University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: April 13, 2013

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
Contributing Editor

At an international invitational symposium to be held at UB May 5 and 6, medical and informatics researchers will explore the uneven diffusion of evidence-based mental health treatment information throughout the world.

They will consider how to correct it through development, adoption and use of medical algorithms and by bringing best practices in treatment, in convenient algorithmic form, to medical practitioners at the point of care, wherever that may be.

The symposium, "Diffusion, Adoption and Maintenance of Psychopharmacology Algorithms," sponsored by the School of Informatics and the International Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project, will be held at the University Inn and Conference Center, 2402 N. Forest Road, Amherst.

In addition to a keynote address by Ted Shortliffe, the father of medical informatics, speakers will include distinguished medical and informatics researchers from UB, Stanford University, Columbia University, the University of Beijing, the University of Toronto and other major research institutions.

W. David Penniman, dean of the School of Informatics, points out that differences in mental health care from one place to another—even within countries or regions—is a problem recognized by the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Medicine, the American Medical Association and many other entities.

Biologically based illnesses like schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder and bi-polar disorder are difficult to treat successfully if the health-care provider is unaware of current best practices, which is difficult in isolated regions of the world. Nevertheless, widespread regional warfare, natural disasters and geographical dislocation can produce illnesses that can be both acute and chronic, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and clinical depression.

"One of the most effective ways for even the most inexperienced health-care practitioner to decide with confidence which drug or other therapy is likely to reduce symptoms of mental illness is through the use of medical algorithms," Penniman says.

Medical algorithms are decision-making trees based on mathematical outcomes that lead a practitioner step by step through evidence-based treatment plans. To see a mental health treatment algorithm, go to http://www.ipap.org.

Medical algorithms were first devised with the assistance of computer technology by Shortliffe, now Rolf H. Scholdager Professor in the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he chairs the Department of Biomedical Informatics. He is one of the most influential biomedical scientists in the field.

"Although a number of organizations develop practice guidelines and treatment algorithms, including those for the treatment of mental illness, their diffusion and use is minimal," Penniman says, "and this produces very uneven levels of quality of care throughout the world."

Hence the need for the symposium, where experts in innovation diffusion, informatics, persuasion technology and knowledge translation, continuing medical education, decision-making and algorithm development can explore ways in which this information-diffusion problem can be addressed most effectively.

"The final product of this convocation will be a document reflecting the participants' findings and insights into the issue of achieving algorithm usage and maintenance," Penniman says.

"The document will be created by a team of participants assigned this duty prior to the meeting," he adds. "This product will be distributed internationally. Equally important is the prospect of new alliances and cooperation among those interested in the advancement of evidence-based medicine."

Among the presenters from UB will be Arun Vishwanath, assistant professor, School of Informatics, who will address the process of information diffusion as it relates to treatment-evaluation mechanisms. Stephen L. Dubovsky, professor and chair in the Department of Psychiatry, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, will be part of one of the select panels.

Bruce A. Holm, professor of medicine and senior vice provost at UB, where he serves as executive director of the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, will host a post-symposium brunch and tour of the Center of Excellence on May 7.

Medical informatics is a field of study concerned with a broad range of issues in the management and use of biomedical information, including medical computing and the study of the nature of medical information itself—in this case, psychiatric information.

It deals with the resources, devices and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatics tools include not only computers, but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems.