Participants at the Inaugural HIC Conference will give testimony to the success of this meeting. For those members who attended and those unable to attend, we extend an invitation to join us in 1994 on the Gold Coast. The invitation to attend and submit an abstract will be forthcoming; in the meantime, place this conference in your diary as a must-attend in 1994.
Dr. Marion Ball, President of IMIA and Keynote Speaker delivered her address on the subject of Electronic Patient Records. It was Dr. Ball's first visit to our shores and one, she said, she will never forget. This was also true for those attendees who had the opportunity to speak with Marion and become more acquainted with IMIA's international role and function and the current status of informatics globally.
Marion - from all your Aussie friends - thank you for your warmth and friendship during your short stay and we look forward to welcoming you again to Australia in 1998. We also wish you every success in your position as IMIA President and hope we can play a small part in assisting you to achieve your International goals.
As this was the first Health Informatics Conference, a decision was made to accept all submitted papers to determine what information was out there. Three concurrent sessions of papers enabled participants to gain a wealth of knowledge regarding informatics in many fields and disciplines. Plenary speakers added value to each day, enabling participants to gain a wider vision on many issues by throwing out challenges regarding those issues we have not yet dealt with. All speakers are to be congratulated for their effort, especially those who displayed enormous courage by overcoming their nervousness and presented for the first time. Everyone is to be encouraged to follow their example as each person has a contribution to make.
Conference Delegates 309
Sponsors 11
Trade Exhibitors 16
Pre-Conference Workshop Delegates:
HCN 67
Standards Australia 1 (Admin.) 71
H.I. Education Curriculum 41
Expert Systems 95
Standards Australia 2 (Clinicians) 103
Total Workshop Attendees 377
QLD 96 ACT 16
NSW 78 TAS 4
VIC 67 N.T. 0
S.A. 25 W.A. 11
International Delegates 12
New HISA Members 88
Should any delegate wish to contact another delegate, please refer your request to Kaye Stanistreet, Centre Manager of the secretariat. Every endeavour will be made to facilitate ongoing networking between participants, however, the conference delegate listing will not be made available.
In the next issue of the magazine, the results of the HIC'93 Evaluation will be published. The response was approximately 33% of attendees and the information will be of considerable value to the program and organising committees for HIC'94.
Thank you to all those delegates who took the time to measure the quality of HIC'93.
Joan Edgecumbe, Chair, Organising Committee
