Using information extracted from the clinical record, biomedical researchers can build data files for hypothesis testing, outcomes studies and decision support tools. The design of the clinical research repository must address concerns about confidentiality and privacy. A task force is being created to establish a design for this. The goal of Webdoc is to develop novel representations of online published biomedical knowledge tailored for use by care givers and scientists. Later work will extend the concept to nursing and to basic sciences.
Work is underway to test a mechanism for direct author markup of manuscripts.
The increased emphasis on health prevention and promotion distributes responsibility for maintaining and improving personal and community health. Often, the patient's career as a lifelong learner about health issues begins in the ambulatory setting. Clinics, outpatient office settings and government health agencies can use information technology to educate patients and involve them in their own health care. The creation of electronic resources for public information centers, and the design of public information centers for target audiences builds partnerships between staff in the Information Lab, care givers and health program administrators. The AIDS Kiosk project is our first project in this area.