Minnesota Nursing magazine (Fall/Winter 2011) - School of Nursing ...

Hyeoun Ae
Park
Alumna’s innovations in informatics
revolutionizes nursing education
and health care in Korea
Hyeoun Ae Park (second from the left) during a visit to the School of Nursing
to learn more about the school’s Center for Nursing Informatics. She is pictured
with Clinical Professor Thomas Clancy, Dean Connie Delaney, and Associate
Professor Bonnie Westra.
aneisha tucker
by aneisha tucker
Hyeoun Ae Park, PhD, MS, has devoted much of her career to
advancing nursing science, especially in the area of nursing
informatics. Her legacy includes achievements such as establishing
the first nursing informatics major in graduate studies and
introducing the first statistics consulting lab and computer lab in a
Korean nursing school.
Park, a Professor in the College of Nursing at Seoul National
University (SNU), Seoul, Republic of Korea, is a Distinguished
Alumna of the University of Minnesota School of Nursing and the
School of Public Health, where she earned a master’s degree in
nursing in 1983, a master’s in Biometry and Health Information
Systems in 1986, followed by her PhD in 1987.
When Park returned to Korea in 1987 she was one of very few
nursing educators with a PhD. She used her doctorate experience
and expertise in informatics to revolutionize nursing education by
integrating nursing informatics and creating health informatics
courses for SNU’s undergraduate curriculum and developing a
graduate program for nursing informatics. “Leading the Korean
nursing community in the advancement of nursing science is an
area of my work I am most proud,” says Dr. Park. “It has grown from
a conceptual level to a systematic structural level – that has been
exciting to witness.” Park also assisted her fellow SNU colleagues
in pursing higher education by offering her skills in research
methodology, statistical analysis, and information technology and
later developed courses in writing research proposals, data analysis
and the use of computer and IT.
Her expertise in informatics has been a great benefit not only to
the Seoul National University, but has impacted the entire Korean
and international nursing community. Park was asked to work with
the Korean Institute of Health and Social Affairs to further research
regarding national healthcare systems where she developed the
first standardized terminology-based electronic nursing record
system. The system directly affected the daily practices of health
care providers in Korea including the entire nursing population.
This system improved the sharing and exchange of information
between health care facilities and led to the development and
publication of national standardized nursing terminology which
ultimately resulted in the adoption of national guidelines. It has
been made available to all hospitals in Korea to standardize their
information systems.
Park feels her University doctoral experience taught her
the importance of a successful professional career: leadership,
communicative abilities, collaboration, and networking. Since
returning from the states after earning her PhD, assuming
leadership roles in nursing and health informatics was natural.
Park has authored numerous books, written in both Korean
and English, focusing on nursing informatics, biostatistics, and
research methodology, as wells as hundreds of articles with a
focus of nursing informatics. She has also received national and
international honors and awards from the nursing and informatics
communities including the Korean Society of Medical Informatics
Award, Award for the Best Article in Science and Technology from
the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, and
the University of Minnesota Distinguished Leadership Award for
Internationals. Park has served on various committees and boards
(International Medical Informatics Association, Korean Society of
Medical Informatics) and organized national and international
conferences (9th International Congress on Nursing Informatics);
these activities demonstrate that her leadership is not just confined
to her home country but includes the global scientific community.
“I was able to promote nursing to the outside world and bring in
other types of knowledge to improve nursing science. This was
only possible through the abilities I gained during my time at the
University of Minnesota.”
In recognition of her transformative work, Park was inducted as
an International Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, the
highest honor in the nursing profession.
fall/winter 2011 39