Medical Informatics

 Introduction:- 

Medical informatics is the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. This field deals with the resources, devices, and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine.

Medical informatics is found at the intersection of healthcare and technology. It is where skills in both medical and computer sciences come together in an effort to improve healthcare and patient outcomes. Professionals in this hybrid field draw on expertise from both disciplines to put technology to its best use in patient care, clinical, and research settings.

Types of Work in Medical Informatics

Medical Informatics Professionals are tasked with using information technology to its greatest advantage in the healthcare industry. This means they are responsible for such tasks as:

Creating, maintaining or facilitating new ways for medical facilities and practices to keep Electronic health records (EHR), Improving communication between healthcare providers and facilities to ensure the best patient outcomes, Storing, managing, and analyzing data for research, Assisting with complex, technology-dependent research, such as that involved in human genome sequencing.

Specialties in the field of medical informatics

Medical and computer science professionals who wish to transition into this field with a master’s or doctoral degree and students heading straight into this arena will find a number of specialties exist. They include:

Bioinformatics: Practitioners in this specialty are concerned with storing, retrieving, sharing, and helping analyze biomedical information for research and/or patient care. Subspecialties include chemical, nursing, and dental informatics.

Public health informatics: This specialty involves the use of technology to guide how the public learns about health and health care while also ensuring access to the latest medical research. Professionals also ensure public health practices have access to the information they need.

Organizational informatics: The focus here is ensuring a smooth flow of communication within a healthcare organization.

Social informatics: These specialists study the social aspects of computer science while gaining insights into how information technology affects social environments and how social environments affect information technology.

Clinical informatics: This is the application of informatics and information technology for clinical research and patient care. Professionals leverage information technology for medical education, patient education, and students, among others.

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Medical Bioinformatics

Medical bioinformatics can be considered as an interdisciplinary field combining systematic processing of data, information, and knowledge in medicine and healthcare. It is a rapidly developing scientific field that uses computers and information technology to gain, store, analyze, communicate, and display medical information and knowledge. This aids the understanding and improves accuracy, quickness, and reliability of decision making. The main aims of medical bioinformatics are to reduce medical risks, improve patient care, and cut costs of treatment.

SUB FIELDS

health care information systems

The European health care information systems can be separated into several sections which all have the common purpose to share data between all participants of the health care system, lower costs, reduce errors and improve patient satisfaction. To provide optimal efficiency in health care processes many disciplines such as informatics, management, law, design, and social science work together.. Hospital information systems (HIS), electronic health records (EHR), and picture archiving systems (PACS) are the key terms in this field.

Computer-Aided Diagnosis

The main aim of Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) is to assist healthcare professionals in providing an accurate, cost-effective diagnosis within the shortest time possible. CAD systems are used as decision support to clinicians.

medical image processing

Signal processing- Is the process of obtaining measurements that enable us to have a better understanding of a person’s heath via physiological instruments. Image Processing processes images using mathematical operations by using signal processing of photos or videos. Most image-processing techniques involve treating the image as a two-dimensional signal and applying standard signal-processing techniques to it. Images are also processed as three-dimensional signals where the third-dimension being time or the z-axis.

molecular bioinformatics

Molecular Bioinformatics -The Usage of the information processing system (Computer) to investigate the molecular structure of our bodies and genomes, which focuses on keeping, storing, and using the information that gathered, but at a deeper biological level. This method gives tools for helping biologically to the human body. The data gathered can be expressed graphically to allow clear trends and links to be made. As a result of the updated database new topics of investigation can be highlight-ed and as such more material can be added to the database. Over time one database can grow and develop to become more compact, detailed, and easier to interpret. Bioinformatics is also known as computational biology, is the study of biological systems through computational and statistical models...

History of Medical bioinformatics

1950-1975

The period from 1950-1975 can be classified as a “reorganizing and pioneering” stage foreshadowing big technological ideas and achievements. It plays an important role in laying the foundation of the “new emerging information technology” and various applications concerning IT in healthcare and medicine. Typical for that time is the individual and still unrecognized work in small isolated groups of scientists focusing on signal analysis and laboratory applications with main aspects in databases, modeling, and simulation of some biological processes, still considering analog computers.

1975-1990

The following 15 years (1975-1990) build upon the work and achievements resulting from the previous period. Referred to as “childhood and youth” these years confirmed that in the domain of medicine and healthcare the use of computer applications is inevitable. The establishment of the first national and international alliances together with bioinformatics courses and schools is followed by the foundation of specific conferences trying to systematize the leading areas of medical bioinformatics. The term EHR - “Electronic Health/Medical Record” shaped that period and the development of the generalization of Clinical and Hospital Information Systems accompanied by medical data analysis and protection.

1990 - 2000

On the period of 1990–2000 (or can be called the Consolidation period), increased the idea that computer is an important and crucial tool in the medical world. In this term, the subject of studying and learning got into them in most medical schools and several specialized medical/health bioinformatics schools have been created. Also, governments created national strategies for implantation of medical bioinformatics in their states. Another reason is the collapse of the communist regime in East European countries, in which all the governments of these new countries had the will to become modern, and made them develop the same technology as the western countries.

2000 - 2010

In the new millennium (2000 - 2010), was understood the potential that has this subject. However, lack of success in the field, and support by the governments, by reasons of politics, made a hard time continuing the research. Therefore, cooperation between the European countries and the USA made to keep the research, which was successful.

The future of medical bioinformatics

In the modern period, we can make only opinions and thoughts about the procedures that will happen in the world of medical bioinformatics. Some believe that it is more likely to rethink about their health strategies, as a result of the new trend of this modern world, like the integration of the data among people, the amount of data, the increasing number of users of the data, etc.

Careers in Medical Informatics

The medical informatics field is growing with positions in a variety of settings. Job titles related to the field may include:

Chief Medical Information Officer: This is a top-level management position that involves ensuring an organization’s IT systems are adequately designed to meet clinical, patient, and communication requirements. Professionals in this position design and apply EHR software and applications, convert and analyze medical data, ensure the quality of care across multiple information systems and conduct data analytics for research purposes.

Medical Informatics Director: Similar to a chief medical information officer, a director is responsible for the accuracy and effectiveness of management reporting functions, actuarial management, and information technology strategy. They also manage the analysis and presentation of data in a timely, accurate, user-friendly format, among other duties.

Clinical Informatics Specialist: These specialists provide hands-on support and project management for the implementation and use of electronic medical record software to document patient care. This specialty is often pursued by existing medical professionals with an affinity for technology. Many nurses, for example, are transitioning into this role by taking part in graduate-level informatics programs.

Health Analytics Clinical Practitioner Manager: This position calls on professionals to design, implement, and deploy packaged software solutions for health and public services industry businesses. This position may involve employment with a software developer to ensure its solutions work appropriately for medical practitioners in the field.

Medical informatics job growth is predicted at about 21% through 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That agency doesn’t break out potential earnings, but the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) estimates mid-range salaries for health informatics consultants in the upper $80,000s. Those in management circles can see salaries climb as high as $200,000.

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