Posted: September 5th, 2022

Health Informatics

Health Informatics
Health informatics is the application of information technology and communication systems in the acquisition, storage, and retrieval of health data. It aims at enhancing collaboration between health care providers and making patient care more efficient and cost-effective. Various fields of health, such as dentistry, clinical medicine, and physical therapy, use informatics.
Its first practical application was in the 1950s when the National Bureau of standards collected dental information in the US. It has grown over time and spread to other parts of the world. The invention and application of electronic health records and health data analytics systems accelerated its growth. There are various types of health informatics; they include clinical informatics, nursing informatics, computational health informatics, public health informatics, and clinical research informatics.
Nursing informatics involves the use of IT systems among nurses. Availability of health systems online, make it easy for nurses to handle the transition of care situations. It entails keying in data about the shifting of a patient from one setting to another, for instance, from a hospital setting to a nursing home. This data is essential to insurance programs such as Medicare.
Public health informatics encompasses the use of information technology and computer science in public health. It is essential to the governments as it aids in making data-driven decisions in matters such as chronic disease prevention and disease surveillance. Clinical research informatics is the application of informatics in health research. It aims to create health data warehouses and support data collection in digital format during clinical trials.
Clinical research informatics faces several challenges, such as lack of funds for undertaking new projects and setting up new systems. Coordination of ideas and plans between informatics team and researchers is also challenging because it is difficult to set up a system that is easy to use.
Clinical informatics is applied directly to the provision of patient care. It enables physicians, clinicians, and nurses to access data required to develop a care plan. Clinical informatics encompasses the design, implementation, and evaluation of information systems. It aims to improve health outcomes by strengthening the relationship between health providers and patients and improving patient care.
Computational health informatics entails the use of computer-based techniques to improve health care. Computer scientists work on developing systems that will help solve problems related to health care and medicine. The internet has played a significant role in promoting the development of computational health informatics.

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