Education and consumer informatics: improvements in existing systems. Findings from the Yearbook 2008 Section on Education and Consumer Informatics.
OBJECTIVE
To provide an overview of the current excellent research done in the field of advancements in Education and Consumer Informatics as well as studies done to better understand, the already existing systems.


METHODS
Synopsis of the articles on education and consumer health selected for the IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2008.


RESULTS
In the domain of education, eHealth literacy becomes a key topic and a challenge, the Internet evolving as the primary medium to access health information. A system developed to measure the eHealth literacy level of consumers reflects the importance of this skill. In consumer health informatics, the selected papers emphasize valuable advances in bridging the information gap as well as the growing implementation of functioning systems.


CONCLUSIONS
The selected articles highlight the need for recognising existing weak links in the healthcare system and then strengthening them through patient education and involvement, as well as possible improvements through real-world implementations.
Boyer
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Health On the Net Foundation (HON), c/o Geneva University Hospitals / SIM, 24 rue Micheli-du-crest, 1211 Geneva 14, Switzerland. celia.boyer@healthonnet.org
D054626:Consumer Health Information; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*