OzHealthITHistory+Home

=The History of E-Health and Health IT in Australia= = = Welcome to A New Wiki To Assist in the Documentation Of E-Health History in Australia.

[NOTE - EC: here is a very first draft - please feel free to play with this structure]

= Introduction = (a few words about what this is, some notable events, and the major international contributions from Australia to informatics) = A chronological history =

Can we create a table here of say 10-15 major events (and have supplemental tables later on for more detailed stuff - eg Evelyn's table on the professional bodies I have put in later on)

DGM - My Initial List. (People can add examples of each phase as they have them)

1. Following Initial Development of General Purpose Computers we had work at by Barnett, Warner and so on in the early 1960's which led to the first hospital applications. Event 1.

2. Initial Hospital Information Systems (Lockeed etc) later in that decade

3. Earliest Hospital Activity In Australia - via NSW Health Commission - HP Contract to develop PMI / ATS Systems NSW (circa 1975) (Used HP-3000 Minicomputers) Other States??

4. Emergence of Affordable Minicomputers with Departmental Computing becoming possible (1970 on) (HP, Digital, Data General etc) - More distinct move into clinical areas

5. Emergence of Microcomputers (IBM Personal Computer and so on) Late 70s spurred extra innovation and experimentation as costs dropped

6. Earliest General Practice Computing (Trevor Lord and David Rowed would be good sources as would GPCG records)

7. Initial Academic Initiatives (Monash, UNSW CQU and others?) Emergence of Textbooks (Blum, 1986, Shortliffe et al, 1990, Coeira 1997)

8. Various State Based Initiatives (NSW Computer Division and other equivalents)

9. Major Government Initiatives (Especially PIP program which got GP Computer use underway).

10. National Planning Efforts (HCN, 1993, Health On Line 2000, NEHTA 2005, National E-Health Strategy 2007)

First clinical information systems (1970-1990)
(I would add in the early adoption of DRGs here)

Today
= Special Topics =

Australian informatics research
Some suggested paragraphs Melbourne - Branko Cesnik, Michael Kidd, Chris Silagy Evelyn and Educational research (USyd's online medical program in 1990s - ask Ross Lazarus?)  Sydney - Michael Kidd USyd, UNSW - Enrico, Paul Compton, Jo Westbrook  CSIRO E-health NICTA - Penny Sanderson

Australian informatics technologies and companies
Pen, iSOFT, HCN, PKS, Sydney SVH Lacey system

Nursing Informatics in Australia
Extracted from Hovenga E, Honey M, Westbrooke L, Carr R, **Pacific Rim Perspectives in** Saba & McCormick, 5th Ed Essentials of Nursing Informatics, McGraw-Hill, NY

Nursing informatics in Australia began with the Royal Australian Nursing Federation (now ANF) in 1984. A year later a small group of midwives in Victoria, including Joan Edgecumbe, who is now the Executive Officer of the Health Informatics Society, Australia decided to call a general meeting of nurses interested in computer use. About 70 nurses agreed to establish the Nursing Computer Group Victoria (NCGV). This group continued to flourish and hosted the Fourth International Symposium on Nursing Use of Computers and Information Science in Melbourne in 1991. The profits of this conference enabled the formation of the [|Health Informatics Society of Australia].

