Discuss how health informatics evolved from being a concept to becoming a discipline or specialty. Emphasize the importance of the formation of professional organizations and educational programs in a
Classmate 1 by Deneka sampson
As healthcare innovation grows and the workings of the internet becomes increasingly more advanced, so does the development of health informatics. Today health informatics is an exciting and well-established field (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 2). Health informatics is recognized as both a discipline and a profession. However, the development of both did not happen overnight or transition with ease. For example, public administration did not transition into a profession with ease, most thought it should be a separation between the political aspect of administration and administration as a profession. Health informatics is defined as an interdisciplinary professional specialty and scientific discipline that integrates the health sciences, computer sciences, and information sciences, as well as several other analytic sciences, with the goal of managing and communicating data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in the provision of healthcare for individuals, families, groups, and communities (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 2). This definition of health informatics did not come to be known straight away, it took time and years to develop.
Health informatics as a concept developed in the 1950s, when the use of computers in healthcare began to be used. In the mid-1950s, is when the government first sponsored computer-based medical projects that were conducted by the military, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others (University of Illinois, “The Origins of Health Informatics”). This early period in the history of informatics extended into the 1960s and was characterized by experimenting with the use of this new technology in medicine and in nursing education (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 596). Over this period, studies began to be done on the effectiveness of the concept and programs began to be developed for the discipline and then mortified into a profession as books, journals, certifications, and professional organizations began to develop in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Throughout the decades that followed, several professional organizations emerged to reflect a growing interest in the field, those organizations included: the American Association of Medical Systems and Informatics (AAMSI), the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), and the symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care (SCAMC) (University of Illinois, “The Origins of Health Informatics”). In 1988, the three groups merged to form the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), which remains a prominent organization today. The emergence of professional organizations played a significant role in the development of this specialty and providing a major source of education and networking for the early pioneers (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 599).
The practice of health informatics is now so widely used in the medical field, it is no longer stationary to one area. Health informatics is used in many areas of healthcare: nursing, dental, medical, clinical, financial areas, etc. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming the health care systems in both its practice and in the roles and knowledge required by health professionals (Gibson, Dixon, & Abrams, 2015, para. 1). The growing innovation of computer systems and healthcare systems are evolving health informatics to move into other areas of growth. Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the adoption and use of e-health systems in the U.S. and Canada (Gibson, Dixon, & Abrams, 2015, para. 1). E-health systems are allowing information to be transferred and available at more rapid speeds than before. Growth and innovation is one of the leading areas in the United States, especially in the medical field. Health informatics has grown to be a part of this growth and innovation.
Classmate 2 by Jennifer Harris:
Health Informatics, Theoretical Foundations, and Practice Evolution
What is health informatics and how do we utilize it in the U.S. health care delivery system today? Nelson & Staggers (2018) stated the following:
In this book, health informatics is defined as an interdisciplinary professional specialty and scientific discipline that integrates the health sciences, computer science, and information science, as well as a number of other analytic sciences, with the goal of managing and communicating data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in the provision of healthcare for individuals, families, groups, and communities (p. 2).
Health informatics has evolved throughout the years with the use of advance integrated technology and will continue to change and grow as new and improved technology is steadily introduced for years to come. Beforehand, without the use of technology in the health care industry it made it very difficult for healthcare professionals to communicate between health care facilities; therefore, creating a barrier and delaying the time and/or process to provide health care to individuals. Nurses and other health care professionals were preparing patients charts or records by hand. Therefore, affecting the quality of health care provided and/or received. Starting around 1950, computers were being used more and more in specialty areas, like radiology. While access, cost, and implementation were seen as limiting the ability to provide such support in a widely available fashion, the belief was evident that increasing computational power could be harnessed to model, assist and enhance health care (Cesnik & Kidd, 2010, p. 4).
Now health care professionals and other specialist utilize electronic health or medical records. This created a need for health informatics and helped it to develop into a discipline and/or specialty. Health care professionals had to determine the purpose or need for this particular application, learn or discover how the application will function, and establish how the application will be structured. As more hospitals began to take note about the amount of time computers could make calculations and give accurate results, this also helped informatics to become a specialty for health care professionals.
Health care professionals have been a key factor in advancing health informatics. They play a major role in implementing, managing, and leading healthcare organization as they move forward with automation (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 33). As more and more health professionals became interested in health informatics they noticed that there was little or no formal training and/or educational programs available to teach or learn more about the subject. Unlike previous years, before the use of integrated technology, some health care professionals were not trained or educated on health informatics. Most educational programs in biomedical informatics have focused on training researchers, despite the fact that opportunities for researchers are limited and there is a major opportunity for healthcare professionals to assume operational informatics roles (Feldmand & Hersh, 2008, para 3). With the increased use of technology including health and computer sciences, there will be a greater need for more well trained health care professionals, especially in health informatics. Nelson & Staggers (2018) mentioned the following:
As the United States continues to transform its healthcare system to be safe, efficient, patient centered, timely, equitable, and effective, it must invest in the education of individuals to ensure that the workforce is poised to meet the challenge of this newly integrated health system (p. 500).
While Health Informatics aims to articulate its place in health care, other health care professionals continue to adopt the technologies into their own areas (Cesnik & Kidd, 2010, p.7). Without knowledgeable health care professionals leading health care organizations health informatics would not be as successful and many organizations would certainly fail. For health professionals and health informatics specialists to provide effective leadership, they must understand the institution’s vision and values and the people and processes within the organizations (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 33).
