Overview Video
Evaluation and dissemination are key parts of the clinical informatics life cycle, and critical to understanding the effectiveness of a tool, identifying potential areas for improvement, and sharing the work with others so the benefit can spread. In the video below, Dr. Wright walks through some common measurement frameworks and study design options for evaluation as well as some popular means for dissemination, using a naloxone prescribing tool here at VUMC as a working example.
Book
The book Evaluation Methods in Biomedical Informatics is a classic overview of evaluation methods in our field. The PDF is available to download through SpringerLink.
Additional Resources
Depending on your goals, your evaluation may be quality improvement, or it might be research. Research requires approval from the Vanderbilt Institutional Review Board (IRB). If you decide you want to do a randomized trial (which is strongly encouraged!), the VUMC Learning Health Systems Platform is a valuable resource, and Eddie Qian is a local expert on RCTs. Of note, RCTs need to be registered on clinicaltrials.gov before they commence.
VCLIC is also a resource for informatics evaluation and dissemination. Feel free to contact McCoy, Allison B, Wright, Adam or Russo, Elise M for help. The VCLIC Core also provides support for evaluation and dissemination activities.
Course
DBMI offers a formal graduate level course, BMIF 7370, "Evaluation Methods in Biomedical Informatics" which teaches evaluation methods in detail. It's taught by Drs. Kim Unertl and Josh Peterson. It's a great way to expand your knowledge and skills in evaluation.
Exercise
Post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is an important and prevalent condition that occurs within the first 24 hours after surgery. A range of prophylactic antiemetic medications can be administered to reduce the likelihood and severity of PONV. You've been tasked with implementing a new predictive model and EHR alert for PONV. The alert is shown in the EHR to anesthesiologists prior to surgery for patients who have a high likelihood of PONV, and suggests ordering appropriate antiemetic medications. Design an evaluation plan for the alert, including details of the measures used and study design.