Computational Foundations of Informatics Course Descripton

Running head: HCL-600 FOUNDATIONS OF INFORMATICS 1
HCL-600 Foundations of Informatics
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HCL-600 FOUNDATIONS OF INFORMATICS
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EVOLUTION OF HEALTH INFORMATICS AS A DISCIPLINE AND ITS EVOLVING
IMPACT ON THE DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE
Health informatics encompasses healthcare information of science, starting from
fundamental researches to applications in clinics. Health informatics compasses all the means of
promoting and understanding effective analysis, management, use of information and
organization in healthcare (Custis, Hawkins, & Thomason, 2016). Though it shares a general
range of interest with other healthcare disciplines and specialists, health informatics has
improved in its approaches and emphasis that makes it distinguishable from the others. People
who work as health informatics know both health care and information science. They understand
how to use, acquire retrieve, protect and store a range of information concerning medicine and
health. They also understand non-computerized and computerized systems of information “in
and out”. They are also familiar with medical terminologies, workflow, and clinical guidelines.
The significant stage that marks the development of health informatics is when computer-
generated health care data was discovered in the 1950s in the US. The government-sponsored
computer-based medical projects for the first time during this era, which were conducted by the
military, ‘the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other projects. Throughout the rest of the
decades that followed, some professional organizations emerged which reflected growing
interests in the field. The organizations include America Association for Medical Systems and
Informatics (AAMSI) and Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care (SCAMC),
among others
Health informatics sector emerged when technology in computer advanced, for the
management of large data. Earlier experimentations were carried out in the field of dentistry but
were not enough till in the 1960s when health informatics became standardized as a discipline of

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study. The first electronic medical record to appear was in 1970’s as soon as new nomenclature
for the specific services and disciplines were discovered. This is following the introduction of
bioinformatics sub-specializations as a study of biological data with DNA not becoming
exceptional. While health informatics technology continued to improve, requests for
standardized data exchange procedures also improved for fields such as pharmacy, radiology. In
recent days, imaging informatics is a unique specialized area of study for people who wish to
pursue a master's in Health Informatics ("Section 7 Education and Consumer Health
Information," 2015).
Public regulations and policies are vital in health informatics for establishment of
electronic structures of health systems. The government regulatory bodies develop policies
thereby make it easy for the execution of the implementation of the electronic health record. The
same bodies regulate systems to protect patients’ and providers' rights. According to the Privacy
Act of 1974, it controls information that is collected by the federal government and agencies.
The legislation allows patients to access information about them (Birkin, 2018). A legislation of
confidentiality of drug and alcohol abuse patients’ record rule allows privacy in federally
assisted drug or alcohol abuse program. Patient treatment and diagnosis remain confidential
information. These policies and legislative bodies ease information access and ensure
confidentiality in the information.
The contemporary scope of practice for informatics professionals includes; analysis of
data to help facilitate actions and decision making, developing of data-driven for patient health
improvement, collaboration with a variety of departments in health care systems for reduction in
expenses via strategic data analysis and implementing and designing tools that measures data and
patient care processes and effectiveness.