Health Informatics: Handle with Caution

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (02) ◽  
pp. 79-81
Author(s):  
V. Leroy ◽  
S. Maurice-Tison ◽  
B. Le Blanc ◽  
R. Salamon
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Data Security ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Inappropriate Use

Abstract:The increased use of computers is a response to the considerable growth in information in all fields of activities. Related to this, in the field of medicine a new component appeared about 40 years ago: Medical Informatics. Its goals are to assist health care professionals in the choice of data to manage and in the choice of applications of such data. These possibilities for data management must be well understood and, related to this, two major dangers must be emphasized. One concerns data security, and the other concerns the processing of these data. This paper discusses these items and warns of the inappropriate use of medical informatics.

Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Biomedical and Health Informatics

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (02) ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ammenwerth ◽  
G. Demiris ◽  
A. Hasman ◽  
R. Haux ◽  
W. Hersh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
International Medical

Summary Objective: The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) agreed on revising the existing international recommendations in health informatics /medical informatics education. These should help to establish courses, course tracks or even complete programs in this field, to further develop existing educational activities in the various nations and to support international initiatives concerning education in biomedical and health informatics (BMHI), particularly international activities in educating BMHI specialists and the sharing of courseware. Method: An IMIA task force, nominated in 2006, worked on updating the recommendations’ first version. These updates have been broadly discussed and refined by members of IMIA’s National Member Societies, IMIA’s Academic Institutional Members and by members of IMIA’s Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education. Results and Conclusions: The IMIA recommendations center on educational needs for health care professionals to acquire knowledge and skills in information processing and information and communication technology. The educational needs are described as a three-dimensional framework. The dimensions are: 1) professionals in health care (e.g. physicians, nurses, BMHI professionals), 2) type of specialization in BMHI (IT users, BMHI specialists), and 3) stage of career progression (bachelor, master, doctorate). Learning outcomes are defined in terms of knowledge and practical skills for health care professionals in their role a) as IT user and b) as BMHI specialist. Recommendations are given for courses /course tracks in BMHI as part of educational programs in medicine, nursing, health care management, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, health record administration, and informatics /computer science as well as for dedicated programs in BMHI (with bachelor, master or doctor degree).To support education in BMHI, IMIA offers to award a certificate for high-quality BMHI education. It supports information exchange on programs and courses in BMHI through its Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education.

Medical Informatics: A Key to the Future of Medicine and Health Care?

1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (05) ◽  
pp. 454-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Research Education ◽  
The Future

Abstract:Commenting on the paper of Heathfield and Wyatt (The Road to Professionalism in Medical Informatics: A Proposal for Debate. Methods of Information in Medicine 1995) argued that Medical Informatics as a scientific discipline has reached a professional status. However, depending on the geographic location and the field of research, education or applications, requirements for further “professionalization” differ. It is proposed that Medical Informatics and Health Informatics should be regarded as one discipline and that Medical Informatics has to contribute to research, education and to the practice of health care in order to improve diagnostics, therapy and health care organization. The future of Medical Informatics is strongly dependent on health care professionals, who must be well-educated in medical informatics; these may be physicians, nurses, health care administrators, specialists in medical informatics, or others. There is still a continuing need for the systematic processing of data, information and knowledge in medicine and in health care. Also, due to its essentially cross-sectional nature encompassing most other disciplines in medicine and health sciences, Medical Informatics must be regarded as a key to the future of medicine and health care.

Health Care in the Information Society: What Should Be the Role of Medical Informatics?1

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (01) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Information And Communication

Summary Objective: To discuss the consequences for medical informatics in encouraging and advancing the development of information processing methodology (IPM) and information and communication technology (ICT) to contribute to high-quality and efficient health care. Methods: Characterization of the current state of ICT, commenting on literature. Results and conclusions: Medical informatics is the discipline, concerned with the systematic processing of data, information, and knowledge in medicine and health care. Our societies are continuously being influenced by modern IPM and ICT. It can be expected that these developments, leading us into an “information society”, will continue. Three factors may significantly influence health care in the near future: the development of the population towards an aging society, progress in medicine, and progress in informatics. The major aims that will have to be achieved are the (1) patient-centered use of medical data, (2) process-integrated decision support, using high-quality medical knowledge, and (3) comprehensive use of patient data for clinical research and health reporting. Medical informatics research is needed on the electronic patient record, modern architectures for health information systems, and medical knowledge bases. In order to adequately pursue the goal of “transforming health care through innovative use of ICT for the 21st century”, health care professionals are needed, who are well-trained in medical informatics, respectively health informatics. Medical informatics must offer such educational programs and assure a sufficiently high quality of education.

Challenges in the Evolution of the Medical Informatics Program at Heidelberg/Heilbronn (Germany)

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (01) ◽  
pp. 66-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Haag ◽  
F. J. Leven ◽  
H. Dickhaus ◽  
P. Knaup
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Public Health Informatics ◽  
Master Program ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Bologna Declaration ◽  
Objective Health

Summary Objective: Health and medical informatics (HMI) is an evolving discipline. Therefore, evolving educational programs in HMI have to take a variety of requirements into account. The aim of this paper is to analyze these requirements and to compare them with the medical informatics program Heidelberg/Heilbronn, Germany. Methods: Systematic analysis of the IMIA recommendations on educating HMI, the Bologna declaration, current technological and health care developments and the results of graduates surveys. Results: The latest revision of the Heidelberg/ Heilbronn medical informatics program not only takes current developments into account but also realizes the IMIA recommendations, the Bologna declaration and graduates’ data and feedback obtained in structured surveys. The topics bioinformatics, IT security and tele-medicine were strengthened, taking major research and application trends into account. The program has been transformed into a consecutive bachelor/master program. It qualifies its graduates to work in the field of medical informatics as well as in informatics. Conclusions: Medical informatics is a very broad field. Programs have to make concessions to scope: It is not possible to provide profound knowledge and skills in computer science and also teach a variety of application areas like bioinformatics, public health informatics and clinical informatics in depth within one medical informatics program. Many graduate programs in various nations concentrate on providing HMI skills to health care professionals.

