What is Medical Informatics?

Health Informatics

Healthcare Informatics

Biomedical Informatics

Definition

• “The scientific field that deals with biomedical information, data, and knowledge—their storage, retrieval, and optimal use for problem-solving and decision-making.” Shortliffe et. al.

Component Sciences

• Computer Science

• Decision Science

• Cognitive Science

• Information Science

• Management Science

• Health Science

Questions and Concerns of Health Professionals

• Will computers replace physicians, nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals?

• Should they be highly trained in computer science also to practice their profession?

• Are we moving towards robotic medicine?

Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories

Public Health Informatics

Nursing Informatics

Clinical Informatics

Veterinary Informatics

Dental Informatics

Bioinformatics

Imaging Informatics

Basic Research

Applied Research

Shortliffe et. al.

Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories

Public Health Informatics

Nursing Informatics

Clinical Informatics

Veterinary Informatics

Dental Informatics

Bioinformatics

Imaging Informatics

Basic Research

Applied Research

Shortliffe et. al.

Nature of Medical Informatics

• It is an experimental science• Basic research questions• Applications research• Some consensus that the core discipline is

identical• Unified medical informatics educational

programs • Brings together students from a wide

variety of applications interests

Specialized Hardware and Programming Languages?

• In general medical informatics applications use existing computer hardware

• A specialized programming language called MUMPS was developed in the early seventies for medical records processing

• The software requirements of medicine (healthcare) do not seem to be unique

Relationship to Biomedical Engineering

• Biomedical Engineering focuses on Instrumentation– Advanced monitoring systems– Imaging devices like ultra sound, CT scans,

MRI devices etc.

• Medical Informatics emphasizes– Medical information and knowledge– Information and knowledge management

using computers

Nature of Medical Information

• Clinical information differs from that of Physics, Chemistry or Engineering

• Medical information incorporates uncertainty

Resources: Professional Organizations

• American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) www.amia.org

• International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) www.imia.org

• American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) www.ahima.org

• The National Library of Medicine (NLM) www.nlm.nih.gov

Resources: Journals

• Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA)

• Journal of Biomedical Informatics

• Methods of Information in Medicine

• Artificial Intelligence in Medicine