The national Library of Medicine's Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems (IAIMS) program is a demonstrated successful concept designed to develop institution-wide computer architectures that link and relate library systems with individual and institutional databases and information files for patient care, research, education, and administration. Recently, the Division of the Biological Sciences and the University of Chicago Hospitals have initiated a pioneering program that, following this IAIMS model, seeks to develop a computing environment to foster the singular integration of teaching, research, and clinical practice that has characterized the University of Chicago for 100 years. Driven by a wide range of planning and operational activities underway within the institution, this proposal seeks support to develop a unified strategic plan for the use of information technology and to create an integrated and dedicated IAIMS Operations Office to oversee parallel planning and operational projects. The objectives of this approach are: 1) to initiate a comprehensive planning process to develop a unified strategic plan for the use of information technology within the Biological Sciences Division and the University of Chicago Hospitals; 2) to assemble existing oversight committees and create new planning structures required to develop and implement a successful IAIMS infrastructure; 3) to assess and characterize existing information resources as well as develop recommendations for future information technology strategies, needs, and requirements; 4) to develop an implementation strategy that can proceed in parallel with the strategic planning process; 5) to determine technology solutions and operational policies that successfully attend to network security, privacy, and data integrity; 6) to begin a pilot """"""""desktop integration"""""""" project that actively merges clinical and academic computing efforts currently underway; 7) to develop an evaluation and assessment program that is designed as an integrated component of the larger IAIMS infrastructure; and 8) to develop an IAIMS Operational Phase grant proposal for submission to the National Library of Medicine at the conclusion of the planning grant period. Achieving these goals will be made possible by a combination of a motivated and receptive faculty and administration, a skilled technical and educational development and support staff, and construction of two new facilities -- the Biological Sciences Learning and Research Complex, composed of the Biological Sciences Learning Center and the Jules F. Knapp Medical Research Building, and the Center for Advanced Medicine. These conditions, when buoyed with IAIMS support, will generate a model IAIMS environment and set of tangible products that will fill a vacuum in instructional and health care computing, and provide a powerful model for other academic medical centers, hospitals, and biological science departments.
