The Role of Informatics

By Shawn E Riley Expert Author Shawn E Riley The field of medicine and healthcare is growing in leaps and bounds owing to the ongoing developments in the field of information technology (IT). The use of IT related services has encompassed almost all aspects of the healthcare industry. One of the concepts that are widely circulated is that of medical informatics. The term medical informatics has been defined as the study, invention, and implementation of structures and algorithms to improve communication, understanding and management of medical information. In simple terms it refers to the use of computers and computer aided devices to transmit information related to healthcare. Changing needs of healthcare The world has become quite small in terms of communication. With the advent of technologies or concepts such as mobiles, internet and wireless devices people are now able to contact other in matters of a few seconds. Additionally, the literacy rates are on the rise and so is the accessibility to internet. This has opened up newer needs in the field of healthcare. Individuals suffering from different disorders or attending to patients are looking out for more information about diseases, their diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. This is one of the simplest needs of informatics. With more hospitals getting into collaborations and people travelling across states or countries for cheaper or better healthcare facilities there is a need to transfer the patient data to the hospitals visited by the patients. Health technologies such as medical informatics make this possible with the click of a few buttons. Further, a lot of healthcare and pharmaceutical requirements in terms of healthcare delivery, research, health education, and decision making have been created with the changing times. These examples represent only few of the wide lists of applications of informatics. Technology for better health The role of informatics has been growing in the recent decades. It plays an important role in combining various health sciences such as medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and other allied health services with computers and information technology. This has led to finding better solutions in aspects such as health care delivery, pharmaceutical, biomedical and health sciences research, patient health education and decision making in medical fields. As more and more people are becoming connected through the virtual world they are now able to access better care for themselves and their loved ones. With the availability of knowledge about different disease processes and their risk factors the incidence of many fatal conditions has decreased to a significant extent. Doctors and other healthcare providers are able to arrive at faster conclusion about the diagnosis of disorders thereby ensuring immediate care and a significant reduction in the rate of complications. The field of research has been able to achieve important milestones in issues that were considered to be quite difficult before. In conclusion, medical informatics is a simple term for a complex list of possibilities in the field of healthcare. This concept has revolutionized the healthcare industry and ensured better care and better information to the users of this technology. Shawn Riley HealthTechnica.com http://healthtechnica.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shawn_E_Riley