In November 1997, the South Western Sydney Area Health Service launched the Mother and Infant Network (MINET). The key objective of MINET is to develop an integrated clinical data network which has the capacity to inform and support a continuum of care for the population of all mothers, infants and children. The MINET data network integrates in-patient services, ambulatory services, and community-based services. The focus of this article is the development and implementation of MINET with reference to the crucial role of data linkage and health informatics in health outcomes/health services research.
FriedP.A. (1993). Prenatal exposure to tobacco and marijuana: Effects during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood. Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology36: 319–337.
2.
GillL.GoldacreM.SimmonsH.BettleyG.GriffithM. (1993). Computerised linking of medical records: Methodological guidelines. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health47: 316–319.
3.
HalldorssonM.CavelaarsA.E.KhnstA.E.MackenbachJ.P. (1999). Socioeconomic differences in health and well-being of children and adolescents in Iceland. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health27: 43–47.
4.
FraserH.KohaneI.S.LongW. (1997). Using the technology of the World wide web to manage clinical information. British Medical Journal314: 1600.
5.
TangeH.J.HamanA.de VriesP.F.RobbeH.C. (1998). Medical narratives in electronic medical records. Year Book of Medical Informatics 1998: 230–252.
6.
KohaneI.S.van WingerdeF.J.FacklerJ.C.CiminoC.KilbridgeP.MurphyS.ChuehH.RindD.SafranC.BarnettO.SzolovitsP. (1996). Sharing electronic medical records across multiple heterogenous and competing institutions. Proceedings of the AMIA Annual Fall Symposium 1996: 608–612.
7.
KahnS.R.WiseH.P.FinkelsteinA.J.BernsteinH.H.LoweA.J.HomerJ.C. (1999). The scope of unmet maternal health needs in pediatric settings. Pediatrics103: 576–581.
8.
KeepingD.J.NajmanM.J.WesternM.J.WilliamM.G. (1996). A prospective longitudinal study of social, psychological and obstetric factors in pregnancy: Response rate and demographic characteristic of 8556 respondents. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology96: 289–297.
9.
KhouryA. (1997). Managing Managed Care: Finding value in EMRs (Electronic medical records). Health Management Technology18: 34, 36.
10.
MorrisonJ.NajmanJ.M.WilliamsG.M.KeepingJ.D.AndersonM.J. (1989). Socio-economic status and pregnancy outcome. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology96: 298–307.
11.
National Health Information Management Advisory Council (NHIMAC) (1999). A Health Information Action Plan for Australia. Canberra, NHIMAC.
12.
PhungH.YoungL.GreenfieldD.BaumanA.HillmanK. (2001). A framework for monitoring maternal and infant health status. Australian Healthcare Review24: 105–115.
13.
RantakallioP. (1983). A follow up study to the age of 14 of children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica72: 747–753.
14.
NeameR. (1997). Smart cards—the key to trustworthy health information systems. British Medical Journal314: 573–577.
15.
RoosL.WajdaA.NicolP. (1986). The art of record linkage: Methods that work with few identifiers. Computers in Biology and Medicine16: 45–57.
16.
South Western Sydney Area Health Service (SWSAHS, Epi-Unit) (2000). Health in South Western Sydney, An Epidemiological Profile 2000. Sydney, South Western Sydney Area Health Service Epidemiology Unit.
17.
WajdaA.RoosL. (1987). Simplifying record linkage: Software and strategy. Computers in Biology and Medicine17: 239–248.
18.
ZuckermanB.S.BeardsleeW.R. (1987). Maternal depression: A concern for pediatricians. Pediatrics70: 110–117.
