Sep 6 Fall 05 What is Medical Informatics? Health Informatics Healthcare Informatics Biomedical Informatics

Sep 6 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.

Sep 6 Fall 05 Component Sciences Computer Science Decision Science Cognitive Science Information Science Management Science Health Science

Sep 6 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?

Sep 6 Fall 05 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.

Sep 6 Fall 05 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.

Sep 6 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

Sep 6 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

Sep 6 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

Sep 6 Fall 05 Nature of Medical Information Clinical information differs from that of Physics, Chemistry or Engineering Medical information incorporates uncertainty

Sep 6 Fall 05 Resources: Professional Organizations American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) The National Library of Medicine (NLM)

Sep 6 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