1
HLSC 4700, Spring 2009
Health Informatics
Term project specification
Due date: Final exam period (Thursday, 7 May 2009, 10:15-12:15)
The goal for your term project is to develop the design of an information technology system that
addresses some aspect of health care in a small, rural community hospital. Your design should
take the form of a report that covers the following four areas:
1. Background: give sufficient information on the topic to show why it is considered a problem
or a concern in modern health care. The intended audience is someone who has knowledge
of the issues involved, but may not be familiar with either the problem or the technology
involved. Avoid highly specialized topics that would require too much explanation.
2. Review: describe the different views of the problem. This should involve collecting and
reading of relevant literature on the subject, summarizing the information, and providing
hyperlinks, citations, or both to the sources. Use a consistent style for both links and
citations; you may want to follow published guidelines for electronic and print references
such as those from the IEEE, MLA, APA, Chicago Manual of Style, or other authority.
3. Analysis: Evaluate possible approaches to addressing the problem through the use of
technology. Based on what we have discussed in class and your own analysis, compare and
contrast the differing approaches as to their validity, feasibility, outcomes, social and ethical
value, etc.
4. Solutions: draw some conclusions about the "best" solution and suggest a course of action
that could achieve it. Justify your selection of the "best" solution using arguments derived
from evidence, not just personal opinion. You may propose a solution directly, or you may
propose a way by which a solution may someday be found.
In addition to the report, your team will prepare a basic Web page that summarizes your problem
and the information system design that you develop to address it. A Web page containing the text
of the report is not acceptable; the Web page should present the information in an Internet-based
format. More details on this will be provided as the semester progresses, but some basic content
is described on the following page.
Your team will also be expected to prepare a 30-minute presentation on your project for the class.
This will be done during the final exam period. Overheads, slides, PowerPoint, or some other
form of visual aids that summarize your research and conclusions will be required for this
presentation.
Term project part I (due Tuesday, 10 February 2009)
1. Create a project team with 2-3 of your classmates. I suggest you work with people
outside your discipline if possible to ensure a broad perspective.
2. Choose a topic and submit a short (1 page) proposal defining your topic and some
preliminary ideas as to how you will address it in your report.
