Laurie Lovett Novak, PhD, MHSA

Assistant Professor
Biomedical Informatics
Phone
(615) 936-6497
Fax
(615) 936-1427

< previous core faculty                    next core faculty >

FOCUS: Impact of HIT on work patterns

Laurie Lovett Novak, PhD, MHSA, is an anthropologist specializing in medical and business/industrial applications, and is Assistant Professor in the Vanderbilt University Department of Biomedical Informatics. Her research has focused on the relationship between information systems and work in clinical settings, especially activities related to design and implementation of large-scale clinical informatics systems. Current projects focus on the implementation of AI in medicine, consent practices in biobanking, the development of conceptual resources and technology for understanding technology use in everyday contexts, and the experience of chronic illness and caregiving in everyday life. Other areas of interest include the social construction of risk and safety among clinicians and patients, and strategies employed by clinicians to create safety and time during the implementation of new technology. Dr. Novak also has a professional background in health care quality improvement and a master’s degree in health services management and policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. In the biomedical informatics training program, Dr. Novak teaches social science methods in multiple courses, and a Fall seminar: BMIF 7350: Technology & Society.

Research Interests

AI in medicine, patient and caregiver work, technology and society, design research

Education & Training

BA – Finance, Murray State University
MHSA – Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan
PhD – Medical and Organizational Anthropology, Wayne State University

Research Information

Recent Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
  1. Anders, Shilo, Hannah Aaron, Gretchen Purcell Jackson, and Laurie L. Novak. Supporting Caregivers in Pregnancy: A Qualitative Study of Their Activities and Roles. Journal of Patient Experience. 2019:6(2)126-32.
  2. Jeffery, Alvin D., Laurie L. Novak, Betsy Kennedy, Mary S. Dietrich, and Lorraine C. Mion. Participatory design of probability-based decision support tools for in-hospital nurses. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2017: 24;6 1102-1110. PMID: 28637180.
  3. Jeffery AD, Kennedy B, Dietrich MS, Mion LC, Novak LL. A Qualitative Exploration of Nurses’ Information-Gathering Behaviors Prior to Decision Support Tool Design. Applied Clinical Informatics. 2017 Mar;8(03):763-78.
  4. Valdez RS, Holden RJ, Novak LL, Veinot TC. Technical infrastructure implications of the patient work framework. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2015 Feb 8. pii: ocu031. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocu031. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available. PMID: 25665705.
  5. Valdez RS, Holden RJ, Novak LL, Veinot TC. Transforming consumer health informatics through a patient work framework: connecting patients to context. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2015 Jan;22(1):2-10. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2014-002826. Epub 2014 Aug 14. PMID: 25125685.
  6. Simpson CL, Novak LL. Place matters: the problems and possibilities of spatial data in electronic health records. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2013 Nov 16;2013:1303-11. eCollection 2013. PMID: 24551409.
  7. Holden R, Novak LL. Human factors engineering, bar coding medication administration, and nursing: an interview with Drs. Richard Holden and Laurie L. Novak. Interview by Peter I Buerhaus. Nurs Econ. 2013 Jul-Aug;31(4):190-3, 197. No abstract available. PMID: 24069719.
  8. Novak LL, Holden RJ, Anders SH, Hong JY, Karsh BT. Using a sociotechnical framework to understand adaptations in health IT implementation. Int J Med Inform. 2013 Dec;82(12):e331-44. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2013.01.009. Epub 2013 Apr 3. PMID: 23562140.
  9. Novak LL. Finding hidden sources of new work from BCMA implementation: the value of an organizational routines perspective. AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2012;2012:673-80. Epub 2012 Nov 3. PMID: 23304340.
  10. Novak L, Brooks J, Gadd C, Anders S, Lorenzi N. Mediating the intersections of organizational routines during the introduction of a health IT system. Eur J Inf Syst. 2012 Sep 1;21(5). doi: 10.1057/ejis.2012.2. PMID: 24357898.
  11. Novak LL, Anders S, Gadd CS, Lorenzi NM. Mediation of adoption and use: a key strategy for mitigating unintended consequences of health IT implementation. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012 Nov-Dec;19(6):1043-9. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000575. Epub 2012 May 26. PMID: 22634157.
  12. Novak LL. Improving health IT through understanding the cultural production of safety in clinical settings. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2010;157:175-80. PMID: 20543385.