American Medical Informatics Association Family Practice/Primary Care Working Group

Introduction

The Family Practice/Primary Care Working Group is made up of persons from all backgrounds who share a commitment to making informatics technology serve the needs of patients and primary care clinicians.

This introductory document contains the FP/PCWG mission statement and a site index.

Mission Statement

This Working Group serves all members involved in, and/or working with, the practice and teaching of Family Medicine or other primary care disciplines, including General Internal Medicine and General Pediatrics. The creation of this working group is the result of a decade of effort by individuals and groups from Family Medicine, General Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics. These efforts have been directed at applications of, and research on, computer technology in practice and teaching.

The purpose of this Working Group is to promote and encourage the appropriate development and use of medical informatics in the practice and teaching of Family Medicine and other primary care disciplines. Objectives include: encouraging the use of clinical computing, electronic communications, standard medical vocabulary for primary care, representing primary care views to the AMIA Board of Directors, stimulating research in primary care informatics, providing information and acting as a resource, developing a network of primary care informaticians, developing/testing products; and influencing informatics policy development as it affects primary care.

A chair and an administrative committee, made up of members, guides the Working Group. The Group has committees on Education, Communication, Publications, and Automated Medical Records. Other standing ad hoc committees will be formed as necessary. Each committee will have a chair and will seek to attract individuals interested in the topic of that committee. The national and international target groups of the Working Group include primary care practitioners, members of their respective medical education professional groups, and their academic departments.