The class was instructed to write a paper about the definition of the term medical informatics.

1. Medical Informatics
Medical informatics is a relatively broad term. There are many different variations of the
definition of medical informatics, each with the same core meaning, but in different words and
perspectives. The definition of medical informatics has changed through time due to advances in
technology and science.
A professor at Medical University of the Americas defines medical informatics as “the
discipline which investigates the structure and properties of medical information” (Sanyal,
2009). It is more about how we use and stock the information related to health in the best
possible way to benefit the public, the medical staff, and researchers. Shortliffe defines medical
informatics as “the rapidly advancing scientific field that deals with the storage, retrieval, and
optimal use of biomedical information, data, and knowledge for problem solving and decision
making” (Shortliffe and Perrault, 1990). This definition takes into account that medical
informatics is advancing at high speeds. In the 1990s, when this definition was decided, they
didn’t have the technology that the health field has access today, which shows that this field is
indeed improving. In Information Technology for the Health Profession, medical informatics is
defined as “an interdisciplinary science underlying the acquisition, maintenance, retrieval, and
application of biomedical knowledge and information to improve patient care, medical
information, and health science research” (Burke & Weill, 2013). This definit ion shows that
medical informatics is meant to improve the medical field along with others that are involved. A
health website describes informatics as “the study of resources and methods for the management
of health information” (Rouse, 2010). This describes medical informatics simplistically but in an
informative manner. It is used to find better “methods” to take care of information related to
health. Finally, the definition of medical informatics, as stated by the Journal of Epidemiology &

2. Community Health, is “the study and application of methods to improve the management of
patient data, clinical knowledge, population data, and other information relevant to patient care
and community health.” This definition is more specific and in what medical informatics can
improve.
In conclusion, medical informatics is meant for the improvement of healthcare by finding
ways to organize and collect information in the best way possible, which is usually through
technology. Medical records have advanced from paper records to electronic records, which has
made it easier and faster to gather, store, and recover information. Advances in technology have
made the medical field more efficient and better all around.
References
Burke, L., & Weill, B. (2013). Information technology for the health professions. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Journal of the Medical Library Association (2012). Medical informatics in the
curriculum: development and delivery of an online elective. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257474/
Rouse, M. (2010, May). What is health informatics? - Definition from WhatIs.com.
Retrieved from http://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/health- informatics
Sanyal, S. (2009, March). What Is Medical Informatics? Retrieved from
http://www.slideshare.net/sanyalsanjoy8/what- is-medical- informatics
Starks, S. (2014). Medical Informatics: The Health Information Technology
Decade[Powerpoint slides]. Retrieved from http://moodle.ulm.edu
Wyatt, J., & Liu, J. (2014). Basic concepts in medical informatics -- Wyatt and Liu 56
(11): 808 -- Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Retrieved from
http://jech.bmj.com/content/56/11/808.full