BHS 455 (Computer & Information Systems) Module 1 CBT - Essay Example

Health Information Science Introduction MacDougall, Brittain and Gann, 1996, p.422, define health informatics as “the management of information through the interdisciplinary application of information science and technology for the benefit of patients, scientists, managers, staff, and carers involved in the whole range of healthcare activity”. Such a definition implies that the purpose of health information systems is to improve the storage, retrieval, synthesis, organization, dissemination, and application of information and knowledge of health care towards improving patient out comes and the standards of care in health care (Pusic, 2004).

Health Information Systems The science of health care is extremely dependent on information, and therefore it a large portion of the activities concerning health care involve the collecting of information, synthesizing the information and then acting on it (Hersh, 2002). Several trends have contributed to the inter-relation between health care and informatics. In the first place advances in health care have dramatically increased the complex nature of health care. The nature of health care is not only complex, but is extremely dynamic, with changes occurring over short spans of time.

There have also been an increasing number of disciplines involved in health care, an example of which is the multitude of specialty branches that have emerged in what was the branch of medicine. In addition to this have been the advances in the disciplines of nursing and pharmacology that have seen these professionals emerge on almost an equal footing in the provision of health care as the medical profession. This expansion has led to an ever increasing body of knowledge available and which has to be synthesized and disseminated for better outcomes in health care and the maintaining the desired levels of health care.

For example in earlier times decisions in health care were essentially in the realm of the medical professional and information required by medical professionals was limited to laboratory reports and imaging reports. In modern health care multidisciplinary activity is a core element in the provision of health care and information comes from several areas in the health care decisions process. There are other driving forces like the higher expectation of health care service seekers and all the stake holders in the health care sector.

On the other hand there have been dramatic developments in the field of computer science and informatics that provide the means to receiving and storing a wide array of information, processing this information and making it available in form and content at any point in the delivery of health care. These factors have led to health informatics playing a significant role in health care. Given the nature of expansion and expectations in the delivery of health care, there is no aspect of health care that falls outside the arena of health informatics and each and every functional area of the health care sector will be influenced by the advance of health informatics, starting from the prevention of disease to the treatment of disease and the payment processes involved for the delivery of healthcare, for according to Hevinga, Kidd and Cesnik, 1996, Chapter II, “Health Informatics strives to enhance all aspects of health care at all times”.

Furthermore the benefits that computer science and information technology offer the field of health care are such that there is a growing demand that all areas of health care compulsorily utilize these benefits (Hevinga, Kidd & Cesnik, 1996).Literary ReferencesHersh, W. R. (2002). Medical Informatics: Improving Health Care Through Information. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288(16), 1955-1958. Hevinga, E., Kidd, M. & Cesnik, B. (1996). History of Health Informatics: An overview.

Australia: Churchill Livingstone. MacDougall, J., Brittain, M.J. & Gann, R. (1996). Health Informatics: An Overview. Journal of Documentation, 52(4), 421-448. Pusic, M. (2004). Health Informatics. In Virginia Moyer, Elizabeth, J. Elliot and Ruth Gilbert. (Eds.) Evidence based pediatrics and child health (pp.139-150). Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.