ADVANCES IN HEALTH CARE COMMUNICATION: AN INFORMATION RESOURCE FOR THE YEAR 2000 OBJECTIVES

THE FIELD OF HEALTH CARE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION HAS BECOME EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN ACHIEVING HEALTH CARE OBJECTIVES SUCH OBJECTIVES SUCH AS PRACTICE IMPROVEMENT, EQUITY OF SERVICE TO ALL GROUPS, AND COST CONTAINMENT. HOWEVER, THIS FIELD, AND THE LARGE-SCALE HEALTH DISSEMINATION PROGRAMS THAT IT FORMERLY DESIGNED, IMPLEMENTED, AND EVALUATED, HAVE UNDERGONE TEN YEARS OF RELATIVE NEGLECT. THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART IN THE USE OF HEALTH CARE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION IS NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD, OR EVEN KNOWN. ADVANCES IN HEALTH CARE COMMUNICATION IS TO BE A DATABASE AND DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR GATHERING, ANALYZING, AND REDISSEMINATING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HEALTH CARE INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS. WHILE IT WILL GIVE SOME EMPHASIS TO ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS IN ELECTRONIC HEALTH CARE COMMUNICATION, IT WILL ENCOMPASSINFORMATION ABOUT ALL TYPES OF SYSTEMS AND PROGRAMS-INTERPERSONAL, PRINT, ELECTRONIC, AND MULTIMEDIA. ADVANCES IN HEALTH CARE COMMUNICATION WILL PERFORM STANDARD "CLEARINGHOUSE FUNCTIONS" ON THE ACQUIRED INFORMATION, RANGING FROM ABSTRACTS TO ANALYTIC REVIEWS. IT WILL DISSEMINATE INFORMATION FROM THE DATABASE AND INFORMATION ANALYSIS PRODUCTS IN BOTH PRINT AND ELECTRONIC FORMS. THESE PRODUCTS WILL SERVE SEVERAL TARGET AUDIENCES, INCLUDING RESEARCHERS, POLICYMAKERS, ADMINISTRATORS, PROGRAM PLANNERS, AND EVALUATORS.