Each separate reply must be at least 150 words. Each thread and reply must include at least 1 citation in current APA format and at least 1 Scripture reference.
reply 1:
Health informatics is a term that refers to the application of health care sciences, including information technology, computer, and cognitive science, in healthcare settings to aid in controlling health care knowledge and information. (Sweeney et al.,2017). Health systems are evolving all over the world, making health informatics relevant. There is an urge to develop new technologies and initiatives which are insinuating in managerial setup, policy setup, and clinical department. It is very important for all the parties involved to remain coordinated, from the physician, nurse, provider, manager to a politician.
As a multidisciplinary unit, it is very significant in initiating the public to trust healthcare systems and to promote efficient and secure patient care. Since nurses were not able to read what doctors had prescribed for the patients, it was essential to create an electronic medical record that helped to reduce errors and health care long-term costs and also create job opportunities (Sweeney et al.,2017). It is very promising when it comes to enhancing the safety and quality of healthcare which attracted health care leaders and policymakers. Therefore, emerging as a field of study which integrates procedures processes, concepts, and theories from computer science, nursing, and medical science.
In addition to informatics, professionals use information technology tools to assist in assembling, storing, and processing health data to communicate its knowledge. The goal here is to support in improving and delivering quality healthcare. Therefore, to achieve the goal, we use both software and hardware of information technology which are available to healthcare providers, administrators, stakeholders, and also patients. It is a unique inter-professional field that allows health care officials to specialize within distinct categories of health professionals (Aickelin, Chapman and Hart et al.,2019)
In conclusion, its a profession and which emerged as a distinct specialty where physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers saw it possible to apply innovative development to solve healthcare problems (Hicklin, Chapman, and Hart, 2019). Computer science was the solution by bringing in the coding technology required, and information science offered processes and procedures to create the data. And finally, the healthcare professionals provide the knowledge needed to use the information and computer science in bettering peoples health as a discipline.
reply 2:
Healthcare Informatics did not become a concept until computers were introduced into the health care world in the 1950’s. This technology began to be further developed within the 1960’s when medicine and nursing education started to utilize it (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). It wasn’t until the 1970’s when the concept of healthcare informatics began changing into a discipline as computers started to be used and retain information with patient care. Hospitals and clinicians began to discover that calculations with computers returned accurate results within seconds rather than several minutes. This observation helped plant the idea that healthcare informatics would evolve as “both a discipline and a field of study” (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). Informatics was finally recognized as a field of discipline when science and technology application interacted with one another, and it was discovered that the term didn’t exist.
By the end of the 1970s, many areas, even outside of health care, began implementing informatics and realized the importance of using health informatics inside of their business or organization. As the field of health informatics began to grow it eventually became evident that it would also become a specialty. Nelson & Staggers states that this specialty can be seen within “publications of health informatics books, the development of new journals, the establishment of professional organizations, number of informatics conferences that are now recurring events, creation of university-level educational programs, and the development of certification programs” (2018). Professional organizations have been established at local, national, and international levels around the globe.
These professional organizations advance health informatics by creating new opportunities in education and networking with professionals that have an interest in the field. Examples of professional organizations include: The American Medical Association (AMA), American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). Over time, educational programs have advanced health informatics through biomedicine. Students, interns, and professionals alike have utilized biomedical computer centers to help further develop medical informatics as a specialty. The relationship of biomedical information, education, and data has been converted to knowledge that is used in various problem-solving decision-making situations (Dalrymple, 2011). It is clear that health informatics has evolved over time and helps ensure that patients receive high quality and safer patient-centered care within medical facilities. Both biomedical and health informatics have helped play a role in the advancement of “diagnostic processes, personalized treatment, and health management regimes to control chronic conditions” (Moen & Knudsen, 2013). Both have also contributed to efforts at prevention and early intervention to meet the requirements for independence and aging.
For these reasons, it is of utmost importance that all healthcare professionals stay up to date on the most current and updated training and information regarding healthcare informatics. Staying updated on the current information will only make them better healthcare professionals and raise the quality of patient care for their business or organization. Trusting in this new age world of technology advancement can be hard, but the quality of care and knowledge that patients received is far worth the trouble. Just like we must trust in technological advancements to help guide us to a better future and create better health care, we must trust in the lord to guide us into a better future as well.
Proverbs 3:5-6 states “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (James, 2012).
