Health Informatics and Health Information Technology: Competencies required in the field
Introduction
Third compared to heart disease and cancer, respectively, deaths due to medical errors is a more insidious killer in the United States (McCann, 2014). Approximately “98,000 Americans per year die due to medical errors” (Kohn, 2000, p. 2). Currently, physicians are inundated with high-volumes of patient care information as a result of clinical research, and this “can easily overwhelm the individual physician” (Zilberberg, 2011). Dr. Robert Greenes supports that information management “constitutes a major activity of the health care professional” (1990). The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to delve on the definitions particularly of health …show more content…
1). However, informatics has been present since 1949, when German scientist Gustav Wagner introduced the first informatics professional organization (Hoyt, 2014, p. 10). Hoyt (2014) defines Health Informatics (HI) as “the field of information science concerned with management of healthcare data and information” (p. 4). Health informatics is sometimes referred to as clinical informatics and medical informatics, but Hoyt (2014, p. 5) depicts that the term encompasses public health informatics and clinical informatics, according the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Health information technology (HIT) is defined as “the application of computers and technology in healthcare settings” (Hoyt, 2014, p. 5). Thus, HI is the science of dealing with information, which involves but does not equate to the use computers and other technology. Furthermore, informatics is an interdisciplinary field and draws from disciplines such as computer science, decision science, information science, management science, and cognitive science, as per the …show more content…
27). Another career in HI includes medical coders. Explorehealth.org describes the duties of a medical coder as “reviewing medical records to assign codes and ensure that the health care providers they work for are properly reimbursed for their services” (2015). There are many more career opportunities in HI, including health information technicians, clinical documentation & improvement analysts, and health information managers (Jobs for the Future,
Introduction
Third compared to heart disease and cancer, respectively, deaths due to medical errors is a more insidious killer in the United States (McCann, 2014). Approximately “98,000 Americans per year die due to medical errors” (Kohn, 2000, p. 2). Currently, physicians are inundated with high-volumes of patient care information as a result of clinical research, and this “can easily overwhelm the individual physician” (Zilberberg, 2011). Dr. Robert Greenes supports that information management “constitutes a major activity of the health care professional” (1990). The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to delve on the definitions particularly of health …show more content…
1). However, informatics has been present since 1949, when German scientist Gustav Wagner introduced the first informatics professional organization (Hoyt, 2014, p. 10). Hoyt (2014) defines Health Informatics (HI) as “the field of information science concerned with management of healthcare data and information” (p. 4). Health informatics is sometimes referred to as clinical informatics and medical informatics, but Hoyt (2014, p. 5) depicts that the term encompasses public health informatics and clinical informatics, according the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Health information technology (HIT) is defined as “the application of computers and technology in healthcare settings” (Hoyt, 2014, p. 5). Thus, HI is the science of dealing with information, which involves but does not equate to the use computers and other technology. Furthermore, informatics is an interdisciplinary field and draws from disciplines such as computer science, decision science, information science, management science, and cognitive science, as per the …show more content…
27). Another career in HI includes medical coders. Explorehealth.org describes the duties of a medical coder as “reviewing medical records to assign codes and ensure that the health care providers they work for are properly reimbursed for their services” (2015). There are many more career opportunities in HI, including health information technicians, clinical documentation & improvement analysts, and health information managers (Jobs for the Future,