Professor Peter Bath

Professor of Health Informatics

BSc (Technical) (University of Wales), MSc (Sheffield), PhD (Sheffield)

My interest in Information Science developed at the end of my first degree in Applied Biology which I studied at the University of Wales in Cardiff. Although I was fascinated in biology, I did not wish to develop my career working in a lab., so I came to Sheffield to study for my MSc in Information Studies in the then Department of Information Studies in 1990. At the end of this course, I studied for my PhD in chemical structure handling under the supervision of Professor Peter Willett and Dr. Frank Allen (Cambridge).  I was appointed Research Fellow (1994-1996), then Lecturer (1996-2000), in Information Science in the Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing (SISA) at the University of Sheffield, which had been set up by Professor Ian Philp in 1994. I re-joined the Department of Information Studies in 2000, when I was appointed Lecturer to set up the new MSc in Health Informatics programme and became Head of the Health Informatics Research Group. I was appointed Professor of Health Informatics in 2013.

Teaching

My main areas of teaching are aligned with my research interests, particularly in relation to health information and health informatics. I teach the Information Behaviour in Context module for our Undergraduate students, which  explores how people seek and use information in different organisational contexts. I also teach the Healthcare Information module for our Undergraduate and Postgraduate students. This introduces students to the ways in which information is used by different groups in within health care, particularly patients and the public, clinicians and health service managers. Some students undertake dissertations in this area which I supervise.

On the MSc in Health Informatics programme I co-ordinate and teach the Research Methods and Dissertation Preparation module, as well as the Dissertation module itself. I also teach one of the elective modules, Analysis of Health Information, which introduces students to the use of statistics in analysing health data.

I was the Programme Co-ordinator for the MSc in Health Informatics programme from 2000-2004 and from 2008-2012.

I am leading the development of, and am overall Director for, the new Undergraduate programmes in Informatics for the School. Please follow the link below for further information:

Information School Undergraduate degrees

These programmes include a range of new modules which examine the science of information in the digital world.

Research interests

My research interests are in Health Informatics and include the following areas:

• applications of artificial intelligence and data mining techniques to analysing health information
• health information needs and information behaviours of patients, their families, carers and the general public
• analysing health information in relation to the health and well-being of older people, especially self-rated health, falls, mental health, mortality

I am also co-ordinator of the ISHIMR conference series. The 16th International Symposium for Health Information Management Research (ISHIMR 2013) will take place in Halifax, NS, Canada in June 2013.

Module co-ordinator: Information Behaviour in Context; Analysis of Health Information; Healthcare Information; Research Methods and Dissertation Preparation (Health Informatics); Dissertation (Health Informatics).

Key publications

My publications include 97 articles in refereed journals, 87 refereed conference papers/abstracts and 5 refereed book chapters. I have also edited 9 international Conference Proceedings. The key journal papers and specific abstracts are listed below under the relevant headings.

Health Informatics:

Ayatollahi H, Bath PA, Goodacre S, Lo S Y, Draegebo M and Khan FA (2013) What Factors Influence Emergency Department Staff Attitudes towards Using Information Technology? Emergency Medical Journal. 30: 303-307.

Carrington L, Bath PA, Hughes P, Ahmed N and Noble B (2013) Information management and quality of palliative care in General Practices: secondary analysis of a UK study. Journal of Information Science. 39(1): 126-140.

Surman R and Bath PA (2013) An assessment of the quality of information on stroke and speech and language difficulty web sites. Journal of Information Science. 39(1): 113-125.

Poulter T, Gannon B and Bath PA (2012) An Analysis of Electronic Document Management in Oncology Care. Health Informatics Journal. 18(2):135-146.

Ketikidis P, Dimitrovski T, Bath PA and Lazuras L (2012) Acceptance of Health Information Technology in Health Professionals: An Application of the Revised Technology Acceptance Model. Health Informatics Journal. 18(2):124-134.

