Health Informatics Overview

People who work in the area of informatics are generally referred to as

informaticians

Informaticians require training in what areas?

data acquisition, storage, retrieval, privacy/securing, and presentation

What are 'information systems'

tools organizations use to collect, manage and analyze data; comprised of computer hardware and software

Machine Learning

branch of computer science that essentially involves creating algorithms that can improve automatically

T/F: Machine Learning is new in data analysis

FALSE

been around since 1950s; but is being applied more regularly as data storage and computational power has improved.

Healthcare generates BLANK of all worlds data (ratio)

1/3

Informatics definition

the science of using technology to turn data into useful information

Healthcare informatics

use of informatics to turn data into insights that improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery

What does DIKW hierarchy stand for

Data

Information

Knowledge

Wisdom

core concept in informatics; representing the transitions from raw data to actions

BLANK is the collection of unorganized, RAW numbers, symbols, text.

data

BLANK data has been processed and organized, but LACKS context

information

BLANK reflects HOW information relates to other information and how it could be applied

knowledge

BLANK is thoughtful application of knowledge to guide action or inaction

wisdom

T/F: informatics is about replacing human judgment, training, and experience

FALSE

T/F: informatics is about using information resources to augment human decision making

TRUE

What the the theorem of informatics called

Fundamental Theorem

What is the Fundamental Theorem of Informatics

describes the importance of computer-human partnership

T/F: healthcare was slower to invest in information technology

TRUE

WHY did/does healthcare lag behind in the world of technology/informatics?

healthcare is COMPLEX

- VAST number of services offered, LOTS of types of patients

-3rd party payers involved

-concerns about privacy

-greater regulation

-persistence of paper based records

T/F: informatics allows for more value-based reimbursement

TRUE:

greater emphasis on quality of care vs quantity

organizations required to track/report certain quality measures (i.e., readmissions)

Recency Bias

when the newest, or most recent, information carries the most weight

ex of imaging referral in class: recently had a patient who you didn't send for imaging end of having a fractured foot so you are more likely to send next patient for imaging even if its not needed.

health informatics helps us see the bigger picture and avoid this phenomenon

Compliance Monitoring

Activities undertaken to establish whether a process or procedure is carried out in conformance with relevant external requirements

informatics helps flag issues with reporting/compliance before its a bigger problem

"if its not documented it didn't happen!"

data mining

the process of analyzing data to extract information not offered by the raw data alone