esha2015

No one can argue the fact that computers, even with all the glitches associated with their use, have made life convenient and practical. Tasks that originally took ages to achieve are sorted out and analyzed in a manner and within a time frame that enables the use of processed data (information) so that results are quickly obtained and progress can be made in leaps and bounds. Yet computers are not the focus but rather the tools used for the effective use of communication. But can we do without computers? Not necessarily so because even though there are other informatics tools like information architecture, ontologies, and book indices that do not depend on computers, the amount of data and available information is increasing exponentially. This makes computation increasingly important. However computerizing health care requires understanding culture, processes and workflow. Bernstam, E. V., Smith, J. W., & Johnson, T. R. (2010).What is biomedical informatics. J Biomed Inform. 43(1), 104. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2009.08.006

Lindsey I have seen that literature supports the quote you used, “ Informatics, simply stated, is the use of information technology in healthcare (Sewell & Thede, 2013)”. This statement corroborates that information, not computation, is the primary object of study of informatics. A central idea bhind informatics is to process the data to yield the information that is needed to support a specific set of human activities. For example, in the health care systems, time-based, source-based, and problem-oriented medical records predate computers.these are are all important informatics products had nothing to do with computation (i.e., computers) even though now they are integrayted together with the intent to achieve the end result, i.e. optimal patient care. Bernstam, E. V., Smith, J. W., & Johnson, T. R. (2010).What is biomedical informatics. J Biomed Inform. 43(1), 104. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2009.08.006

Informatics is the science of information, where information is data plus meaning rather than just computer applications. The focus of informatics is not on “how do we computerize health care” but rather now how we can process data to gather information and knowledge that improves healthcare by utilizing tools such as computers (Bernstam, Smith, & Johnson, 2010). The domain of nursing informatics is grounded in nursing science that incorporates computer science and information science in identifying, collecting and processing, and managing information to support nursing practice, administration, education, and research and to expand nursing knowledge. Nursing informatics requires the use of technology be it computers, handheld devices, voice recognition and other tools, that can effectively store, process, retrieve, and communicate data and information in and across healthcare disciplines to aid in the delivery of patient and nursing care, link research resources and findings to nursing practice, and apply educational resources to nursing education (Staggers &Thompson, 2002) Yet there are major roles of Informatics like the study of information flow in clinical environments does not necessarily involve computers. Rather, it can focus on interruptions, errors or how information is presented to the user (Bernstam et al., 2010). Staggers and Thompson(2002), argue that congnitive interactions and work flow between the nurse, the nursing process, nursing data, patients and the technology are aspects of informatics that are not solely dependent on computers. Stager, N., & Thompson, C.B. (2002). The evolution of definition for nursing informatics. J Am Med Inform Assoc, 9(3), 255–261. doi: 10.1197/jamia.M0946 Bernstam, E. V., Smith, J. W., & Johnson, T. R. (2010).What is biomedical informatics. J Biomed Inform. 43(1), 104. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2009.08.006