Long range plans for information management have been formulated for the hospitals and libraries of the Health Center at the University of Pittsburgh. Major components of these plans have already been carried out. These include the creation of an Office of Biomedical Informatics to guide the development of information management systems in the Health Sciences environment, the establishment of task forces to define institutional information policies, a formal survey of the needs and resources of the main Health Center hospitals, the implementation of a campus wide fiberoptic telecommunications systems linking the hospitals of the Health Center with the Academic Campus and the Schools and Libraries of the Health Sciences, and the automation of the Health Sciences Libraries. In addition, the University of Pittsburgh has been a center for research in biomedical informatics for the past fifteen years. Most of these programs correspond to the elements of an Integrated Academic Information Management System (IAIMS) as outlined in the 1984 announcement by the National Library of Medicine. A major element that is lacking, however, is a comprehensive educational plan. This proposed project will focus on two main goals: (1) development of an educational plan that will be integrated with existing plans to produce an overall IAIMS strategic planning document for the Health Center; and (2) development/promotion of educational activities related to biomedical informatics. An Office of Education for Biomedical Informatics will be established to coordinate and assist in implementation of project activities.
