Minitrack Introduction

Consumers are increasingly relying on Information Technology as an avenue for access to health information, resources and advances in knowledge. This is demonstrated by the shift in the past decade from the traditional doctor-patient relationship to a more consultative scenario as consumers increasingly take a more active role in their health care. The Consumer Health Informatics Minitrack focuses on the consumer becoming more involved in the understanding, decisions and management of their own health. Articles focus in themes that support consumers taking an active role in understanding, deciding about and/or managing their health; doctor-patient communication; clinical guideline and protocol support; monitoring and prevention of adverse events; and personal electronic health records. The intention is to use the unique international and interdisciplinary forum provided by HICSS (and by the IT in Health Care Track of HICSS) to allow expression of practical and theoretical, academic and industrial insight on this topic.