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Simon Fraser University
January 06, 2004
Technology’s impact on health care
targeted in $3 million study
Simon Fraser University communication professor Ellen Balka’s
focus on how technology impacts the health sector has been
given a $3 million shot in the arm. She’ll spend the
next four years as project leader of a study on the role
of technology in the production and use of health information.
The study is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council through its Initiative on the New Economy
(INE) program.
Balka’s goal is to expand on her ongoing work to get
a clearer picture of technology’s impact on the public
as well as health professionals. The project will enable
her research team to investigate the effectiveness of technology
and potentially influence the design of policies and new
technological systems.
"One of the goals of our research is to better understand
the problems that occur as new technologies are introduced
into health settings," says Balka, director of SFU’s
assessment of technology in context design lab. She is also
a research scientist with the Vancouver Coastal Health Research
Institute. "We hear far too often that a new computer
system has made work more difficult — our goal is to
learn more about the contexts in which technologies are
used, so that new technologies can be designed to better
meet users’ needs."
Health care has become increasingly subject to computerization
while use of the internet as a source of health information
continues to grow, leading to a variety of concerns. These
include issues of access, and how information is interpreted.
Balka hopes to determine whether existing internet delivery
of health information and the growing computerization of
health care jobs achieve desired results, such as equitable
access to health information leading to improved health.
The project will have global involvement, with researchers
carrying out case studies in Canada, Austria, Australia
the U.K. and Netherlands
The need to better understand the role of health information
technologies was identified in the recent high profile Romanow
and Kirby reports on the nation’s health care system.
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Contact:
Marianne Meadahl,
Media & PR, 604.291.4323
Find original at: http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/news_releases/archives_2003/news01060402.htm
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