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Expanding the boundaries of clinical informatics for interdisciplinary systems research

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Health Systems

Abstract

Health-care organizations and the information they exchange are increasingly complex and difficult to understand necessitating fresh methodological approaches on the part of clinical informatics researchers. Looking at the interplay between health-care information technology (HIT), clinical workflow, and the surrounding organization requires some notion of a system and an interdisciplinary orientation toward research. The paper offers practical advice grounded in the systems approach to researchers who wish to view HIT holistically and part of an integrated system. Examples from literature describe the importance of expanding system boundaries, looking for relationships within those boundaries, simplifying complexity, and accounting for social behavior.

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Acknowledgements

The anonymous reviewers were instrumental in focusing this article on the systems approach. Cynthia LeRouge provided the impetus for this article and helped shape its direction through comments on earlier drafts.

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  1. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Nelson King

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King, N. Expanding the boundaries of clinical informatics for interdisciplinary systems research. Health Syst 3, 1–11 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/hs.2013.18

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