|
This paper will review the origins and twenty-year history of IAIMS planning and implementation programs in US academic health sciences centers and the central leadership roles played by health sciences librarians and libraries in shaping this critical vision and imperative. The basic goal of IAIMS planning and implementation efforts has been to bring together fragmented information systems and resources into integrated online networks providing convenient, timely access to the most current, comprehensive and accurate sources of information supporting effective patient care, health professional and consumer education, and research in the health sciences. Health sciences librarians and their libraries have played a central role in formulating the IAIMS vision and in leading the efforts of academic medical centers to link traditional knowledge-based library information sources with electronic medical record systems and other hospital information systems as well as with online information systems to facilitate medical education and research. The US National Library of Medicine has supported IAIMS planning, implementation and research activities through a growing array of grant programs. This review will include specific examples from IAIMS programs at a number of institutions, including the planning effort led by Dr. Byrd to bring together the health information systems of five health sciences schools and their affiliated hospitals in Western New York. |