving

towards the EPR;

• HISS ++ (eg Wiral)
• Riche Distributed databases (eg West Middlesex)
• Data Interface Engine (eg TALK)
• Front end GUI (eg Northampton)

This led to a wide debate about the importance of EPR in all

aspects of healthcare.

The Integrated Clinical Workstation Simulator (ICWS) ­

introduction and demonstration.

Liz Finnigan ­ Healthcare Consultant, IMG, NHS Executive. +

development team.

This team explained the rationale behind the development of the ICWS which will be demonstrated at a variety of sites around the country in October & November. Throughout the development the target has been intuitive data structuring, and the demonstration

showed how this has been translated into practice.

P.M. ­ Parallel Sessions

1. Education & Multimedia Focus Group

2. Midwifery focus Group

3. Nursing Language Focus Group (incl. TELENURSE)

4. Clinical Professions Information Advisory Group

I attended the Education & Multimedia Focus Group

Chair ­ Mrs Elaine Ballard ­ School of N&M University of

Wolverhampton, EFG Co­ordinator

Various updates were given of activities over the last year including; IM&T Contact group, Nursing Steering Group and Paula Proctor gave an update on plans for a Summer School in 1997.

Elaine then gave her thoughts on getting to grips with IT.

Peter Campbell­McBride from Akhter Computers Ltd then led a discussion looking at "What do teachers in FE/HE need? This developed into discussion about the quality of information available on the Internet and censorship.

Peter Murray ­ School of Health & Social Welfare, Open University

then presented a paper on Increasing Access to the Web in

education.

An on­line demonstration of some of the things available on the WWW followed, which was led by Colin McMurchie (School of Healthcare, John Moores University, Liverpool) and Carol Cooper (School of Nursing, Manchester University).

British Computer Society ­ Nursing Specialist Group A.G.M.

The AGM received reports from focus groups and delegates to other organisation, and welcomed new committee members. The state of finances and membership were also considered.

Friday 20th Sept

A.M. Session

Chair ­ Graham Wright ­ Director of Education and Professional Training, The European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey

Keynote Address ­ Social psychology aspects of electronic

communication networks.

Dr Jeannette Murphy ­ Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics, Centre for Health Informatics and Multi­Professional Education, University College Medical School, London.

Jeannette presented some initial findings of her study of the use of health care mailing lists, and related this to social psychological principles. This was placed within the context of post­modernism and asked users about their post­modern self.

Human and Organisational issues in health care informatics: the

conceptual case for a higher educational programme.

Jos Aarts ­Senior Lecturer in health Care Informatics, CAUSA, Hogeschool, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Jos described the development of an international Masters course in health care Informatics, with several countries collaborating. The target group is among nursing & health care managers aiming to explore the potential of these new media.

Communicating in primary care ­ Dr Mike Bainbridge ­ GP &

Software Developer, AAH Meditel; and telematics secretary, BCS

Primary Health Care Specialist Group + Alison Young (Vamp

Healthcare)

Mike & Alison gave a combined multimedia presentation demonstrating applications for primary care, Their presentation highlighted the importance of shared information among all members of the primary health care team and other aspects of the human aspects of computing in GP settings.

Convergence of technologies ­ Paula Proctor ­ Director, CTI Centre for Nursing & Midwifery & Senior Lecturer in Nursing Informatics, School of Nursing & Midwifery, The University of Sheffield.

Paula used interesting analogies to demonstrate the importance of planning for humans use of healthcare computing systems, rather than imposing behaviours on the users because of the technology.

P.M. Session

Chair ­ Heather Strachen, Assistant Director of General Community Services, Borders Community health Services NHS Trust.

Exploiting the NHS Web ­ Pat Hodgson ­ Strategic Planning Manager, IMG, NHS Executive

Pat described the develops of both the NHS net (messaging services) and the NHS Web which will provide an Intranet for the NHS. Various issues were raised, particularly about security and cost.

Getting Connected ­ the Internet, the WWW and all that Jazz. ­
Carol Cooper Computer officer/Honorary Lecturer, School of Nursing, Manchester University).

Carol described aspects of the Internet and some of the terms and processes involved in getting yourself connected.

Development of an interactive patient nutrition education system for dialysis patients ­ John Besignano ­ Dialysis Co­ordinator, East Orange general Hospital, new Jersey, USA.

John described plans for the development of an individualised & interactive teaching program. The needs of the particular patient group made this a suitable method of education.

Unity & Collaboration ­ a national perspective ­ Simon Old ­ Nursing Officer ­ Clinical Information, NHS Executive

Simon rounded off the conference with a summary of some of the lessons learnt & issues raised over the 2 days. He then described activity within the IMG & NHS Executive and set an agenda for the next year.

Demonstrations & exhibitors

Several exhibitors made information available and were able to demonstrate their products.

The main sponsor was AKHTER computers who were demonstrating their WinSchool & TopSchool systems.

Displays & demo were also available from the CTI Centre for Nursing & Midwifery (including "The Domino Effect" - a video about patients, nurses & computerised data) and Footman-Walker Associates Ltd with Patient Advice letters.

Also available was information about MIE 14th International Congress.

Travel, Accommodation & Social

Maps & directions to Stephenson Hall, University of Sheffield were provided and clear, however driving through the city centre in the rush hour was not much fun!

The main hall for the conference was comfortable and had good acoustics for the group size. Also provided were equipment to enable multimedia and on-line presentations (thanks to CTI).

Dinner, coffee, bar, demonstrations, exhibitions & focus group meetings were in a nearby building which was well appointed. Food was a copious buffet except the annual dinner which was waitress service & tasty food - vegetarian options were available.

All in all, a good 2 days with lots of interesting formal and informal networking.

Please mail any comments about these home pages to Rod@RodSpace.co.uk

Document created: 26.9.96

Last updated: 3.9.03