Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics: Recent Research Trends

Summary Objectives: To introduce and analyse current trends in Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics. Methods: PubMed search of 2020 literature on public health and epidemiology informatics was conducted and all retrieved references were reviewed by the two section editors. Then, 15 candidate best papers were selected among the 920 references. These papers were then peer-reviewed by the two section editors, two chief editors, and external reviewers, including at least two senior faculty, to allow the Editorial Committee of the 2021 International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Yearbook to make an informed decision regarding the selection of the best papers. Results: Among the 920 references retrieved from PubMed, four were suggested as best papers and the first three were finally selected. The fourth paper was excluded because of reproducibility issues. The first best paper is a very public health focused paper with health informatics and biostatistics methods applied to stratify patients within a cohort in order to identify those at risk of suicide; the second paper describes the use of a randomized design to test the likely impact of fear-based messages, with and without empowering self-management elements, on patient consultations or antibiotic requests for influenza-like illnesses. The third selected paper evaluates the perception among communities of routine use of Whole Genome Sequencing and Big Data technologies to capture more detailed and specific personal information. Conclusions: The findings from the three studies suggest that using Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics methods could leverage, when combined with Deep Learning, early interventions and appropriate treatments to mitigate suicide risk. Further, they also demonstrate that well informing and empowering patients could help them to be involved more in their care process.

The Clinical Information Systems Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Summary Objective: The year 2020 was predominated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The objective of this article is to review the areas in which clinical information systems (CIS) can be and have been utilized to support and enhance the response of healthcare systems to pandemics, focusing on COVID-19. Methods: PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, the tables of contents of major informatics journals, and the bibliographies of articles were searched for studies pertaining to CIS, pandemics, and COVID-19 through October 2020. The most informative and detailed studies were highlighted, while many others were referenced. Results: CIS were heavily relied upon by health systems and governmental agencies worldwide in response to COVID-19. Technology-based screening tools were developed to assist rapid case identification and appropriate triaging. Clinical care was supported by utilizing the electronic health record (EHR) to onboard frontline providers to new protocols, offer clinical decision support, and improve systems for diagnostic testing. Telehealth became the most rapidly adopted medical trend in recent history and an essential strategy for allowing safe and effective access to medical care. Artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms were developed to enhance screening, diagnostic imaging, and predictive analytics - though evidence of improved outcomes remains limited. Geographic information systems and big data enabled real-time dashboards vital for epidemic monitoring, hospital preparedness strategies, and health policy decision making. Digital contact tracing systems were implemented to assist a labor-intensive task with the aim of curbing transmission. Large scale data sharing, effective health information exchange, and interoperability of EHRs remain challenges for the informatics community with immense clinical and academic potential. CIS must be used in combination with engaged stakeholders and operational change management in order to meaningfully improve patient outcomes. Conclusion: Managing a pandemic requires widespread, timely, and effective distribution of reliable information. In the past year, CIS and informaticists made prominent and influential contributions in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Best Paper Selection

Adler-Milstein J, Zhao W, Willard-Grace R, Knox M, Grumbach K. Electronic health records and burnout: Time spent on the electronic health record after hours and message volume associated with exhaustion but not with cynicism among primary care clinicians. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7647261/ Brewer LC, Fortuna KL, Jones C, Walker R, Hayes SN, Patten CA, Cooper LA. Back to the Future: Achieving Health Equity Through Health Informatics and Digital Health. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6996775/ Reading Turchioe M, Grossman LV, Myers AC, Baik D, Goyal P, Masterson Creber RM. Visual analogies, not graphs, increase patients' comprehension of changes in their health status. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7309237 Tschandl P, Rinner C, Apalla Z, Argenziano G, Codella N, Halpern A, Janda M, Lallas A, Longo C, Josep Malvehy J, Paoli J, Puig S, Rosendahl C, Soyer HP, Zalaudek I, Kittler H. Human-computer collaboration for skin cancer recognition. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0942-0

