Editorial - Meaningful use

2011 has been a momentous year for Health Informatics in New Zealand and the world. Even the tragic Christchurch earthquake in February emphasised the power and vulnerability of health information systems in a natural disaster. Government policy continued to emphasise co-operation between providers and sharing of data and systems. It seems that from 2011 onwards, the “meaningful use” [1] of Health IT systems is becoming ever more important both in New Zealand and around the world.

The paper from Honey et al emphasises one of the most fundamental aspects of meaningful use. Systems must be usable and tolerable by the patients involved. These authors describe an usability evaluation of a cardiac monitoring system. There is increasing emphasis on treating people in their own homes, but this raises the need for systems to be easy and even enjoyable to use.

The paper on the T-light system also deals with issues of patient swho are being treated for chronic disease in the community. Health informatics has been concerned with decision support since its inception, and this work by Al-Nawab extends this work to include social and community factors that may affect adherence with treatment.

Health professionals are becoming scarcer, older and more expensive. Training must reflect the world that the clinicians will encounter. The paper by Shahtahmasebi and Liddell describes the development of a virtual classroom for nursing students. Interestingly this project is designed to support the development of skills in working in the community with the community.

Meaningful use in the future will involve using technology across boundaries between care providers, supporting communication between patients and clinicians and embedding health technology in people’s lives, in order to improve care and quality of life.

2012 will be a significant year in New Zealand’s Health IT community- systems should become operational and real evidence of use and usefulness should emerge.

[1]    Blumenthal D, Tavenner M. The "Meaningful Use" Regulation for Electronic Health Records. New England Journal of Medicine. 2010;363(6):501-4.