Empowered Consumers and the Health Care Team: A Dynamic Model of Health Informatics.

This article presents a dynamic new model of health informatics. Within the model, the focus of health informatics changes from the provider to the consumer and incorporates the dynamic relationship of technological change to health care. Bioinformatics is the scientific discipline that is translated into care through the practice of health informatics.

Timing of birth after spontaneous onset of labor.

Objective: To describe naturally occurring birth patterns in low-risk women with singleton gestations and spontaneous onset of labor at term.

Materials And Methods: The timing of birth of women who delivered in the low-risk labor unit at Parkland Hospital, Dallas, Texas, between January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2000, was analyzed. Women admitted to this unit were between 36(0/7) and 41(6/7) weeks of gestation, were in spontaneous labor, and had a singleton gestation.