The Professions of Informatics in Australia
** Table X.X: History of Australian Health Informatics Professional Groups and the promotion of this discipline ** ** 1. ** Form a National Council of Health Informatics Groups. ** 2. ** Combine three newsletters/journals, CHIP, HINT, and Nursing Informatics Australia, into one national and multidisciplinary magazine with a national editorial board. The first issue of //Informatics in Healthcare Australia// came out in May 1992 funded by NIA. || An HL7 International Affiliates meeting held in Melbourne (refer [|www.hl7.org.au]) ||
 * ** Year ** || ** By Whom ** || ** Purpose ** ||
 * 1949 || Health Information Managers Association (HIMAA) || established - refer [] ||
 * 1984 || Royal Australian Nurses Federation (RANF) || Adoption of position statement on “Computerisation in Health Services – Implications for Nursing” (RANF 1984) ||
 * 1985 || RCNA || Seventh National Conference theme, “Information Processing- Challenges and Choices for Nurses”, Melbourne. This inspired a small group of midwives. ||
 * 1985 || Midwives Association || General meeting of nurses interested in computer use – 70 nurses attended. The Nursing Computer Group Victoria (NCGV) was established. ||
 * 1986 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Royal Adelaide Hospital Nurses Education Fund || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Sponsored a National Nursing Conference with the theme: “From Lamp to Light Pen – Computers in Nursing” to celebrate their 150 Jubilee. Nurses from Queensland and Western Australia computer groups established the previous year, networked. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1986 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Health Commission of Victoria || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Government funded the then senior nursing advisor to undertake a worldtour to investigate the likely impact on nurses of computer use in the health industry. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1986 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">National computer committee established following the formation of several State based medical computing interest groups. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1986 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian participants at Medinfo’86 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Around 20 Australians met in Washington DC and decided to form a network with the aim of promoting health informatics among health professionals. This resulted in the formation of a number of computer groups in several States over the years that followed. Meanwhile the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Inc. was the organisation that represented Australia at IMIA. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1987 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">RACGP || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Computer Fellow position established in conjunction with Monash University’s Department of Community Medicine. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1988 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">RACGP || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Standards for Computerised Medical Records Systems released. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1989 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">A Western Australia initiative to form AMIA with State based branches. The inaugural meeting of AMIA (Victorian Branch) was held in Melbourne in 1991. AMIA secured an affiliation with the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and became the ACS medical informatics special interest group. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1990 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Health Informatics Association SA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Sixteen health informatics enthusiasts met in South Australia and established AHIA SA. They published six issues of the Health Informatics News and Technology (HINT) annually. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1991 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Computer Society (ACS) medical informatics special interest group || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">The ACS MI SIG organized a one-day health track at the ACS annual conference held in Adelaide that year. This was seen as an opportunity for members of the many disparate groups to meet and discuss the possibility of forming one national organization. Disagreement regarding the name (medical vs health) and the entry requirements remained unresolved. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1991 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Health Informatics Association Qld || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">A group of health professionals organised regular educational meetings in Brisbane and formed AHIA Qld. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1991 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Health Informatics Association New South Wales (HIANSW) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HIANSW was established by 36 people representing a wide range of health and IT professionals, incl. Nurses. They produces a regular newsletter, Computers in Health Information Processing (CHIP) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1991 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Nursing Computer Group Victoria || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">International Nursing Informatics Symposium held in Melbourne hosted by the NCGV under the auspices of the IMIA Nursing Informatics working group. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1991 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">NI’91 Post Conference meeting || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Nurses from all States and Territories discussed the formation of a National Nursing Informatics group. Everyone agreed to work together, but the formalization of a new national organization was problematic due to differences between the state-based groups regarding affiliations with other professional nursing organizations. Subsequently, the Nursing Computer Group Victoria changed its name to Nursing Informatics Australia (NIA) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Nursing Informatics Australia (NIA) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Post conference profits were used to establish a secretariat and launch a new look magazine. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Nursing Informatics Council (ANIC) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">One representative from each state-based nursing informatics group was appointed to form ANIC ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Standards Australia || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Health Informatics Standards Committee – IT-14 established ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HIANSW Conference || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Another attempt at uniting the 23 distinct groups was made at the first HIANSW conference held in Laura, New South Wales to discuss how to best work together and how health (medical) informatics should be represented at IMIA. This resulted in a resolution to:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">AMIA meeting, Melbourne || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Discussion paper summarizing deliberations, and a scenario for the development of one new national organization to represent the field of health informatics in Australia was circulated widely. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1992 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian Nursing Informatics Council (ANIC) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Initiated the idea to organize a national conference in 1993. Several groups supported this idea, and since NIA was the only organization with the necessary funds, this group managed this inaugural conference. This became an annual event known as HIC – Health Informatics Conference. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1993 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">A special meeting of representatives from interested groups, facilitated by Dr. Ian Graham, who was the Director, Centre for Health Informatics at the Austin Hospital, was held in Sydney. This meeting produced a draft Constitution for HISA, reflecting an agreed set of principles. (refer [|www.hisa.org.au]) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1993 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA Victoria || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">NIA was reconstituted as the HISA Victoria branch ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1993 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA Inaugural general meeting || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">The draft constitution was presented to potential HISA members at its inaugural general meeting held in conjunction with the inaugural Health Informatics Conference (HIC ’93), and they voted for its adoption. Conference profits were then used to fund the further development of the constitution and incorporation. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1994 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA Constituted || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">The NIA (now HISA Vic) secretariat became HISA’s secretariat. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1994 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA Standards SIG || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">HISA’s representative to IT-14 informed the committee of the recommendation for the adoption of HL7 messaging standards, this was accepted. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1995 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">HISA became the official group to represent Australia at IMIA ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1996 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA NI Sig || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">HISA Nursing Informatics special interest group established. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">1997 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">General Practice Computing Group (GPCG) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Established by GPs, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to provide a strategic and co-operative approach to Australian GP informatics. (refer [|www.gpcg.org/]) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2000 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">A new constitution was adopted making HISA a company limited by guarantee of its members. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2001 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australian College of Health Informatics (ACHI) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Meeting of seven Health Informaticians funded by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care resulted in the formation of ACHI in 2002 with 18 invited Fellows selected via a peer review and consensus regarding the country’s 20 top health informaticians to act as the peak reference body for health informatics in Australia. By 2004 there were 30 Fellows and Members. (refer [|www.achi.org.au]) ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2002 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HL7 Australia || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">A Health Level Seven (HL7) user group established.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2002 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">Hosted an international ISO TC215 meeting in Melbourne ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2003 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">A Pathology SIG established ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2004 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">HISA || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">An Aged care SIG established ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2009 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">Australasian College of Health Informatics (ACHI) || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 1.7pt;">The has increased its membership to suitably qualified candidates in New Zealnd and Asia. There is an agreement between HINZ and ACHI to work together. ACHI initiated the establishment of the Australian Health Informatics Education Council (AHIEC), continues to provide a secretarial service for this Council and prepared a strategic workplan for national HI and NI education. ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">2010 || <span style="display: block; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;">ACHI || ACHI was accepted as a member of the Australian Council of Professions Ltd ||