Virtual Centre for Health Informatics –
An agent for network co-operation

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics is a Danish organisation where the partners perform:

• research
• development
• education
• consultancy

within the field of information technology in the health care sector.

Partners

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics is a formal network co-operation between research and development groups at Danish universities, public and private companies, health care institutions, hospitals, and county councils. The Virtual Centre for Health Informatics is supervised by a board representing these organisations and is managed by a director and a secretariat situated at Aalborg University. See also further information below.

Research and competence fields

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics contributes to the research and understanding of the interrelationship between health problems, the organisation of the health system, and information technology.

The basic research fields within the network are:

• assessment and implementation
• communication and competence development
• database systems
• decision support systems
• organisation and management
• quality development and assurance
• user interface and usability technology
  

Other competence fields:

• network creation and management
• knowledge and research flow between university,
• industry and clinic
• education and training
• project initiation and management

Through the anchorage of the Virtual Centre for Health Informatics at Aalborg University and the wide span of competences among our partners, we can offer an interdisciplinary understanding of the problems and views of the solutions in health informatics.

Education

Aalborg University and the Virtual Centre for Health Informatics offer a Master Degree in Health Informatics attended by more than 140 mid-career students a year. Virtual Centre for Health Informatics aims to create a positive synergy between research, clinic and industry to the benefit of the educational programme.

Conferences, workshops and newsletters

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics organises conferences, workshops and seminars on current topics in health informatics. In addition, we publish a newsletter three times a year. For other information on our activities, please consult our web site: http://www.v-chi.dk/arrangementer/index (in Danish).

Projects

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics participates in national and international health scientific projects within our research and competence fields. For further information: http://www.v-chi.dk/projects/index (in Danish).

List of partners

Virtual Centre for Health Informatics was founded in 1996 as an umbrella organisation for the following partners:

• Aalborg University (Faculties of Engineering and Science, Humanities, Social Sciences)
• Aalborg Hospital
• The County of North Jutland
• The County of Aarhus
• University of Aarhus (Faculty of Health Sciences)
• DSI – Danish Institute for Health Services Research and Development
• Danish Centre for Health Telematics
• Danish Society for Medical Informatics
• V-CHI Industrial Affiliates