10x10 with University of Illinois at Chicago

Patient Safety and Health Information Technology

For a second year, the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences, focuses its 10x10 course on examining how health information technology (HIT) can be used to support...and inhibit...patient safety.  It was the 1999 IOM report "To Err is Human" followed by the 2001 report "Crossing the Quality Chasm" that brought patient safety to the national forefront and identified HIT as a critical means to achieve this goal.  This 10x10 course will examine the informatics and information technology issues surrounding the implementation and use of HIT that have contributed to this robust discussion over the past decade.  Participants will gain an understanding of the sociotechnical aspects of information technology, including why implementation of the best software or hardware sometimes fails to meet expectations. 

This online course is ideal for professionals looking for quality and convenience. No prerequisites are required.

Director

Dr. Annette L. Valenta, Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences in the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will serve as the director of the UIC 10x10 offering.

Dr. Valenta is a founding member of the UIC Institute for Patient Safety Excellence (IPSE) and teaching faculty in its Master of Science in Patient Safety Leadership.  With funding through AHRQ, HHS, and DOD, her research focuses on organizational issues surrounding health technology, including examining the role information systems can play in promoting patient safety.  She is Director of Mentorship Programs of the Research Education & Careers in Health (REACH) Program, UIC Center for Clinical and Translational Science.  Her course, Social and Organizational Issues in Health Informatics, is required in the UIC MS in Health Informatics degree.

Her publications have appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Academic Medicine, JALN:  Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Journal of Medical Systems, Journal of Healthcare Information Management, Proceedings of the 1st ACM International Health Informatics Symposium, and Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.  She has served as Review Board Member, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, and is a member of the Delta Omega Society (a public health honorary fraternity).

Annette L. Valenta, DrPH, is a consulting faculty (T. McDonald, Principal Investigator) for the AHRQ-funded grant entitled "The Seven Pillars:  Crossing the Patient Safety-Medical Liability Chasm."  This project aims to evaluate rigorously the impact of the "Seven Pillars" - a comprehensive response to patient harm that links effective and honest communication with improvements in patient safety and reducing medical liability risk.  (Grant R18 HS10507858)