The changing face of health information and health information work: a conceptual framework

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in health information and health information work using a conceptual framework and to consider the implication of these changes for health sciences librarians. The notion of what constitutes information depends heavily on the perspective of those defining the term. In the health care domain, numerous established concepts of information exist, many clustering around disciplines and professions. Various information professions-for example, health sciences librarians, information-systems managers, and medical-records administrators--have differing core concepts of information. Although these established concepts of information may seem immutable, they are cultural facts and can and do change. Global networking and changes in health care delivery are just two of many environmental forces that are changing the way the health domain views health information and the way it values the patterns and practices traditionally associated with established types of information and information professions. As new concepts of information arise, the possibility for new expert work surrounding information also arises. Andrew Abbott's systems theory of professions, adapted to the health domain, suggests that some forms of established expert information work may diminish while new types may arise and that both established and new information professions will struggle with each other for official sanction, or jurisdiction, to perform new expert work. This competitive struggle is likely to produce a new balance of information work and roles among the information professions. The specialty areas of library and information science, the heartland of our knowledge base, are as relevant in the electronic environment as in the print environment. Our profession's challenge now is to redefine and communicate our jurisdictional place in the emerging health information environment.