David Watson

Biography and Current Research

My background in Health Services began more than twenty years ago with the first ten years being primarily clinical in nature (ICU/CCU). I left the clinical side of healthcare to work with an international health service organisation managing a group of hospitals and clinics ranging in size from a 20-bed specialty sports medicine hospital, to a 750-bed tertiary care centre. In between those extremes was a group of 40- to 250-bed community hospitals. For the last 6 years my focus has been in the field of education, providing lectures and workshops to healthcare professionals in most capital cities of Australia and at the University of New England.

Current Research falls into 4 main Projects:

1. I am currently involved in developing low cost video conferencing links between remote sites (500-1000 klm from capital cities). This project is using normal telephone lines and high speed modems to connect previously isolated locations to improve peer and preceptor contacts. The ultimate aim is develop a system suitable for linking the various clinical sites of the School of Health. One possible outcome of the project is the retention of healthcare professionals in remote rural locations as the isolation barrier is broken with instant on line video conferencing.

2. The Centre for Research into Educational Applications of Multimedia (CREAM) to which I belong is involved in developing a Strategic Teaching Framework (STF). The STF is being developed to provide a framework from which educators have a multimedia framework (CD based) to develop teaching materials. The STF provides a framework to insert text, video, and sound into an interactive environment. Students can watch a procedure, look to a reference data base for more information on the subject, listen to several different commentaries (while still watching the video portion) on various aspects of the techniques and interactions taking place.

3. Reviewing the relationships between managers position in the organisation and their awareness and access to technological innovations. In particular I am looking at the incidence of managerial control over technology purchasing and managers exposure to a range of technologies.

4. An on going project I have been working on is to align industry (healthcare technologies) with the university sector in order to provide students access and awareness of current technological innovations available to healthcare institutions. The launch of this project last month saw the joining of industry representatives, regional representatives of healthcare facilities within a 500klm radius and students come together for Health Information Systems Forum to discuss and explore technology options. A by product of this project is the development of collaborative research links between the university and industry in a variety of areas.

Some Links I have found to be of use....

Health Links A link to Web sites used by UNE's School of Health students and staff.

CREAM A link to the Centre for Research into Educational Applications of Multimedia.

The University of New England Home Page

A link to my mailbox: dwatson@metz.une.edu.au