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Health Informatics Research in CSCW:

Why an Interdisciplinary Focus

is ImportantMadhu Reddy PhD

College of Information Sciences and Technology

Center for Integrated Healthcare Delivery Systems

Penn State Universitymreddy@ist.psu.edu

Feb. 24, 2013

Who am I?3 Ph.D. - University of California, Irvine (2003)

Been part of CSCW since 1998

Research Interests - collaboration and communication within clinical settings

Interested in research at disciplinary intersections Biomedical Informatics community

Health Informatics Multiple disciplines

Healthcare Computer

Science Information

Science Communication Biology Health Behavior Others…

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PEOPLE,INFORMATIO

N,TECHNOLOGY

,&

HEALTH-RELATED ACTIVITES

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Interdisciplinary Research Does NOT mean being everything to everyone

Academia: driven by disciplinary homes

Understand the research that is done outside of your community Seems simple but is often not

Visit the research communities that most impact your work

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CSCW and Health Informatics

Are you a CSCW researcher interested in health? Or a health informatics researcher interested in CSCW methods and problems?

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CSCW and Health Informatics It matters for certain things (job opportunities,

tenure)

BUT if this the field that you want to make as your career and have an impact, you should BE BOTH

How can you do this?

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Making an Impact Learn to speak the language of the different

research communities that you are interested in Ex: Medical Informatics and Workflow

Publish research (& participate) in the different communities

Do not be dismissive of research from that community

“Grand Challenges” How can CSCW research inform/change the

design of systems or the work that people do in the health fields?

How can CSCW research be “translated” so that researchers in community X will find it useful for them?

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Change is Happening New generation of researchers who are more

multidisciplinary

More acceptance of publishing across disciplines

More interest in collaborating across disciplines

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Two Great Papers to Read Fitzpatrick, G. and G. Ellingsen. (2012). A Review of

25Years of CSCW Research in Healthcare: Contributions, Challenges and Future Agendas. JCSCW. June 2012: pp 1-57.

Tentori, M., G. Hayes, and M. Reddy. (2012). Pervasive Computing in Hospital, Chronic, and Preventive Care. Foundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction. 5(1): pp.1-95.

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Thank You!