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What is Medical Informatics?. Health Informatics Healthcare Informatics Biomedical Informatics. Definition.
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What is Medical Informatics? Health Informatics Healthcare Informatics Biomedical Informatics Fall 05
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. Fall 05
Component Sciences • Computer Science • Decision Science • Cognitive Science • Information Science • Management Science • Health Science Fall 05
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? Fall 05
Basic Research Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories Bioinformatics Public Health Informatics Nursing Informatics Dental Informatics Clinical Informatics Veterinary Informatics Imaging Informatics Applied Research Shortliffe et. al. Fall 05
Basic Research Medical Informatics Methods, Techniques, and Theories Bioinformatics Public Health Informatics Nursing Informatics Dental Informatics Clinical Informatics Veterinary Informatics Imaging Informatics Applied Research Shortliffe et. al. Fall 05
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 Fall 05
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 Fall 05
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 Fall 05
Nature of Medical Information • Clinical information differs from that of Physics, Chemistry or Engineering • Medical information incorporates uncertainty Fall 05
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 Fall 05
Resources: Journals • Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association (JAMIA) • Journal of Biomedical Informatics • Methods of Information in Medicine • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Fall 05