1. Define: - Health Information Technology - Informatacist - Informatician
Theresa Tsosie-Robledo MS RN-BC
February 15, 2012
IHS Office of InformationTechnology
EHR Essential Skills for CACs

2. Health Information Technology
Health Information Technology (HIT) provides the framework for comprehensive management of health information and its secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality entities, and insurers. HIT offers tools for improving quality, safety, and efficiency of the healthcare delivery system.

3. Health Information Technology continued
The Indian Health Service (IHS) uses secure information technology (IT) to improve health care quality, enhance access to specialty care, reduce medical errors, and modernize administrative functions consistent with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) enterprise initiatives

4. Information Technology
In actuality,
Information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information

5. Informatacist informaticist (plural informaticists)
A person practicing the science of informatics
A person applying the tools of information theory to a specific discipline.
Wiktionary

6. Health Informatics
Clinical informatics conveys the understanding and integration of information technology into healthcare to ensure the effective provision and to support the business objectives of clinicians in healthcare industries. 
Medical informatics is the name given to the application of information technology to medicine.
Nursing informatics applies information technology to the work of nurses in healthcare.
HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)

7. Clinical Informatics
Clinical Informatics is the application of informatics and information technology to deliver healthcare services. At times, this has also been referred to as applied clinical informatics.

8. Clinical Informatics cont.
Despite some acknowledged variations, AMIA considers informatics when used for healthcare delivery to be essentially the same regardless of the health professional group involved (whether dentist, pharmacist, physician, nurse, or other health professional).

9. Clinical Informatics cont.
Clinical Informatics is concerned with information use in health care by clinicians. Clinical informatics includes a wide range of topics ranging from clinical decision support to visual images (e.g. radiological, pathological, dermatological, ophthalmological, etc); from clinical documentation to provider order entry systems; and from system design to system implementation and adoption issues.     AMIA
(formerly known as the American Medical Informatics Association)

10. Clinical Informaticist
A Clinical Informaticist is a medical professional that is trained in computer data analysis and also has specialized training in evidence based medicine and medical treatments. The field is relatively new and continues to grow as the use of databases and other resources increases to enhance both patient treatment and research programs.

11. Medical Informatics Varied definitions: Generally based on
Expertise in Medicine
Information Science
Information Technology
Most formally-educated medical informaticists have both clinical knowledge and significant computer science expertise

12. One definition of Medical Informatics
"Medical Informatics studies the organization of medical information, the effective management of information using computer technology, and the impact of such technology on medical research, education, and patient care. The field explores techniques for assessing current information practices, determining the information needs of health care providers and patients, developing interventions using computer technology, and evaluating the impact of those interventions. This research seeks to optimize the use of information in order to improve the quality of health care, reduce cost, provide better education for providers and patients, and to conduct medical research more effectively.”
[Stephen B. Johnson], Columbia University.

13. Nursing Informatics
Nursing Informatics (NI) is a specialty that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice. NI supports consumers, patients, nurses, and other providers in their decision-making in all roles and settings.  This support is accomplished through the use of information structures, information, processes, and information technology. (ANA, 2008)

14. Goal of Nursing Informatics
The goal of NI is to improve the health of populations, communities, families, and individuals by optimizing information management and communication. These activities include the design and use of informatics solutions and technology to support all areas of nursing.
Nursing Informatics: ANA Scope and Standards of Practice

15. Terms Used to Label the Role of Nurse in Informatics
Nurse Informatacist
Informatics Nurse
Informatics Nurse Specialist
Clinical Informatacist
Informatacist
Nurse Informatician
Title dictated by employer

16. INSs vs INs
Informatics Nurse Specialists (INSs): those formally prepared at the graduate level in informatics or a related field
Informatics Nurses (INs): generalists who have experience but are not educated at the graduate level. However, informatics practice is highly complex and in the near future all nurses will have studied at the graduate level.
Nursing Informatics: ANA Scope and Standards of Practice

17. Nursing Informatics
NI is evolving field and will continue to change rapidly.
Definitions and theoretical structures for the specialty have been proposed, but they can be expected to continue to develop over time before stable concepts and definitions are realized.
ANA Scope and Standards of NI Practice

18. Informatician Informatician: someone who practices informatics
Wiktionary
Informatician: An informatician, sometimes called an informaticist, is a person who works in the field of informatics. Informatics, basically, encompasses the collection, cataloging, storing and dissemination of electronic/digitized data. In medicine, this can include biomedical, clinical and public health informatics.

19. Informatics nurse specialist or nurse informatician ?
A informatics nurse specialist has a master's degree or higher in informatics and is certified.
A nurse informatician does not possess the formal degree.

20. Informatacist or Informatician?
Rival camp who are describing people who study information as informatics
Depends on what school and how domineering professor who decided term
For example, the University of Edinburgh has an excellent Informatics program the turns out MSc and PhD level of Informaticians each year.