Biomedical Informatics: Defining the Science and Its Role in Health Professional Education

• Published in: Information Quality in e-Health pp. 711 - 714
• Main Author: Shortliffe, Edward H.
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin, Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• Subjects: biomedical informatics; education; health information technology; health professionals
• ISBN: 3642253636; 9783642253638
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25364-5_53

There is a growing appreciation that information technology is no longer an option but a necessity in the management of clinical and health information. This imperative has increasingly led to questions regarding the field of biomedical informatics (BMI) and its relationship to health information technology. Emerging in the 1960s from an academic base, with an emphasis on research and education, some 50 years later we see large numbers of applied informatics practitioners as well as both basic and applied researchers in the discipline. The information technology that has emerged from the research environment is now changing the practice of medicine, its financing, and our ability to monitor both health care and the preservation of health in the populace. The scholarly base of the fields still requires nurturing, but its concepts and practical applications are no longer esoteric and require study and incorporation into the knowledge base of all 21st century health professionals.