Findings from the 2021 Yearbook Section on Health Information Management

Objectives: To summarize the recent literature and research and present a selection of the best papers published in 2020 in the field of Health Information Management (HIM) and Health Informatics. Methods: A systematic review of the literature for the IMIA Yearbook HIM section was performed by the two section editors with the help of a medical librarian. We searched bibliographic databases for HIM-related papers using both MeSH headings and keywords in titles and abstracts. A shortlist of the fifteen best candidate papers was first selected by section editors before being peer-reviewed by independent external reviewers. Results: The three major themes of Health Information Exchange (transmitting, sharing, and accessing patient health-related data and information) (HIE), Data Quality, and Privacy and Security make up 80% of the fifteen papers, with individual papers on personal health records, information governance and the professionalism of the HIM field. Conclusions: Traditional HIM concerns about HIM practice and workforce as well as issues about the data in electronic health records (EHRs) including data quality, coding, health information exchange among entities within the healthcare systems and privacy and confidentiality continue to be a large part of the HIM research literature. Although there was little research applying these themes to pandemic concerns, HIM professionals have the expertise to make ccontributions to public health informatics research and this research would benefit from their involvement.

Knowledge Representation and Management: Interest in New Solutions for Ontology Curation

Summary Objective: To select, present and summarize some of the best papers in the field of Knowledge Representation and Management (KRM) published in 2020. Methods: A comprehensive and standardized review of the medical informatics literature was performed to select the most interesting papers of KRM published in 2020, based on PubMed queries. This review was conducted according to the IMIA Yearbook guidelines. Results: Four best papers were selected among 1,175 publications. In contrast with the papers selected last year, the four best papers of 2020 demonstrated a significant focus on methods and tools for ontology curation and design. The usual KRM application domains (bioinformatics, machine learning, and electronic health records) were also represented. Conclusion: In 2020, ontology curation emerges as a significant topic of research interest. Bioinformatics, machine learning, and electronics health records remain significant research areas in the KRM community with various applications. Knowledge representations are key to advance machine learning by providing context and to develop novel bioinformatics metrics. As in 2019, representations serve a great variety of applications across many medical domains, with actionable results and now with growing adhesion to the open science initiative.

The Use and Promise of Conversational Agents in Digital Health

Summary Objectives: To describe the use and promise of conversational agents in digital health—including health promotion andprevention—and how they can be combined with other new technologies to provide healthcare at home. Method: A narrative review of recent advances in technologies underpinning conversational agents and their use and potential for healthcare and improving health outcomes. Results: By responding to written and spoken language, conversational agents present a versatile, natural user interface and have the potential to make their services and applications more widely accessible. Historically, conversational interfaces for health applications have focused mainly on mental health, but with an increase in affordable devices and the modernization of health services, conversational agents are becoming more widely deployed across the health system. We present our work on context-aware voice assistants capable of proactively engaging users and delivering health information and services. The proactive voice agents we deploy, allow us to conduct experience sampling in people's homes and to collect information about the contexts in which users are interacting with them. Conclusion: In this article, we describe the state-of-the-art of these and other enabling technologies for speech and conversation and discuss ongoing research efforts to develop conversational agents that “live” with patients and customize their service offerings around their needs. These agents can function as ‘digital companions’ who will send reminders about medications and appointments, proactively check in to gather self-assessments, and follow up with patients on their treatment plans. Together with an unobtrusive and continuous collection of other health data, conversational agents can provide novel and deeply personalized access to digital health care, and they will continue to become an increasingly important part of the ecosystem for future healthcare delivery.

Best Paper Selection

Wu G, Yang P, Xie Y, Woodruff HC, Rao X, Guiot J, Frix AN, Louis R, Moutschen M, Li J, Li J, Yan C, Du D, Zhao S, Ding Y, Liu B, Sun W, Albarello F, D’Abramo A, Schininà V, Nicastri E, Occhipinti M, Barisione G, Barisione E, Halilaj I, Lovinfosse P, Wang X, Wu J, Lambin P. Development of a clinical decision support system for severity risk prediction and triage of COVID-19 patients at hospital admission: an international multicentre study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7331655/ Balestrieri M, Sisti D, Rocchi M, Rucci P, Simon G, Araya R, de Girolamo G. Effectiveness of clinical decision support systems and telemedicine on outcomes of depression: a cluster randomized trial in general practice. https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/37/6/731/5882119