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The research interests of this RIG are concentrated in
two areas:
- information behavior in medical and healthcare
settings, and
- adaptive or advanced information systems
supporting access to medical and healthcare information.
The user groups that interest us range from medical professionals
to healthcare consumers/patients and their caregivers.
At this time, the RIG has identified the subpopulation
of older people as an area of focus, given Pittsburgh's
demographics. As
Allegheny County is the second oldest county in the entire
U.S. (second only to Dade county FL), we have ready access
to a large consumer and provider community. We also
remain open to a focus on other populations, and recognize
that, for instance, the older population and the pediatric
population face some of the same technical issues around
accessing health information. RIG members are interested
in doing descriptive work, identifying the fundamental
principles limiting effective access to medical information,
as well as research on building tools and systems for information
use by these populations, and research on how to effect
behavior change in these groups.
The RIG is also interested
in medical decision making, and the adoption of health
information systems, as these areas present interesting
information behavior problems for health professionals
and their patients, as well as for information professionals. |
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