Bath PA, Sen BA, Raptis DA and Mettler T (2012) International perspectives on how information and ICTs can support healthcare. Editorial. Health Informatics Journal. 18(2):79-82.

Bath PA, Sen BA, Raptis DA and Mettler T (2012) Understanding how information and ICTs can improve health. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes Research. 12(1):11-4.

Bath PA (2010) How ICT developments can support health care. British Journal of Health Care Management, 16(4) Supplement: 5-9.

Ayatollahi H, Bath PA and Goodacre S (2010) Factors influencing the use of IT in the Emergency Department: a Qualitative Study. Health Informatics Journal. 16(3): 189-200.

Petersson G and Bath PA (2010) Editorial: Evaluation and implementation of e-health and health information initiatives: international perspectives. Health Informatics Journal. 16(3): 161–163.

Ayatollahi H, Bath PA and Goodacre S (2009) Accessibility versus confidentiality of information in the Emergency Department. Emergency Medical Journal. 26:857–860.

Ayatollahi H, Bath PA and Goodacre S (2009) Paper-based Versus Computer-based Records in the Emergency Department: Staff Preferences, Expectations, and Concerns. Health Informatics Journal. 15(3): 199-211.

Bath PA (2009) The Changing Face of Health Informatics and Health Information Management. Health Informatics Journal. 15(3): 163-165.

Bath PA (2008) Health informatics: current issues and challenges. Journal of Information Science. Volume 34 (4): 501–518.

Bath PA (2008) From Research to Development to Implementation: Challenges in Health Informatics and Health Information Management. Editorial. Health Informatics Journal. 14(4):243-245.

Bath PA (2004) Data mining in health and medical information. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. Volume 38:331-369.

Information needs and information behaviours of patients, families, carers and the public:

Hsu W-C, Bath PA, Large S and Williams S. (2012) The association of geographical location and neighbourhood deprivation with older people’s use of NHS Direct – a population-based study. Age and Ageing. 42(1): 57-62 .

Hsu W-C, Bath PA, Large S and Williams S. (2011) Older people’s use of NHS Direct. Age and Ageing. 40(3): 335-40.

Beverley CA, Bath PA and Barber R (2011) Health and social care information for visually-impaired people. Aslib Proceedings. 63(2/3): 256-274.

MacDonald J, Bath PA and Booth A (2011) Information Overload and Information Poverty: challenges for healthcare services managers? Journal of Documentation. 67 (2): 238-263.

Hsu W-C, Bath PA, Large S and Williams S. (2010) Use of the NHS Direct telephone advice and information service by older people. Age and Ageing. 39 (suppl 2): ii62 .

Arnold J, Goodacre S, Bath PA and Price J (2009) Randomised controlled trial of information sheets for patients with acute chest pain. British Medical Journal. Volume 338:700-702.

Harland JA and Bath PA (2008) Understanding the information behaviours of carers of people with dementia: a critical review of models from information science. Aging and Mental Health. Volume 12(4): 467-477.

Beverley C, Bath PA and Barber R. (2007) Can two established information models explain the information behaviour of visually impaired people seeking health and social care information? Journal of Documentation. Volume 63(1): 9-32.

Guillaume L and Bath PA (2004) The Impact of `Health Scares´ on Parents Information Needs and Preferred Information Sources: A Case Study of the MMR Vaccine Scare. Health Informatics Journal. Volume 10(1):5-22.

Beverley C, Bath PA and Booth A. (2004) The health information needs of visually impaired people: a systematic review of the literature. Health and Social Care in the Community. 12(1):1-24.

Davies MM and Bath PA (2002) Interpersonal sources of health and maternity information for Somali women living in the UK: information seeking and evaluation. Journal of Documentation. 58(3):302-318.

Davies MM and Bath PA (2001) The maternity information concerns of Somali women in the United Kingdom. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 36(2):237-245.

Data mining techniques for analysing health information:

Read S, Bath PA, Willett P and Maheswaran R (2013) New developments in the spatial scan statistic. Journal of Information Science. 39(1): 36-47.

