Using Health Data: Applying Technology to Work Smarter

Using Health Data addresses the enduring problem faced by most healthcare workers: the transformation and presentation of data into meaningful and accessible information. This practical new text will guide the manipulation of health data needed by the ‘doers’ and ‘users’ of health data.

Using Health Data takes ‘real’ examples from healthcare practice to illustrate, demonstrate and provide advice. It also describes various quantitative quality control charting and plotting methods to enable the effective presentation of data. While the text addresses the fundamentals of data manipulation, the interactive companion website allows readers to practice transforming real data into meaningful information.

Using Health Data will aid the reader in:
- understanding how to transform qualitative data into quantitative measures;
- linking data from multiple sources to create new information and
- differentiating between different types of health data; administrative, for planning or resource scheduling; and clinical evidence.

• concise and practical guide to using data for health students and practitioners
• information is divided into accessible sections with clear and straightforward progression of skills
• screen dumps, charts and graphs are integrated throughout
• icons in the text direct readers to web-based activities
• Tips and Tricks at end of each section, and FAQs at the end of the text
• activities are built around real-world examples in healthcare

Heather Grain, ADip HIM, Dip TDD, GDip IS, MHI, FAIDH, FMU, FIAHSI, possesses international expertise in developing, implementing, and managing digital health systems and data governance. A leader in electronic health record systems, she has worked across multiple countries and held significant roles in health informatics at organizations such as ISO, HL7, and SNOMED International. Currently, she leads the Information Governance Ad Hoc Group for ISO TC215.

As an educator, Heather has guided many into health informatics, developing courses for eHealth Education and several universities. She designed the Electronic Health Records Online Learning (eHRoL) clinical coding simulation and training tool for the Global eHealth Collaborative (GeHCo). With a strong understanding of both the practical and theoretical aspects of digital health, she emphasizes the importance of data harmonization to reduce costs and improve healthcare outcomes, while working to advance skills and education strategies in digitally supported healthcare.