HIMSS TIGER Committee Informatics Definitions
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HIMSS TIGER Committee Informatics Definitions HIMSS TIGER Committee Informatics Definitions Revised June 2018 v3 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The purpose of this document is to collaboratively define and document core health informatics terminology in providing context to the global HIMSS TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform) Initiative’s interprofessional, interdisciplinary community for consideration when terms are referred to on the TIGER website, in official documents, and within the TIGER Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We acknowledge that as the field of informatics continues to grow and change, so will the terms defined within this resource. As the field evolves, our intention is to have this resource serve as a helpful tool for those learning about both informatics and informatics competencies. As TIGER and the healthcare profession continue to grow and expand in an international capacity, it is important to include definitions relating to informatics that expand beyond borders and regions. This document seeks to fulfill global terminology needs within the Informatics field while also serving as a tool. Therefore, it is necessary to include varying terms referenced for similar concepts applied locally, regionally and nationally to maximize the integration of informatics into seamless practice, education and resource development globally. This document was updated in June 2018. Leadership and members of the TIGER Community reviewed the document, updating it with new definitions, deleting outdated content, re-confirming sources, and verifying the currency of the definitions. Informatics Definitions Table of Contents 1. Bioinformatics ......................................................................................................... 3 2. Biomedical Imaging informatics ................................................................................. 3 3. Biomedical informatics (BMI)..................................................................................... 3 4. Clinical informatics (aka Health informatics) ................................................................ 3 5. Clinical Research Informatics ..................................................................................... 3 6. Dental informatics ................................................................................................... 3 7. Health informatics ................................................................................................... 4 8. Medical informatics ................................................................................................. 4 9. Medical information science...................................................................................... 4 10. Medical informatics study...................................................................................... 4 11. Nursing informatics (NI)......................................................................................... 4 12. Nutrition informatics............................................................................................. 5 13. Personal Health informatics ................................................................................... 5 14. Pharmacy informatics ........................................................................................... 5 15. Public health informatics ....................................................................................... 5 16. Translational Bioinformatics (TBI) ........................................................................... 5 Revised June 2018 v3 Page 2 Informatics Definitions 1. Bioinformatics is a sub-field of biomedical informatics pertaining to the study of information processing in macromolecules using informatics approaches (derived from disciplines such as applied math, computer science, and statistics) to understand and organize the information associated with these molecules, on a large-scale (Chapter 24, Page 695). Bioinformatics has also been shown to have the potential to assist in clinical decision making with significant impact on areas such as precision medicine (Chapter 25). Source: Biomedical Informatics: Computer Application in Health Care and Biomedicine; Mark Gerstein 2. Biomedical Imaging informatics is a subfield of Biomedical Informatics and addresses image acquisition, image content representation, image management, image processing and image interpretation (Chapter 9, Page 286). Acquisition and content representation of biomedical images are critical steps in the digitization of these images and precedes storage, processing and subsequent interpretation for medical significance. Source: Biomedical Informatics: Computer Application in Health Care and Biomedicine 3. Biomedical informatics (BMI) is the interdisciplinary field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving, and decision- making, driven by efforts to improve human health. Source: AMIA Board White Paper: Definition of Biomedical Informatics and Specification of Core Competencies for Graduate Education in the Discipline 4. Clinical informatics (aka Health informatics) promotes the understanding, integration, and application of information technology in healthcare settings. This helps to ensure adequate and qualified support of clinician objectives and industry best practices. Source: HIMSS a. Clinical informatics is the application of informatics and information technology to deliver healthcare services. It is also referred to as applied clinical informatics and operational informatics. 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). 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. Source: AMIA 5. Clinical Research Informatics is an amalgamation of clinical and research informatics, and applies the core foundations, principles and technologies of health informatics to clinical research. It plays an important role in clinical research, patient care, and the building of healthcare systems, and is one of the rapidly growing subdivisions of biomedical informatics. Source: Virginia Commonwealth University 6. Dental informatics is the application of computer and information science to improve dental practice, research, education and management. During the last 40 years, it has developed into a research discipline of significant scale and scope. Dental informatics can be considered a specialty of medical or health informatics. The field of dental informatics is concerned with the intersection of health informatics and dentistry as a whole. This is a growing area of interest within the profession, Revised June 2018 v3 Page 3 both in academic circles and among practicing dentists; more and more dental schools and dental practices are implementing Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems and health information exchanges (HIEs) are beginning a transformation in health care communications. The demands of federal and state programs to promote EHR adoption among certain health care providers are also beginning to affect dentists across the country. As a result of these changes, dentistry is engaging information technology to meet its clinical, administrative, research, and educational needs more than ever. Source: Aspects of the definition drawn from the ADA and DentalInformatics.com 7. Health informatics is the interdisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption, and application of IT-based innovations in public health and healthcare services delivery, management, and planning. It comprises two main sub-disciplines: clinical informatics and public health informatics. It is often used to describe the full range of application and research topics for which biomedical informatics is the pertinent underlying scientific discipline. Source: Aspects of definition drawn from the AMIA and HIMSS a. Health informatics is defined as the interdisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption, and application of IT-based innovations in healthcare services delivery, management, and planning. Source: U.S. National Library of Medicine b. Health or Medical informatics is defined as the scientific field that deals with biomedical information, data, and knowledge - their storage, retrieval, and optimal use for problem solving and decision making. It accordingly touches on all basic and applied fields in biomedical science and is closely tied to modern information technologies, notably in the areas of computing and communication (medical computer science) Source: Stanford Medical Informatics via Open Clinical 8. Medical informatics is defined as the interdisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption and application of IT-based innovations in healthcare services delivery, management and planning. Source: HIMSS 9. Medical information science is defined as the science of using system-analytic tools to develop procedures (algorithms) for management, process control, decision-making and scientific analysis of medical knowledge. Source: Shortliffe, E.H. (1984).