Introduction to Medical Informatics
Lecture-1
Overview of Health Informatics
Prepared by Lecturer :
Dalya Samer
Informatics
▪ Informatics is the field that has been defined as
the study, invention, and implementation of
structures and algorithms to improve
communication, interpretation, understanding and
management of information in order to help solve
application-specific problems.
▪ In our case, the application is healthcare
2
Medical Informatics
Medical informatics is the application of
computers and information technology to all
fields of medicine - medical care, medical
education and medical research.
MF Collen, MEDINFO '80, Tokyo
Medical Informatics
Healthcare professions (physicians, nurses,
hospital administrators, software engineers
and others) work together on medical
informatics.
4
Medical Informatics
Medical informatics is the rapidly developing
scientific field that deals with resources, devices
and methods in order to optimize the:
✓ Acquisition
✓ Storage
✓ Retrieval
✓ Use of information in health.
5
Health Informatics
The use of information technology and computer
science in healthcare.
Mandil (1989) coined the phrase 'health informatics'
Healthcare today relies heavily on technology and
science, therefore informatics is an important
domain within health professions.
6
Health informatics refers to the intersection of
information science, computer science, and health
care.
7
Health Informatics Vs. Medical
Informatics
Both terms are used interchangeably.
Health Informatics is now tending to replace the
previous term Medical Informatics to refer to the
entire field.
Health Informatics has become the umbrella term
encompassing medical, nursing, dental, and
pharmacy informatics among other specialties
8
Health informatics
Health informatics studies the method where health
data, information, and knowledge are collected, stored,
processed and used to support health care delivery to
clients and providers, administrators, and health
organizations.
Health Informatics is more about applying information
in the healthcare field than it is about technology
9
Information Hierarchy
Here are lots of data but less
information, knowledge and
wisdom.
Information is data with
meaning
10
11
12
Example
➢ Patient A has a blood pressure reading of
170/100 mmHg.
• Data: 170/100
• Information: BP of Patient A = 170/100 mmHg
• Knowledge: Patient A has high blood pressure
• Wisdom:
– Patient A needs to be treated with anti-hypertensives
– Patient A needs to be referred to a cardiologist
13
Categories of Information in Healthcare
➢In terms of the scope of the use of
information, there are four categories of
health care information:
❖ Clinical
❖Administrative
❖Financial
❖Population health information
14
Mining the Data
All large healthcare
organizations will collect and
analyze a variety of clinical,
financial and administrative
data to make wise clinical and
business decisions
Therefore, data analytics is
very important
15
Why Health Informatics?
The management of medical data is important.
Some reasons include:
• Patient health record
• Administrative purposes
• Research and knowledge discovery
• Legal issues
16
Why Health Informatics?
Patient data was usually stored in paper-based
systems and shared using old communication
modes (e.g. Fax, mail, courier).
"This lacks efficient and timely access to patient
data which is needed for correct diagnosis and
treatment."
Medical Informatics Solutions
Databases
Information Retrieval
Internet
Computer programs
18
Advantages of Health Informatics
Increase healthcare efficiency and productivity
Improve healthcare quality (patient outcomes)
resulting in improved patient safety
Reduce healthcare costs
Improve healthcare access with technologies
such as telemedicine and online scheduling
Improve coordination and continuity of care
19
Health informatics Tools
Health informatics tools include not only computers
but also:
1- Clinical guidelines
2- Formal medical terminologies
3- Information and communication systems.
It is applied to the areas of nursing, clinical care,
dentistry, pharmacy, public health and (bio)
medical research.
20
