Professor Ken Woo
Textbook: Panko, R. R. (2008) Business Data Networks and Telecommunications (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall
Students entering the Medical Informatics program from a clinical background were required to take two “technology track” courses in order to increase their knowledge of the hardware and software infrastructure which supports medical informatics activities. Because one of my key goals is to
collaborate with information technology professionals to improve the design and functioning of electronic medical records (EMR) programs, these courses were very interesting and important to me, and I enjoyed them just as much as I enjoyed the core informatics courses. I wanted to use these courses to gain at least elementary fluency in speaking the language of information systems
professionals working at both vendors and healthcare organizations and to understand the challenges they face in acquiring, installing, and maintaining, the electronic devices and programs which actually execute medical informatics functions. Lack of communication between clinicians and IT professionals during the design and development phases of health information technology is one major source of the poor usability which causes physicians to reject the use of HIT.
collaborate with information technology professionals to improve the design and functioning of electronic medical records (EMR) programs, these courses were very interesting and important to me, and I enjoyed them just as much as I enjoyed the core informatics courses. I wanted to use these courses to gain at least elementary fluency in speaking the language of information systems
professionals working at both vendors and healthcare organizations and to understand the challenges they face in acquiring, installing, and maintaining, the electronic devices and programs which actually execute medical informatics functions. Lack of communication between clinicians and IT professionals during the design and development phases of health information technology is one major source of the poor usability which causes physicians to reject the use of HIT.
Virtually all EMR systems are structured in a client/server architecture, so the rapid accurate transmission of information from the data repository to the point of use is critical for system function and user satisfaction. I know from my clinical experience that any delay greater than one or two seconds in retrieving information is perceived by the physician as “forever.” Telecommunication and local organizational networks constitute the infrastructure that supports rapid data transmission and protects the privacy, security, and integrity of protected health information while it is in transit. Dr. Woo gave us a great introduction to the principles of information theory which govern data transmission, the programs which put those principles into practice, and the electronic hardware which executes the transfer.
In the realm of information theory we talked about binary data representations, the packaging of binary data for transmission, and the principles of semantics, syntax, and message ordering. Our studies on network hardware began with a video of Dr. Woo creating a network cable by putting RJ-45 connectors on the length of category 5E cabling and proceeded to examine transmission media (UTP, Cat 5e/6 cabling, optical fiber), the physical structure of Ethernet networks, the different types of network topologies and the functioning of switches and routers. We learned about the seven layers of the Open Systems Interconnect model, the details of TCP/IP internetworking, the special aspects and functions of wireless networks, and the functioning of telecommunication WAN’s which connect LAN’s over longer distances. Finally we looked at network application programs, principles of network management (including VLAN’s), and the complicated but vital field of network security.
As we began to apply our new knowledge, the first course assignment was to analyze a Harvard Business Review interview with John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco Systems and to interview a networking professional at your own organization. I was able to interview the Senior Technical Specialist responsible for the operation of all network infrastructure equipment at my 400 bed community hospital and the associated campus of four medical office buildings (project link attached). Our major course project was to design and implement an entire network system based on a scenario describing the business needs of a fictional company. My project partner, Dr. Frank Lynch, and I chose to design a mainly wireless network for a new three building campus being established by the company (project link attached). This involved drawing the network diagrams for the Local Area Network in each building, the Metropolitan Area Network of the campus, and the Wide Area Network features to link the campus to the Internet and the company’s other offices. We recommended the hardware to be installed and developed a budget for the project. We analyzed the capacity and capability of network, sized it properly for the initial number of users, and designed for easy modification and growth as user numbers and the company’s needs changed. We designed for and presented a comprehensive explanation of network redundancy, reliability, and security. Along with the interview, this project provided my first insight into the day-to-day activities and concerns of networking professionals.
Each week we were required to find and submit an analysis of an article on a topic related to the course, and the Discussion Boards kept us
interacting with and learning from the perspectives of our classmates on issues at the forefront of the field. Interestingly, Dr. Woo also had us read and discuss The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take off and Others Crash and Burn, by Pip Coburn, and this book was one of the most useful and incisive resources on change management I encountered in the entire program. It further stimulated my growing interest in using the principles of change management to facilitate physician adoption of health information technology, and I was surprised that it was part of the curriculum in one of the “technical” courses.
interacting with and learning from the perspectives of our classmates on issues at the forefront of the field. Interestingly, Dr. Woo also had us read and discuss The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take off and Others Crash and Burn, by Pip Coburn, and this book was one of the most useful and incisive resources on change management I encountered in the entire program. It further stimulated my growing interest in using the principles of change management to facilitate physician adoption of health information technology, and I was surprised that it was part of the curriculum in one of the “technical” courses.