Health Informatics is the study of resources and methods for the management of health
information. It concerns the use of information and information and
communication technologies within healthcare. It is defined generally as understanding the meaning, relationships
and properties of health care information as a basis for biomedical knowledge
discovery, information retrieval, storage and dissemination for purposes of
supporting the process and evaluation of health care of the public.[1]
Health Informatics deals with the resources, devices, and
methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of
information in health and biomedicine. Its tools include
computers, clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information
and communication systems. It is applied to the areas of nursing, clinical
care, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, occupational therapy, and (bio)
medical research.[2]
This area of
study supports health information technology (HIT), medical practice and
medical research. Health Informatics involves systems such as electronic health
records (EHR) and electronic medical records (EMR), health information exchange
standards such as Health Level 7 (HL7), medical terminologies such as
Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), and portable
medical devices for the collection of data.
Health
information technology (HIT) is the area of IT involving the design,
development, creation, use and maintenance of information systems for the
healthcare industry. Automated and interoperable healthcare information systems
are expected to lower costs, improve efficiency and reduce error, while also
providing better consumer care and service.
The
electronic health record (EHR) is the central component of the health IT
infrastructure. An EHR is an individual's official, digital health record and
is shared among multiple facilities and agencies. The other essential elements
of the HIT infrastructure are the electronic medical record (EMR), which is an
individual's health record within a healthcare provider's facility; the
personal health record (PHR), which is an individual's self-maintained health
record; and a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO), which oversees
communications among the other elements and unifies them geographically.[3]
No comments:
Post a Comment