Health and Medical Informatics Education

1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (03) ◽  
pp. 246-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux ◽  
F. J. Leven ◽  
J. R. Moehr ◽  
D. J. Protti
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Science Program ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Degree ◽  
The University

Abstract:Health and medical informatics education has meanwhile gained considerable importance for medicine and for health care. Specialized programs in health/medical informatics have therefore been established within the last decades.This special issue of Methods of Information in Medicine contains papers on health and medical informatics education. It is mainly based on selected papers from the 5th Working Conference on Health/Medical Informatics Education of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), which was held in September 1992 at the University of Heidelberg/Technical School Heilbronn, Germany, as part of the 20 years’ celebration of medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn. Some papers were presented on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the health information science program of the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Within this issue, programs in health/medical informatics are presented and analyzed: the medical informatics program at the University of Utah, the medical informatics program of the University of Heidelberg/School of Technology Heilbronn, the health information science program at the University of Victoria, the health informatics program at the University of Minnesota, the health informatics management program at the University of Manchester, and the health information management program at the University of Alabama. They all have in common that they are dedicated curricula in health/medical informatics which are university-based, leading to an academic degree in this field. In addition, views and recommendations for health/medical informatics education are presented. Finally, the question is discussed, whether health and medical informatics can be regarded as a separate discipline with the necessity for specialized curricula in this field.In accordance with the aims of IMIA, the intention of this special issue is to promote the further development of health and medical informatics education in order to contribute to high quality health care and medical research.

Prevalence of Work Related Low Back Pain in Healthcare Professionals

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
OJS Admin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Low Back Pain ◽  
Back Pain ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
The Other ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Causative Factors

Health care professionals experience more low back pain than most of the other groups. Occupational and social stresses, no use of preventive measures, poor body mechanics, excessive movements and not seeking medical care are considered as the causative factors for back pain.

Good Medicine and Good Health-care Demand Good Information (Systems)

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (05) ◽  
pp. 385-387
Author(s):  
R. -D. Hilgers ◽  
R. Hofestädt ◽  
U. Hübner ◽  
P. Knaup-Gregori ◽  
C. Ose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
German Journal ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Good Information ◽  
Patient Registries

SummaryThe demand for evidence-based health informatics and benchmarking of ‘good’ information systems in health care gives an opportunity to continue reporting on recent papers in the German journal GMS Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (MIBE) here. The publications in focus deal with a comparison of benchmarking initiatives in German-speaking countries, use of communication standards in telemonitoring scenarios, the estimation of national cancer incidence rates and modifications of parametric tests. Furthermore papers in this issue of MIM are introduced which originally have been presented at the Annual Conference of the German Society of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology. They deal as well with evidence and evaluation of ‘good’ information systems but also with data harmonization, surveillance in obstetrics, adaptive designs and parametrical testing in statistical analysis, patient registries and signal processing.

Translational Research in Medical Informatics or from Theory to Practice

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-3 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. M. Altuwaijri ◽  
Y. C. Li ◽  
M. J. Ball ◽  
R. Haux ◽  
C. U. Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Health Care Settings ◽  
Theory To Practice ◽  
Globalizing World ◽  
Applied Informatics ◽  
Weak Points ◽  
Healthcare Administrators ◽  
Practicing Physicians

Summary Objective: To bridge the divide between health informatics ‘bench research’ and the application of informatics in clinical and health care settings. Method: Identifying weak points in translational activities, i.e. in the process from health informatics research outcomes to IT system design and information management in clinical practice. Results and Conclusions: The creation of a new peer-reviewed journal, designed to cultivate broad readership across health care, is suggested in order to communicate on informatics topics of translational interest and on the application of informatics principals. Such an applied informatics journal may appeal to practicing physicians, healthcare administrators and CIOs as well as medical informaticians. In a globalizing world with eHealth initiatives spanning across borders, such a journal should be an international effort. Close ties to the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and to the journal Methods of Information in Medicine are suggested.

scholarly journals Spirituality and the Health-Care Professional

2011 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-454
Author(s):  
Cyrus P. Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
The Other ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Catholic Health Care ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

The Church and the clinic, theology and medicine, mutually support one another when the good of the other is justly pursued within an organic context of interdependency. In the midst of rapid change in health care, Catholic health-care workers have much to offer the industry as they bring their spirituality of interdependency into their work environments. Due attention to spiritual nourishment received in the Church via the Eucharist is thus encouraged if Catholic health care is to have the leavening impact it is intended to have in culture. After revisiting Pope John Paul II's social encyclical Laborem exercens (On Human Work, 1981), a spirituality of work is offered for Catholic health-care professionals with particular focus on the Eucharist. Accordingly, this essay presents a theology of the Eucharist that shows how Catholics are bound closely together so that the poverty attending loneliness can be lessened and our mutual efforts at enhancing health may be strengthened. The Church and the clinic, theology and medicine, mutually support one another when the good of the other is justly pursued within an organic context of interdependency bolstered by the Eucharist. Our vocation is unity. Our affliction is to be in a state of duality, and affliction due to an original contamination of pride and of injustice…. Love is thus the right physician for our original illness…. We have lost this unity, we whose religion should be the most incarnate of any. We must recover it. —Simone Weil

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