Biomedical Informatics Essay

My deep rooted curiosity about the human body is what has driven me to study this course. Contributing to future medical developments, as well as breakthroughs in wider science, is something that both excites and motivates me. This fascination surrounding the body works has led to an enthusiasm for science, particularly Biology, that extends beyond the classroom.

Demonstrate a responsible way to share health data among other hospitals and academic researchers that will develop new medical therapies and drugs.

Health information technology (HIT) is revolutionizing the way we interact with health-related data. One example of this is the obvious rise in

Medicine in the 21st Century has continued to push the boundaries of science to unthinkable limits, often fusing complex technological elements and concepts together to achieve great feats. Two major contributing factors that have increased the use of high-technology in modern day medicine are Evidence-based Medicine and Health-Informatics. One study completed at Ohio State University (2016) proved how beneficial combining high-technologies such as Health Informatics Tools (HIT) and Evidence-Based Medicine can be. "Achieving a vision of 'interventional informatics ' will requires us to re-think how we study HIT tools in order to generate the necessary evidence-base that can support and justify their use as a primary means of improving the human condition" (Embi et al, 2016). This synergistic effect is just one of many countless examples of the successful advancements in medicine today. These strings of successful advancements in medicine can almost certainly be linked to the progression of specific

According to AMIA and American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), “Biomedical informatics is the interdisciplinary, scientific field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving and decision making, motivated by efforts to improve human health” (as cited in Hoyt et al., 2014, p. 4). Biomedical informatics focus not only on clinical, medical and public health fields, but also focuses on dental, nursing, pharmacy, medical imaging and veterinary fields (Hoyt et al., 2014, p. 4).

Health informatics is the bridging of computer science, information and the health care field. This interdisciplinary field can be applied to a range of medical fields such as nursing, biomedicine, medicine and subspecialties such as immunology (immunoinformatics). Informatics not only has roles to play in day-to-day areas of immunology such as data storage/retrieval, decision support, standards and electronic health care records but also in research and education such as data mining and simulation systems (Coiera, 2002). Informatics and more specifically, health informatics first started being used in in the late 1950s with the rise of computers (Ho, 2010). Technologies such as computers allowed practitioners and researches

First, it can improve standards of care. Data collected by the Electronic Health Records provides the best treatment methods; leading to a healthier population (Ferguson, 2001). It is tangent to the over-all goal of knowing the best way to handle treatment for each individual patient. Second, it will bring increased patient participation and collaboration. Our health spending is in a large part due to our chronic health issues. Chronic diseases brought on by poor lifestyle choices are difficult to handle, but IT provides a better way for organizations to develop new disease management solutions to address the issue. Data retrieved from EHR’s could also be beneficial in figuring out ways to curtail costs associated with chronic illness. The third way is the healthcare industry is continuously changing, and that results in an overpowering amount of information to distill and absorb. Also, the coming wave of electronic clinical data provides us an opportunity to replace old-fashioned, volume-based, fee for service business model with one fixated on the quality of the product. And last, but certainly not least, health IT should be used as a tool to include the patient in his or her own care. We need to become better educated as patients. Also, standing up and questioning services, quality, and price to make this break

Informatics has two focus areas, public health informatics, and cancer surveillance informatics. According to the CDC (2015), “Public health informatics is the efficient and effective organization and management of data, information, and knowledge generated and used by public health professionals to fulfill the core functions of public health assessment, policy, and assurance.” The CDC also states (2013), “cancer surveillance informatics is the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to cancer surveillance practices, research, and

Written by three doctors, who work with Public Health Informatics Institute, this article appears to be intended for medical professionals as well as the general public. The authors suggest that using EHRs in its fullest capacity, could greatly improve general population health in the US. Information such as influenza outbreaks, communicable diseases, and acute infectious gastrointestinal disease are currently reported to the CDC through use of EHRs. Under HITECH meaningful use laws, only syndromic surveillance, laboratory reporting, and registries are currently reported. The article also discusses the stages of meaningful use in depth and how each needs to be achieved in accordance with HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health). It is suggested that in the future, trending information could help isolate incidences of certain problems/diagnoses to certain geographical locations. This can potentially help practitioners in figuring out a source for such

Their duties include planning the information system, developing the health policy to suit this system and identifying the present and future information requirements. These professionals use informatics to collect, store, use, and transmit information in such a way that the expert, legal, and organizational record keeping needs of the healthcare institutes, are met. They also ensure appropriate collection, management and application of information within the healthcare system for purposes of effective detection of health problems and for identifying inventive solutions to improve health outcomes.

This keen interest in pursuing a master degree in biomedical informatics is borne out of a desire to acquire knowledge and from a number of experiences and encounters I had during the course of my upbringing, my medical training and practice as a doctor. They served as my earliest contact with health information issues as well as the major drive behind my interest in pursuing a master degree in biomedical informatics.

In health care, patients’ lives are in the hands of the health care practitioners, health care organizations, insurance companies, and to some degree, even health care technology. The growth and future implications of evidence-based medicine (EBM) through improvement of technology in health care are important today, because health care practitioners and organizations want to ultimately decrease cost, improve quality of care, and increase access to health care (Glandon, Smaltz, & Slovensky, 2014, p. 28). One way to achieve these goals is through the implementation and improvement of EBM and interoperability which will enhance the efficiency of work production resulting in these positive outcomes. According to Glandon, Smaltz, and Slovensky (2014), EBM is an “information management and learning strategy that seeks to integrate clinical expertise with the best evidence available to make effective clinical decisions that will ultimately improve patient care,” (p. 6). “Interoperability is the ability of different information and communications technology systems and software applications to communicate, to exchange data accurately, effectively, and consistently, and to use information that has been exchanged,” (Iroju, Soriyan, Gambo, & Olaleke, 2013, para. 1). Without interoperability and EBM, fundamental data and information such as patient records cannot be easily shared across and within enterprises having a direct impact on the quality of care. It

I have chosen to study Biomedical Informatics at Rutgers University because I would like to pursue a career in the research, development and teaching of methodologies, processes and tools that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of information flow as well as usage in the healthcare setting. This is important in order to improve health outcomes through information system in both the private and public sector of the healthcare.

In the relationship of biomedical informatics and its related field, I was able to learn the diverse fields of health informatics, such as medical informatics, bioinformatics, and clinical informatics. I’ve learned that these fields are involved with technology communication system, and they have different types of functions in the health care industries. According to Shortliffe, medical informatics is the field that concerns itself with the cognitive, information processing, and communication tasks of medical practice, education, and research. As for bioinformatics, the scientific field that study how information is represented and analyzed in the biological system, such as information resulting at

The work introduces the definition of public health informatics and highlights the various ways that the field has developed. The specific challenges that the field faces has also been emphasized. The latter stages of the report exemplify the concerns that have emerged and the possible future of the field.