The Role of Medical Informatics in Modern Healthcare Systems

This discussion post addresses the necessity of medical informatics and its positive impacts on healthcare. Medical informatics, integrating information science, computer science, and healthcare information, is crucial for efficient access to patient data and improved care delivery. The post highlights the role of electronic health records (EHRs) and how they improve patient access to information, promote shared knowledge, and reduce healthcare costs. It also discusses the evolution of health informatics, its impact on patient-centered care, and the increasing use of technology like self-tracking tools and wearable sensors. The author references several studies to support the claims, including Moore & Holmes (2016) and Saheb & Saheb (2019), which emphasize the role of biomedical informatics in data management, analysis, and predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory healthcare. The post concludes by emphasizing the improvements in communication, time management, and information sharing that medical informatics brings to healthcare.

Running head: HEALTH CARE
Health care
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Author’s note

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Discussion question 1: Why do we need medical informatics and how does it improve
health care?
Medical or health informatics is an immensely growing field in health care whose
application is increasing with the development of new technology and integration of this
technology to deliver medical care. It is a discipline which deals with the integration of
information science, computer science and health care information. This is required to get access
to information in the most quick and easy manner. Another most important purpose of medical
informatics is to prove effective care to patients. The emergence of this field was seen following
the Affordable Care Act which stated the need for professionals to integrate health care with
electronic health records (EHR) to improve the provision of care. The need for medical
informatics is also important to increase patient’s access to health information, promote shared
knowledge, promote high quality care and decrease the overall health care cost. This has
revolutionized the patient education process (Sweeney, 2017). Snyder et al. (2011) gives the
evidence regarding the utility of informatics on providing clinicians with critical information and
sharing the same information with family and friends. It has also helped to promote patient-
centered care by providing a mechanism for patient to interact with clinicians about health and
well-being needs. The clinicians in turn can integrate this information to improve patient care.
Health informatics has played a pivotal role in improving the quality of care. The
technology boom has helped informatics to evolve and this has resulted in positive outcomes in
health care such as enhanced care delivery, improved health outcomes and advanced patient
education. Moore & Holmes (2016) gives a good example regarding how biomedical informatics
has increased access to health information and increased the pace of health care delivery.
Biomedical informatics provides the skill set and the technology required for processing,

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managing, analyzing and interpreting data. With this development, many difference sources of
big data became accessible. With access to data, more relevant and effective care delivery has
become possible. Saheb and Saheb (2019) further highlight the contribution of health informatics
in providing predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory health care. Some of the
important resources linked to this technology are emergence of self-tracking tools, deep learning
algorithms, patient decision support system and wearable sensors.
Currently, health informatics has been utilized in multiple processes. It is used in patient
and outpatient care by utilizing online portal, electronic medical records and data collection
devices such as glucometers. Hence, data collection and data storage improvement is one major
improvement of this technology. This technology has promoted work and time management too
by eliminating the need for paper work and promoting all data analysis in the form of medical
records or digital devices. Clinical managers now get more power and autonomy to manage
health care issues by efficient use of available technological resources (Veinot, Ancker &
Bakken, 2019). Thus, medical informatics has not only improved the quality of care, but also
resulted in improved communication, time management and sharing of information with staff
and patient.

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References:
Moore, J. H., & Holmes, J. H. (2016). The golden era of biomedical informatics has begun.
Retrieved from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4827231/pdf/13040_2016_Article_92.pd
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Saheb, T., & Saheb, M. (2019). Analyzing and visualizing knowledge structures of health
informatics from 1974 to 2018: A bibliometric and social network analysis. Healthcare
Informatics Research, 25(2), 61-72. doi:10.4258/hir.2019.25.2.61 Retrieved:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6517625
Snyder, C. F., Wu, A. W., Miller, R. S., Jensen, R. E., Bantug, E. T., & Wolff, A. C. (2011). The
role of informatics in promoting patient-centered care. Cancer Journal (Sudbury,
Mass.), 17(4), 211.
Sweeney, J. (2017). Healthcare informatics. Retrieved from:
http://www.himss.org/library/healthcare-informatics
Veinot, T., Ancker, J., & Bakken, S. (2019). Health informatics and health equity: Improving our
reach and impact. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(8-9),
689-695. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocz132