by Toon Prasertsit, Board Member and Chairperson, Clinical Informatics Committee

The HIMSS SoCal Clinical Informatics Committee has been working to bring quality programs to meet the challenging landscape of IT healthcare. Many innovations are emerging as relevant topics for discussion.

Patient engagement continues to be at the forefront. What tools will the healthcare sector provide to assist patients in managing their healthcare? Secure messaging and telehealth services are tools breaking down barriers and making communication and access to their providers easier for patients. Patient portals provide patients access to their current clinical data.

Will the empowerment of patients and innovation continue to come from the traditional healthcare sector? Companies that do not have traditional roots in healthcare are introducing wearable technology and mobile solutions to consumers that will track activity levels, heart rate, and other health metrics to personalize the management of health and fitness. Time will tell if patients can utilize these tools to empower them to take a more active role in their healthcare.

The Clinical Informatics Committee is in the process of planning our 7th Annual Clinical Informatics Summit to address these relevant topics in IT healthcare. We have established a relationship with the American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) and hope to collaborate on the program development for this event. The Clinical Informatics Summit will be held at the Beckman Center at UC-Irvine campus on May 15th .

For the first time ever, our Chapter will be offering a Nursing Informatics Prep Course. This event is being planned for the weekend of February 21 and 22 at Hoag Hospital Conference Center in Newport Beach and will focus on current informatics trends and issues. It will include content for Registered Nurses who are interested in becoming American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Board Certified Informatics Nurse. 

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