Health Care Informatics History

History of Informatics
Concepts of Health Care Informatics HCI/500

Abstract The history of health care informatics began with Gustav Wager, Germany (Westphal, 2012). Wager was the first professional organization that used informatics began in 1949. Those same beginnings are used today with of course with some upgrades. In this paper it will cover the definitions of various informatics, history, creation, evolution, and milestones and how they relate to the evolution throughout the course of informatics and how it relates to health care today.
Definition of Informatics According to Hebda and Czar there are several forms of informatics, and they may seem similar the definitions will have some differences. Informatics is defined as “the science and art of turning data into information.” Medical informatics is defined as “the application of informatics to all of healthcare disciplines as well as the practice of medicine (Hebda & Czar, 2009, p9.”) Nursing informatics “that integrates nursing science, computer science, and information science to manage and communicate data information, knowledge and wisdom into nursing practice medicine (Hebda & Czar, 2009, p10.”) Health informatics is “the
application of computer and information science in all basic and applied biomedical sciences to facilitate the acquisition, processing, interpretation, optimal use, and communication of health related data medicine (Hebda & Czar, 2009, p10.”)

History of Informatics
History began with Charles Babbage’s idea with the creator of the first analytical computer system in the nineteenth century (UIC, 2011).
Throughout the years there have been numerous improvements on the system. Starting in the 1960s training programs began to spread across Europe starting in France. In 1970 the training for this program had hit the United States (Chiedozine, 2012). Once the system was adopted in the United States the following hospitals began to implement the system beginning with generating bills and patients’ admissions and discharges. These hospitals were “Latter-Day Saints Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California (Chiedozine,
2012”).
Creation, Evolution, and Milestones In the 1950s the creator of the first full body CT scanner, Robert Ledley through his use of computers in the dental projects created an opening for advancements to apply new information technology to medicine. Also late in 1950s the LISP programming language was developed and used with other systems. This information was used for the advancement in computing and applying to data storage in the 1960s. This assisted “doctors, graduate students, and computer specialists to begin working at different locations to create the diagnostic system and other medical computer programs (UIC, 2011”). In 1966-67 there was a language created at “Massachusetts General Hospital by Pappalardo, Greened, and Marble (MUMPS”.) MUMPS “allowed for the creation and integration of medical databases (UIC, 2011”). Also in 1967 was the implement of the first electronic medical records used in Latter-Day Saints hospital in Utah (Chiedozine, 2012.) Through the decades the system has evolved and will be implementing stage two no later than 2015. In the 1970s the MYCIN was created to help physicians and other medical personal to identify bacteria that hide behind several infections. The name come from the suffix of “-mycin,” this system is also written in Lisp language. The key with this system is that the database recommends antibiotics and dosage amounts for each treatment (UIC, 2011.) This system was created at Stanford University by Edward Shorliffe. During the same era INERNIST-1 was developed, this system provided information to non-medical experts. This system was created at University of Pittsburgh. In 1980 the U.S. Veterans Administration began using the “MUMPS language. With the use of this “award-winning program called CPRS (Computerized Patient Record System.”) The CPRS is still currently used to create long-term views of patient’s health records (UIC, 2011) In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed to place the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA”.) This law was put into place to protect the patients for the medical providers to not share any information without the patients’ prior consent. This was a security measure, especially with the rapidly developing electronic medical records.
Conclusion
Through the history of the various Informatics, University of Illinois at Chicago lists the electronic medical records to be one of the most significant applications to the health informatics. The informatics system starts in the early nineteenth century with numerous hands in the development through the years and continues to grow. Technology grows, medical facilities grow, and the informatics used in various areas will continue to grow to work in the areas that are needed. From the creation of a computer, to a database, to a variety of different languages, to the policies that have been implemented over the years has come to the system current in use now. Can only imagine on what improvement can be made in the further.

References:
Chiedozine, Anjus (2012). The definition of Health Informatics. Retrieved on October 28, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/facts_5672206_definition-health-informatics.html
Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2009). Handbook of informatics for nurses & health care professionals (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) (2011). The History of Health Informatics. Retrieved on October 28, 2012 from http://healthinformatics.uic.edu/history-of-health-informatics/
Westphal, Brooke (2012). The History of Health Care Informatics. Retrieve on October 28, 2012 from http://www.ehow.com/about_5659295_history-health-care-informatics.html