CHAPTER THREE
Health Informatics Terminologies:
An Introduction
3/9/2025 1
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson the student will able to:
üDefine what health informatics is and discuss its
application
üDefine common health informatics
terminologies
üExplain the concept of data, information,
knowledge and wisdom
3/9/2025 2
Origins of Informatics
ü In 1957, the German computer scientist Karl
Steinbuch coined the word Informatik by publishing
a paper called Informatik:
("Informatics: Automatic Information Processing")
ü 1962 France, Phillipe Dreyfus, a French information
system/software pioneer —
combination of “information” and “automatic”
3/9/2025 3
What is Informatics?
ü Informatics is the application of information
technologies to optimize the information
management function within an organization.
ü Informatics - the science of information concerned
with gathering, manipulating, storing, retrieving, and
classifying recorded information.
3/9/2025 4
What is Informatics?
üHow does it differ from
üInformation Technology?
üInformation Science?
üComputer Science?
3/9/2025 5
Information Technology
ü“ i s t h e s t u d y, d e s i g n , d e v e l o p m e n t ,
implementation, support or management of
computer-based information systems,
particularly software applications and computer
hardware.’’
3/9/2025 6
Information Science
ü“is an interdisciplinary science primarily
concerned with the analysis, collection,
classification, manipulation, storage,
retrieval and dissemination of information.”
3/9/2025 7
Computer Science
ü“is the study of the theoretical foundations of
information and computation and of practical
techniques for their implementation and
application in computer systems.”
(Denning et al., 1989)
3/9/2025 8
What is Health Informatics?
ü“The intersection of information
science, computer science, and health care”
üThe tools include computers, clinical guidelines,
formal medical terminologies, and information
and communication systems.
3/9/2025 9
Definitions of health informatics
10
Sub-domains of Health Informatics
• Clinical informatics Imaging informatics
• Medical informatics Pharmacy informatics
• Surgical nursing Dental informatics
informatics
Veterinary informatics
• Pediatric health
eHealth
informatics
Clinical research
• Nursing informatics
informatics
• Public health
informatics etc.
• Bioinformatics
3/9/2025 11
Clinical Informatics
ü Use of information in health care by clinicians.
ü Clinical informaticians use their knowledge of patient
care combined with their understanding of informatics
concepts, methods, and health informatics tools to:
üAssess information and knowledge needs of health
care professionals and patients.
üDevelop, implement, and refine clinical decision
support systems and
üDevelop health informatics tools which promote
patient care that is safe, efficient, effective, timely,
patient-centered, and equitable
(Gardner RM, Overhage JM, Steen EB, et al., 2009)
3/9/2025 12
Surgical nursing Informatics
ü Surgical nursing health informatics is a specialized
area that integrates information technology and
data management into the surgical nursing
practice.
ü This field focuses on enhancing patient care,
improving surgical outcomes, and streamlining
processes in the surgical environment.
3/9/2025 13
Pediatric Informatics
ü Pediatric health informatics is a specialized field
that focuses on the use of information technology
and data management to improve healthcare
delivery for children.
3/9/2025 14
Medical Informatics
• “Medical Informatics is the branch of science
concerned with the use of computers and
communication technology to acquire, store,
analyze, communicate, and display medical
information and knowledge to facilitate
understanding and improve the accuracy,
timeliness, and reliability of decision making”
(Warner, Sorenson and Bouhaddou, 1997)
3/9/2025 15
Nursing Informatics
ü“ a c o m b i n a t i o n o f c o m p u t e r s c i e n c e ,
information science, and nursing science
designed to assist in the management and
processing of nursing data, information, and
k n ow l e d ge to s u p p o r t n u rs i n g p ra c t i c e ,
education, research, and administration“
(Graves & Corcoran, 1989)
3/9/2025 16
Public Health Informatics
ü “the systematic application of information and computer
science and technology to public health practice, research
and learning”
ü Activities may include:
üCollection and storage of vital statistics
üCollection and reporting of communicable diseases
üDisease surveillance
üDisplay disease statistics and trends
üImmunization
üHospital statistics (O’Carroll et al., 2002)
3/9/2025 17
Bioinformatics
• Bioinformatics, is the application of statics and
computer science to the field of molecular biology.
• It is also defined as the sum of the computational
approaches to analyze, manage, and store
biological data.
• Common activities in bioinformatics include:
– Mapping and analyzing DNA and protein
sequences.
