What Medical Informatics Provides

The practice of modern medicine requires sophisticated information technologies with which to manage patient information, plan diagnostic procedures, interpret laboratory results, and conduct research. This book, inspired by a Stanford University training program developed to introduce health professionals to computer applications in modern medical care, fills the need for a high quality text in computers and medicine, and meets the growing demand by practitioners, researchers, and students for a comprehensive introduction to key topics in the field. The work is designed for a broad audience interested in the intersection of computer science and medicine.

Medical Informatics provides both a conceptual framework and a practical inspiration for this swiftly emerging scientific discipline. As a textbook for students of medical computer science, and a reference work for individual readers needing to understand the role computers can play in the provision of medical services, the book first explains basic concepts, then illustrates them with specific systems and technologies. For example, it describes computing systems for medical records, nursing, hospital information, pharmacy, radiology, patient monitoring, decision support, medical education, and office practice. The ultimate aim of the editors has been to focus on recurrent themes in medical informatics, medical computing applications, and future direction for research, as well as to clarify the definition, and to nurture the effectiveness, of healthcare computing.

Highlights: -Provides the conceptual base needed for understanding and implementing application in medical informatics -Presents sample of how computers assist in the delivery of health care -Includes pointers to additional literature, chapter summaries, and concise definition of recurring terms for self-study or classroom use.

New for the 2/e: -System Design and Engineering -Ethics of Health Informatics: Privacy, Confidentiality, Security and Legal Issues -System Evaluation and Technology Assessment -Public Health and Consumer Use of Health Information: Education, Research, Policy, Prevention and Quality Assurance -Healthcare Financing: Impact on Health Information Systems