Introduction To Health Informatics Course Has Provided A Broad Range Of Health Information

However, health informatics is the kind of application system normally used by most hospitals and clinics to deliver high quality and cost efficient healthcare service to the community. According to Bacon County Hospital press release (2002), the informatics system was implemented to make the delivery of medical services such as surgical treatment and other general treatment faster. In this paper, therefore we look into how the informatics systems/applications has evolved since it was implemented by the Bacon County Hospital; discuss the future trends for healthcare informatics and how these trends impact the healthcare delivery system.

Informatics is the science of the management of information. It includes different techniques on how the information is collected, stored, utilized and sent to other locations or transmitted. Informatics utilizes computers to process this information. Clinical informatics is also known as health informatics. Clinical informatics is the application and integration part of informatics. It takes the information that has been studied and learned and puts it into practice. (Coiera, 2015). Thus supporting best practices amongst organizations and improving the quality of care given. Informatics takes information studied and uses it to improve efficiency of care givers, eases quality improvement measures, and aids in decreasing liability risks (Aston, 2014).

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

Worldwide use of computer technology in medicine began in the early 1950s with the rise of the computers. In 1949, Gustav Wagner established the first professional organization for informatics in Germany. Medical informatics research units began to appear during the 1970s in Poland and in the U.S. Since then the development of high-quality health informatics research, education and infrastructure has been a goal of the U.S. and the European Union. (NYU graduate training program, 2010) Changes in the healthcare environment produced fundamental shifts in the delivery of healthcare. The altering landscape of healthcare is creating a huge demand for health data analytics. The growth and maturity of healthcare informatics over the past decade has been a prime catalyst in positioning the healthcare industry for the changes posed by reform measures. By understanding the process of analytics, clinical informatics specialists say healthcare providers have the insight necessary to make the process adjustments in the future.(Riskin, 2013)

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).

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the application of biomedical informatics in many aspects of the healthcare system. This is due to an increasing recognition that a stronger healthcare information system is crucial to achieve a higher quality care at lower costs1. Biomedical informatics is defined as “the scientific field that deals with biomedical data, information and knowledge-their storage, retrieval, and optimal use for problem solving and decision making.”2Biomedical informatics plays significant roles in the healthcare system and it has been applied in various ways in the healthcare system, specifically in the aspect of health care information system such as electronic medical record (EMR), personal health record (PHR), computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems, bar-coding medication administration systems, telemedicine, telehealth, and administrative information systems 2.

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

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

With the rapid growth in the implementation and use of electronic medical records, there is an increase in how we define the role of nurses and other team member’s (Deese & Stien, 2004). Along with providing optimal care, nurses are also responsible for interpreting and accurately documenting large amounts of information. According to, (Ericksen, 2009) nursing informatics is defined as the integration of nursing, its information, and information management with information processing and communication technology to support the health of people worldwide. In this

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.

While being a Health Informatics and Information technology student at Community College of Baltimore County, not only I was able to start my career as a billing coordinator at Johns Hopkins University’s Pathology Department but also continued to fulfil my dream of completing my education. I have a very strong understanding of computer system while expressed keen interest in learning about various diseases and diagnosis. With immense gratitude, I give credit of my success to this wonderful program offered at CCBC campus that allowed me to expand my horizons by learning in depth about healthcare and healthcare delivery system. Starting a career in such big organization, without any prior experience within healthcare industry makes me feel

Clinical decision-support systems (CDSS) apply best-known medical knowledge to patient data for the purpose of generating case-specific decision-support advice. CDSS forms the cornerstone of health informatics research and practice. It is an embedded concept in almost all major clinical information systems and plays an instrumental role in helping health care achieve its ultimate goal: providing high quality patient care while, at the same time, assuring patient safety and reducing costs. This computer based systems designed to impact clinician decision making about individual patients at the point in time that these decisions are made. If used properly, CDSS have the potential to change the way medicine has been taught and

Demographic shifts in the global population, greater levels of technological disruption due to the Internet, social media and the en masse adoption of smartphones and tablet PCs are together re-defining the healthcare informatics market. System and informatics theories have emerged as the foundational elements of healthcare informatics supported by the Data, Information. Knowledge (DIK) Model which acts as a taxonomy for these developments (Haugh, 2005). Systems and informatics theories along with the DIK Model form the ontological foundations of healthcare informatics field of research occurring today and will continue to provide a basis for further research (Braganza, 2004). The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the contributions of systems and informatics, the role of the DIK Model, expert systems in nurse care and medicine, and the use of decision aids and decision support systems. All of these elements are critically important to strategic information systems plans healthcare providers put into place to serve patients while giving healthcare professionals the applications, systems and software they need to excel in their roles (Djellal, Gallouj, 2007).

The report highlights the development of public health informatics and its results. The field is not new, but there are novel ways that computer and information technologies are finding their way in the provision of public care. Most agencies tasked with this role of providing public care are continually utilizing electronics to make it give rise to desirable outcomes. This trend is not new, but its success if restricted by factors such as necessary legislation and integration of systems. Many areas of public care have established informatics to facilitate their functions. This introduces a problem because these systems cannot be integrated with those of other field of healthcare. This is one of the most challenging obstacle that the field of health informatics has to overcome.

The profession of health informatics is a relatively new one, blending the use of technologies with collecting, organizing, storing, using, and evaluating health information.