– Aligning different DNA and protein sequences to
compare them and
– Creating and viewing 3-D models of protein
structures.
3/9/2025 18
Imaging Informatics
• Also called Radiology Informatics or Medical
Imaging Informatics.
• It is devoted to the study of how information
about and contained within medical images is
retrieved, analyzed, enhanced, and exchanged
throughout the medical enterprise.
(Branstetter, 2007)
3/9/2025 19
Pharmacy Informatics
üIs a sub-discipline of Health Informatics that
deals with the integration of information
technology and its applications into the
pharmaceutical practice.
(University of Illinois at Chicago, 2009)
üFocuses on leveraging technology systems to
ensure optimal patient safety, compliance, and
health outcomes
üMedication selection
üUse and
üAdministration
3/9/2025 20
Dental Informatics
üIs the application of computer and information
science to improve dental practice, research, and
program administration.
(Eisner 1992)
3/9/2025 21
Veterinary Informatics
ü“Is the discipline concerned with the
applications of information science, engineering,
and computer technology to support veterinary
teaching, research, and practice”
(Association for Veterinary Informatics)
3/9/2025 22
What is Information?
ü“Information is data that has been processed
into a form that is meaningful to the recipient”
(Davis & Olson, 1985)
üWhat is the DIKW hierarchy?
3/9/2025 23
The Knowledge Hierarchy: the conventional
view
The Knowledge Hierarchy . Reproduced from Tom Knight and Trevor Howes, Knowledge Management: a blueprint for
3/9/2025 24
delivery. Butterworth - Heinemann , 2002
Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom
Wisdom
Understanding
Increasing Context
Principles
Knowledge
Understanding
Information Patterns
Understanding
Relationships
Data
Increasing Complexity
3/9/2025 25
Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW)
• Data: unorganized and unprocessed facts; static; a set of
discrete facts about events.
–No meaning attached to it as a result of which it may
have multiple meanings
–Example: what does “Alex” mean?
• Information: aggregation of data that makes decision
making easier
–Meaning is attached and contextualized.
–Answers questions: what, who, when, where)
3/9/2025 26
DIKW (continued)
• Knowledge: includes facts about real world
entities and the relationship between them.
• It is an understanding gained through experience
– Answers the ‘how’ question
(Zins, 2007)
• Wisdom: are embodies principles, insight and moral by
integrating knowledge.
Ø Answers ‘why’ questions.
3/9/2025 27
Class work
1. Patient B is allergic to penicillin.He was
recently Prescribed amoxicillin for his sore
throat.
vIdentify data, information , knowledge and
wisdom from the above case
28
Case Scenario:
ü A large hospital system is looking to improve its
patient discharge process. The hospital's quality
improvement team gathers the following
information:
ü Patient discharge data, including length of stay,
readmission rates, and patient satisfaction scores.
Results from focus groups with recently
discharged patients to understand their
experiences and pain points. Benchmarking data
from other hospitals with lower readmission rates
and higher patient satisfaction. Input from frontline
nurses and discharge coordinators on the current
discharge workflow and challenges
ü Based on this information, Identify data, information ,
knowledge and wisdom from the above case
Exercises
• Give at least two examples for :
üData ,
üInformation ,
üknowledge
üWisdom
30
The Information Pyramid
• The information pyramid (from Smith 1995 after Head 1967)
Type3
Strategic Information
Type 2
Tactical Information
Type1
Operational Information
3/9/2025 31
Operational information
üThis is information needed by those at the
bottom of the corporate hierarchy.
üIt is detailed information relating to the day-to-
day running of the divisions of the corporation.
üWithin the health care area this can be
considered to be the few clinical, and many
administrative, systems that exist in health
facilities.
3/9/2025 32
Tactical Information
üThis is the information needed by those part-way
up the corporate hierarchy (who will usually be
the managers of the ones at the bottom)
üIt is not as detailed as type '1' information.
üSupport for day to day management.
üIn fact, it frequently summarizes it (by group,
perhaps, or over time period).
ü For this reason, it is often termed derived data,
and the systems which provide it are termed
feeder systems.
3/9/2025 33
Strategic Information
üThis is information needed by those at the
top of the corporate hierarchy.
üSupport for strategic decisions
ü It is highly abstracted and summarized, and
typically relates to the organization as a
whole rather than to its individual divisions.
3/9/2025 34
