This series is directed to healthcare professionals who are leading the trans formation of health care by using information and knowledge. Launched in 1988 as Computers in Health Care, the series offers a broad range of titles: some addressed to specific professions such as nursing, medicine, and health administration; others to special areas of practice such as trauma and radiol ogy. Still other books in the series focus on interdisciplinary issues, such as the computer-based patient record, electronic health records, and networked healthcare systems. Renamed Health Informatics in 1998 to reflect the rapid evolution in the discipline now known as health informatics, the series will continue to add titles that contribute to the evolution of the field. In the series, eminent ex perts, serving as editors or authors, offer their accounts of innovations in health informatics. Increasingly, these accounts go beyond hardware and soft ware to address the role of information in influencing the transformation of healthcare deli very systems around the world. The series also increasingly focuses on "peopleware" and the organizational, behavioral, and societal changes that accompany the diffusion of information technology in health services environments."

This comprehensive volume explores the evolving fields of consumer informatics and telemedicine as envisioned by the Institute of Medicine in its landmark reports on the electronic medical record, patient safety, and quality care. Each chapter describes the role of computers, technology, and telecommunications as enablers within a specific application focused on the needs of consumers. The applications covered are ones which empower consumers as they seek information, analyze their health care needs, and make decisions about their own health care. Such applications empower professionals in their efforts to serve patients, while increasing the knowledge of the consumer. Richly illustrated with detailed examples, this volume speaks to a wide range of audiences as it addresses issues raised by consumer informatics, the use of technology, research and development effects, and telemedicine. Chapter highlights include: Patient-Centered Communication; Using the Internet Toward Reliable Consumer Health Information; Disease Management and Home Telehealth; and Biothreats and Disaster Management. The book's audience includes all healthcare professionals, healthcare administrators, IT professionals, health informaticians, and students.