Abstract
BackgroundIn recent years, there have been numerous initiatives undertaken to describe critical information needs related to the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of data in support of biomedical research (J Investig Med 54:327-333, 2006); (J Am Med Inform Assoc 16:316–327, 2009); (Physiol Genomics 39:131-140, 2009); (J Am Med Inform Assoc 18:354–357, 2011). A common theme spanning such reports has been the importance of understanding and optimizing people, organizational, and leadership factors in order to achieve the promise of efficient and timely research (J Am Med Inform Assoc 15:283–289, 2008). With the emergence of clinical and translational science (CTS) as a national priority in the United States, and the corresponding growth in the scale and scope of CTS research programs, the acuity of such information needs continues to increase (JAMA 289:1278–1287, 2003); (N Engl J Med 353:1621–1623, 2005); (Sci Transl Med 3:90, 2011). At the same time, systematic evaluations of optimal people, organizational, and leadership factors that influence the provision of data, information, and knowledge management technologies and methods are notably lacking.MethodsIn response to the preceding gap in knowledge, we have conducted both: 1) a structured survey of domain experts at Academic Health Centers (AHCs); and 2) a subsequent thematic analysis of public-domain documentation provided by those same organizations. The results of these approaches were then used to identify critical factors that may influence access to informatics expertise and resources relevant to the CTS domain.ResultsA total of 31 domain experts, spanning the Biomedical Informatics (BMI), Computer Science (CS), Information Science (IS), and Information Technology (IT) disciplines participated in a structured surveyprocess. At a high level, respondents identified notable differences in theaccess to BMI, CS, and IT expertise and services depending on the establishment of a formal BMI academic unit and the perceived relationship between BMI, CS, IS, and IT leaders. Subsequent thematic analysis of the aforementioned public domain documents demonstrated a discordance between perceived and reported integration across and between BMI, CS, IS, and IT programs and leaders with relevance to the CTS domain.ConclusionDifferences in people, organization, and leadership factors do influence the effectiveness of CTS programs, particularly with regard to the ability to access and leverage BMI, CS, IS, and IT expertise and resources. Based on this finding, we believe that the development of a better understanding of how optimal BMI, CS, IS, and IT organizational structures and leadership models are designed and implemented is critical to both the advancement of CTS and ultimately, to improvements in the quality, safety, and effectiveness of healthcare.
Highlights
In recent years, there have been numerous initiatives undertaken by members of the biomedical informatics (BMI) community to describe people, organizational, and leadership factors that influence the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of data, information, and knowledge in support of biomedical research [1,2,3,4]
The specific methods associated with these phases are described below: Phase one: structured survey An anonymous electronic survey request was sent via email to a convenience sample of SMEs, who are both affiliated with the national Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Informatics Key Functional Committee (IKFC), and are members of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Clinical Research Informatics working group (CRIWG)
When asked to describe the institutions at which they work, 64.5% of the respondents reported that their institution had a Biomedical Informatics (BMI) department or other formal academic unit (35.5% did not). 54.8% of the respondents reported that their institution has a BMI training program
Summary
There have been numerous initiatives undertaken by members of the biomedical informatics (BMI) community to describe people, organizational, and leadership factors that influence the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of data, information, and knowledge in support of biomedical research [1,2,3,4]. Key terms and definitions Given that the intent of this report is to describe a survey and evaluation of such people, organizational and leadership factors that impact informatics support for CTS, it is important to provide shared context for key terms and concepts that we will use in the remainder of the manuscript Do address this nee, we will utilize the following working definitions: Computational and Information Science: The term Computer Science (CS) came into common use in the 1960’s, but does not necessarily correlate with a specific and community accepted definition of the focus and scope of the field. Information Technology: The field of Information Technology (IT) is concerned with the application of various forms of technology and correlative data, information, and knowledge-centric processes in order to achieve outcomes dictated by operational and business needs or goals [12]
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