Discussion: Informatics in Public Health.
Discussion: Informatics in Public Health.
Week 5 discussion DQ 1 Describe how you would utilize health informatics to enhance a specific area of public health. How would you assess outcomes related to the utilization of health informatics in public health. DQ 2 Describe an innovative technology in the healthcare setting in which you are currently practicing. Name two benefits and two limitations of this technology.
Informatics is an applied information science that designs the blueprints for the complex data systems that keep information secure, usable and responsive to the user’s needs. Informaticians often act as knowledge architects—the information systems they build account for function, user needs and even local context.
Informatics synthesizes the theory and practices of computer science, information sciences, and behavioral and management sciences into methods, tools and concepts that lead to information systems that impact health. When employed effectively, informatics transforms raw data into usable information.
Information is a needed resource in public health work, serving as the first step in large-scale analyses of diseases, whether chronic or infectious. Practitioners require information as a resource, but obtaining or interpreting data can be difficult. Informatics can often function essentially as a translation service for these practitioners by interpreting data, turning them into information, and presenting that information to the practitioners who need it in a language they can understand.