Pecchia L, Bath PA, Pendleton N and Bracale M (2011) Use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for examining healthcare professionals’ assessments of the relative importance of risk factors for falls in community-dwelling older people. Methods of Information in Medicine. 50 (5): 435-444.

Read S, Bath PA, Willett P and Maheswaran R (2010). A power-enhanced algorithm for spatial anomaly detection in binary labelled point data using the spatial scan statistic In: Setchi R et al. (ed.) Knowledge-based intelligent information and engineering systems, part II (Lecture Notes in Artificial intelligence 6277), pp 163-172. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Pecchia L, Bath PA, Pendleton N and Bracale M (2011) Use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for examining healthcare professionals’ assessments of the relative importance of risk factors for falls in community-dwelling older people. Methods of Information in Medicine. 50 (5): 435-444.

Read S, Bath PA, Willett P and Maheswaran R (2011) Measuring the Spatial Accuracy of the Spatial Scan Statistic. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology. 2 (2): 69-78.

Pecchia L, Bath PA, Pendleton N., Bracale M (2010) Web-based system for assessing risk factors for falls in community-dwelling elderly people using the analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process. 2(2): 135-157.

Ahmad R, Samy GN, Bath PA and Ismail Z (2010) Threats Identification in Healthcare Information Systems using Genetic Algorithm and Cox Regression. Journal of Information Assurance and Security. 5:154-161.

Maheswaran R, Read S, Craigs C, Bath PA and Willett P (2009) A graph-theory method for pattern identification in geographical epidemiology – a preliminary application to deprivation and mortality. International Journal of Health Geographics. 8. Art. No.28. ISSN 1476-072X.

Bath PA, Craigs C, Maheswaran R, Raymond J and Willett P.(2008) Pattern identification in public health data sets: the potential offered by graph theory. Innovations in GIS. Wise S. and Craglia M. (editors). Taylor and Francis, London. ISBN 0849385830. pp.159-176.

Bath PA, Craigs C, Maheswaran R, Raymond J and Willett P (2005) Use of graph theory to identify patterns of deprivation, high morbidity and mortality in public health data sets. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 12: 630-641.

Ahmad R and Bath PA (2005) Identification of risk factors for 15-year mortality among community-dwelling older people using Cox regression and a genetic algorithm. Journal of Gerontology (medical science). 60A (8):1052-1058.

Ahmad R and Bath PA (2004) The use of Cox regression and genetic algorithm (CoRGA) for identifying risk factors for mortality in older people. Health Informatics Journal. 10 (3): 221-236.

Bath P, Craigs C, Maheswaran R, Raymond J and Willett P (2002) Validation of graph-theoretical methods for pattern identification in public health datasets. Health Informatics Journal. 8:167-173.

Bath PA, Morgan K, Pendleton N, Clague J, Horan M and Lucas S (2000) A new approach to risk determination: prediction of new falls among community-dwelling older people using a genetic algorithm neural network (GANN). Journal of Gerontology (medical science). 55A:M17-21.

Health and well-being of older people:

Cooper R, Kuh D, Hardy R and the Mortality Review Group on behalf of the FALCon and HALCyon study teams. (2010) Objectively measured physical capability levels and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal. Vol.341:c4467.

Bath PA, Deeg D and Poppelaars J (2010) The harmonisation of longitudinal data: a case study using data from cohort studies in The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Ageing and Society. 30(08):1419 -1437.

Bath PA and Deeg D (2005) Social activity and health outcomes among older people: introduction to a special section. European Journal of Ageing. 2(1):24-30.

Bath PA and Gardiner A (2005) Social engagement and health and social care use and medication use among older people. European Journal of Ageing. 2(1):56-63.

Deeg D and Bath PA (2003) Self-rated health, gender, and mortality in older persons: introduction to a special issue. The Gerontologist. 43: 369-371.

Bath PA (2003) Differences between older men and women in the self-rated-health mortality relationship. The Gerontologist. 43: 387-395.

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