Current perspectives: information in healthcare

Abstract

Current perspectives: information in healthcare 1st edition, Abbott, William, Blankley, Nick, Bryant, John & Bullas, Sheila , Swindon . Health Informatics Committee of the British Computer Society , 2004 . ISBN: 0953542793 , 251 pp. £20 . If you want an overview of where health librarianship in the UK is now and where it is headed, don't buy this book. Apart from a brief reference to the National Electronic Library for Health and one of the authors recounting a fruitless search for health informatics material in his local Trust library, consideration of the role of libraries in the information chain is conspicuous only by its absence. Similarly, the authors appear to have only a nodding acquaintance with the concept of knowledge management. If, however, you’re looking for a comprehensive analysis of the past, current and possible future of information technology and its application in healthcare there is much that will be of value to you. Government policy and the current National Programme for IT are clearly explained. Based on their long experience in the health service and knowledge of large scale IT projects, the authors remain doubtful about the eventual success of some parts of the Programme. One of the main strengths of the book is its understanding of the people side of large IT projects. The authors are clear that, if the change management, implementation and benefits realization elements of installing new IT systems are not properly managed, any project will ultimately fail to achieve its goals. The two chapters on change management are particularly impressive. The first of these looks at the nature of change and organizational capacity and capability to achieve change, while the second goes on to consider appropriate methods for creating and sustaining change. The book is illustrated with lots of examples drawn from the authors’ experience and uses diagrams, charts and tables constructively. It also attempts to predict what will happen in the future to healthcare information, with consideration in the final chapters of future policy, what the technology might look like and how health informatics might evolve. There is a particularly thought-provoking chapter on health online services, with recognition of issues concerning technology inequality, social exclusion and the assertion that no channels can be taken in isolation as a means of delivery of health information. Inevitably, the rapid pace of change in the NHS means that some parts of the book are already out of date as, for example, the NHS Information Authority is swept away in the most recent round of reorganization and the NHS terminates its contract for a managed national e-mail and directory service with EDS. In addition, the book explicitly focuses only on the NHS in England and most of the examples cited are drawn from secondary care. Nonetheless, as a snapshot in time and a one-stop introduction to the complex topic of health information, written in plain language, the book has much to commend it. Proper consideration of the role of health libraries and knowledge management could turn the second edition into a compulsory purchase.