Health informatics is the field of science and engineering that aims at developing methods and technologies for the acquisition, processing, and study of patient data, which can come from different sources and modalities, such as electronic health records, diagnostic test results, medical scans. The health domain provides an extremely wide variety of problems that can be tackled using computational techniques.
Consumer health informatics (CHI) is a sub-branch of health informatics that helps bridge the gap between patients and health resources. It is defined by the American Medical Informatics Association as "the field devoted to informatics from multiple consumer or patient views". The Consumer Health Informatics Working Group (CHIWG) of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) define it as "the use of modern computers and telecommunications to support consumers in obtaining information, analyzing unique health care needs and helping them make decisions about their own health".
The Sociedade Brasileira de Informática em Saúde, abbreviated as SBIS, is a professional society created in November 1986 in Campinas, during the First Brazilian Congress on Health Informatics. It has the mission of promoting the development and the interchange of ideas and results in the fields devoted to the information technologies applied to the health sciences.
The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) is an independent organization that plays a role in promoting and furthering the application of information science in modern society, particularly in the fields of healthcare, bioscience and medicine. It was established in 1967 as a technical committee of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). It became an independent organization in 1987 and was established under Swiss law in 1989.
An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared through network-connected, enterprise-wide information systems or other information networks and exchanges. EHRs may include a range of data, including demographics, medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images, vital signs, personal statistics like age and weight, and billing information.
eHealth describes healthcare services which are supported by digital processes, communication or technology such as electronic prescribing, Telehealth, or Electronic Health Records (EHRs). The use of electronic processes in healthcare dated back to at least the 1990s. Usage of the term varies as it covers not just "Internet medicine" as it was conceived during that time, but also "virtually everything related to computers and medicine". A study in 2005 found 51 unique definitions. Some argue that it is interchangeable with health informatics with a broad definition covering electronic/digital processes in health while others use it in the narrower sense of healthcare practice using the Internet. It can also include health applications and links on mobile phones, referred to as mHealth or m-Health.
Telenursing refers to the use of information technology in the provision of nursing services whenever physical distance exists between patient and nurse, or between any number of nurses. As a field, it is part of telemedicine, and has many points of contacts with other medical and non-medical applications, such as telediagnosis, teleconsultation, and telemonitoring. The field, however, is still being developed as the information on telenursing isn't comprehensive enough.
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is an American not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care in quality, safety, cost-effectiveness and access through the best use of information technology and management systems. It was founded in 1961 as the Hospital Management Systems Society. It is now headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The society has more than 100,000 individuals, 480 provider organizations, 470 non-profit partners and 650 health services organizations. HIMSS is a US 501(c)6 organization.
A personal health record (PHR) is a health record where health data and other information related to the care of a patient is maintained by the patient. This stands in contrast to the more widely used electronic medical record, which is operated by institutions and contains data entered by clinicians to support insurance claims. The intention of a PHR is to provide a complete and accurate summary of an individual's medical history which is accessible online. The health data on a PHR might include patient-reported outcome data, lab results, and data from devices such as wireless electronic weighing scales or from a smartphone.
A clinical pathway, also known as care pathway, integrated care pathway, critical pathway, or care map, is one of the main tools used to manage the quality in healthcare concerning the standardisation of care processes. It has been shown that their implementation reduces the variability in clinical practice and improves outcomes. Clinical pathways aim to promote organised and efficient patient care based on evidence-based medicine, and aim to optimise outcomes in settings such as acute care and home care. A single clinical pathway may refer to multiple clinical guidelines on several topics in a well specified context.
The emerging field of Health administration informatics is concerned with the evaluation, acquisition, implementation and day-to-day operation of information technology systems in support of all administration and clinical functions within the health care industry. The closely related field of biomedical informatics is primarily focused on the use of information systems for acquisition and application of patients' medical data, whereas nursing informatics deals with the delivery, administration and evaluation of patient care and disease prevention. What remains unclear, however, is how this emerging discipline should relate to the myriad of previously existing sub specializations within the broad umbrella of health informatics - including clinical informatics, bioinformatics and healthcare management informatics - particularly in light of the proposed "fundamental theorem" of biomedical informatics posed by Friedman in early 2009.
Health information technology (HIT) is health technology, particularly information technology, applied to health and health care. It supports health information management across computerized systems and the secure exchange of health information between consumers, providers, payers, and quality monitors. Based on a 2008 report on a small series of studies conducted at four sites that provide ambulatory care – three U.S. medical centers and one in the Netherlands, the use of electronic health records (EHRs) was viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system.
Health informatics in China is about the Health informatics or Medical informatics or Healthcare information system/technology in China.
Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the central notion is transformation of information. In other countries, the term "informatics" is used with a different meaning in the context of library science, in which case it is synonymous with data storage and retrieval.
The Health Informatics Society of Australia Ltd (HISA) is a scientific society, established in 1992, for health informaticians and those with an interest in health informatics.
The Clinical Care Classification (CCC) System is a standardized, coded nursing terminology that identifies the discrete elements of nursing practice. The CCC provides a unique framework and coding structure. Used for documenting the plan of care; following the nursing process in all health care settings.
Clinical point of care (POC) is the point in time when clinicians deliver healthcare products and services to patients at the time of care.
Lawrence Leonard Weed was an American physician, researcher, educator, entrepreneur and author, who is best known for creating the problem-oriented medical record as well as one of the first electronic health records.
Eike-Henner Kluge is the first expert witness in medical ethics recognized by Canadian courts. Dr. Kluge has acted as an expert witness in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. He is known for his work on contentious medical ethics issue such as abortion and the ethics of deliberate death in addition to privacy and medical informatics. He established and was the first director of the Canadian Medical Association Department of Ethics and Legal Affairs. Dr. Kluge is the author of the International Medical Informatics Association's code of ethics and their ethics handbook. Additionally, he is a fellow in the Royal Society of Canada.
Dean Forrest Sittig is an American biomedical informatician specializing in clinical informatics. He is a professor in Biomedical Informatics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Executive Director of the Clinical Informatics Research Collaborative (CIRCLE). Sittig was elected as a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics in 1992, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in 2011, and was a founding member of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics in 2017. Since 2004, he has worked with Joan S. Ash, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University to interview several Pioneers in Medical Informatics, including G. Octo Barnett, MD, Morris F. Collen, MD, Donald E. Detmer, MD, Donald A. B. Lindberg, MD, Nina W. Matheson, ML, DSc, Clement J. McDonald, MD, and Homer R. Warner, MD, PhD.
