MEBI 530
Assignment 3
10/17
(due 10/22)
Readings and Assignment for Tue 10/22
Essay first draft due 10/25 (see other side)
1.
Read the following three chapters from Shortliffe and Cimino
a. Chapter 22 “Bioinformatics” Altman (S&C 2006)
b. Chapter 12 “Electronic Health Record Systems” Tang and McDonald (S&C 2006)
c. Chapter 15 “Public Health Informatics and the Health Information Infrastructure” Yasnoff, O’Carroll, and
Friede (S&C 2006)
2.
In lieu of an essay, create a 1 page outline in preparation for your final essay that builds on the readings. Each of
these readings from Unit II Biomedical Informatics Applications provides a biomedical context (biology, clinical care,
and public health) as well as an illustration of biomedical informatics applications related to this context. Based on
these readings, draft your 1 page outline to address these questions in a single narrative: “What appear to be key
problems and challenges among these application domains? Which problems are unique or common to the domains?
What is the broader cultural context for these problems and challenges?”
a. It is recommended to select key points or quotes from the sections, or generalizations of these, to include in
your specialized outline.
b. The outline should include an introduction, a section for each chapter above, and a summary to synthesize the
material
Note: While your final essay may focus on a subset of these problems or a specific domain application, one aim
of this outline is to help you identify specific and/or cross-cutting themes in the different domains.
NOTE: Written assignments due at electronically in drop box by noon on Tuesday
Please include in both document and file name your name and # of written assignment
(e.g. for this assignment something like “Smith.HW3.doc”)
Please bring an electronic or paper copy of your outline with you for discussion in class on Tue
MEBI 530
First Draft of End of Quarter Paper
First draft of final essay due October 25th at 5PM
1. Much of the course numeric grade for the course will be based on a 5-7 page final essay. The goal of the
final essay will be to broadly link the content of the course to your own professional goals, and to help you
synthesize these concepts as you identify and refine your research direction in the field. The first draft due
October 19th will represent 15% of the final course grade. The second draft due November 16th will be 25%
of the final course grade. The final version turned in at the end of the quarter (December 11th) will be 45%
of the final grade. The first draft is a good opportunity to get feedback on your ideas and build a strong
foundation for the final draft.
2. The essay will tie the various aspects of the course to a current passion/motivation/interest of yours related
to biomedical and health informatics. The essay by the end of the quarter should cover the following
points though order and emphasis are up to you.
a. A description of a problem in biomedical informatics motivated by your
passion/motivation/interest (Week 1 plus)
i. Introduce problem and its importance
ii. How it ties to biomedical and health informatics (BHI)
b. A description of the biomedical context and a summary of the biomedical informatics themes
especially relevant to this problem (Weeks 2 & 3)
i. Include a description/overview of key elements of the relevant biomedical informatics
themes/concepts and how they relate to the problem or its underpinnings
c. The broader context outside of BHI pertinent to this driving problem (Weeks 4, 2)
i. Build on the outline from your last assignment
ii. Use these contexts to situate section (b) into the broader informatics discipline(s)
d. A review of the literature most directly pertinent to the issue described in section (a) (Week 3
plus)
i. Include a discussion of what institution(s) and/or people are currently working in this area
of interest that could form collaborative teams to address this issue
e. Examples of BHI evaluations and assessments (successes and/or failures) from the past
related to this topic (~Week 5)
f. The relationship of your topic to the cultural and philosophical context of BHI (~Week 6)
g. How data, knowledge and information are used within the context of the topic (~Weeks
8,9,10)
h. The role that standards play within BHI as related to your topic (~Week 11)
i. The role of technology, people, collaboration, and translation
3. The first draft needs to cover 2a, 2b, and 2c (We will focus on sections in italics in later drafts, but you may
speak to these points now if you wish). The first draft should be a standalone essay in narrative form (not
bullets/outline). The length of the first draft should be 3-4 pages. The 2nd draft and final essay will not
simply extend the first draft, rather your whole essay will evolve over the quarter. As per the weekly
written assignments pages refer to 12 pt font, 1 inch margins, single spaced. Citations should use in-line
references to citations (e.g.. “(1)”) with bibliography of full citations at end (e.g. “<author list>, <article
title>, <volume>, <issue>, <pages>, <year>”). Bibliography does not count toward page limit.
NOTE: First draft of final essay due at electronically in drop box by 5PM on Friday 10/25
Please include in both document and file name your name and # of written assignment
(e.g. for this assignment something like “Smith.Essay.Draft#1.doc”)
NOTE: This will be in addition to weekly assignment due Tue 10/22