1. Discuss the differences between data, information, knowledge and wisdom and provide examples of each.
2. Discuss the definitions of Health Informatics, Bioinformatics and Biomedical Informatics and emphasize the fluid and evolutionary nature of the definitions. Do the multiple names confuse and confound the field?
3. Discuss what the federal government is doing with data, to include health data and provide examples, such as the healthdata.gov website.
4. Discuss the key players involved with health information technology and what goals they share in common.
5. Discuss the driving forces behind health information technology (HIT) from the viewpoint of the National Academy of Medicine and the Department of Health and Human Services. In other words, discuss the goal to improve patient safety, medical quality, care coordination and system efficiencies.
6. Discuss the major informatics organizations.
7. Discuss the impact of the HITECT and Affordable Care Acts on health informatics.
8. Discuss the barriers to HIT adoption. How many are specific for HIT and how many pertain to the adoption of any new change?
9. Explain why now is a good time to receive training in the health informatics field and discuss the various informatics training programs available today, such as certificate, masters and PhD programs.