Discuss how the United States Healthcare System has Advanced in Technology and how Health
Informatics Evolved from Being a Concept to Becoming a Discipline or Specialty. Emphasize the
Importance of the Formation of Professional Organizations and Educational Programs in Advancing
Health Informatics as a Field
Advancement in Healthcare system Technology
Healthcare system in the United States has gone through a tremendous change by
incorporating technology which continuously advances. This is especially true in terms of record
keeping and providing care to patients. For years, care providers have been documenting the health
records of patients by writing orders, progress notes, and chart notes or by dictating history and
physicals (H&P's), discharge summaries, operative reports, consultation reports and correspondence.
From the paper system which entails documenting the health records of patients by writing orders,
progress notes, chart notes, dictating it originally began with which took time for care providers to
make the swap since that was what they were used to (Shanholtzer & Ensign 2021, p. 241). With the
introduction of technology into the healthcare system, a lot of acceleration has been achieved. Though
the paper system has mostly been replaced by newer technology, there is still more to be achieved.
The following are the technologies which has been introduced into the healthcare system. Tthe
Patient Portal which is a method of accessing portions of one’s own office health record. These are
secure and can only be accessed with a user ID and a Password only (Shanholtzer & Ensign 2021, p.
242)
Though this is not a legal record, Personal Health Records (PHR) is a valuable when patients
seek emergency medical care from a different care provider. This is a record of one’s past and current
health information including drug allergies or reactions, immunization dates, past and present medical
conditions, surgical procedures, family history, list of current medications and insurance information.
(Shanholtzer & Ensign 2021, p. 243)
Telehealth and telemedicine are other advancements in healthcare system technology. Also referred to
as e-health, it bridges the divide between providers and their patients.
Another way technology is driving healthcare is Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This
encourages and facilitates the patients and family’s involvement in a patient's own care. (Shanholtzer &
Ensign 2021, p.243)
Evidence based medicine allows physicians to have the ability to quickly access medical
journals and Academy sites that provide them with the most current diagnostic and treatment
protocols that are relevant to the patient’s condition. (Shanholtzer & Ensign 2021, p.243)
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached
perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear
brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and
looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly
prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (New Living Translation, Philippians 3:12-14).
From the book, I realized, there is the need to let go off certain things and embrace the news to
achieve the goal in store for us.
A Concept to a Discipline /Specialty
Health informatics as a concept developed in the 1950s, when the use of computers in
healthcare began to be used. This early period in the history of informatics extended into the 1960s
and was characterized by experimenting with the use of this new technology in medicine and in
nursing education (Nelson & Staggers, 2018). As healthcare innovation grows and the workings of the
internet becomes increasingly more advanced, so does the development of health informatics. Today
health informatics is an exciting and well-established field (Nelson & Staggers, 2018).
Health Care Informatics is a relatively new specialty in the Health Care realm. As proof of this
discipline constantly evolving and growing, there are new subspecialties inside health informatics such
as Cheminformatics and Dental Informatics (Kampov-Polevoi J, & Hemminger BM, 2010).
In switching from the paper system to an electronic health record (EHR) or Electronic medical
record (EMR), there was the need to have people who are knowledgeable in these fields to safeguard
the health records of patients as well as maintaining a proper record in the system and its meaningful
usage.
Professional organizations
With this increasing knowledge in Health informatics, there is the need for professional
organizations and educational programs to make huge advances in this field. With healthcare
professionals and specialist patronize electronic health or medical record created a need for health
informatics and helped it to develop into a discipline and/or specialty.
The practice of health informatics is now so widely used in the medical field, it is no longer
stationary to one area. Health informatics is used in many areas of healthcare: nursing, dental, medical,
clinical, financial areas, etc. Information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming the
health care systems in both its practice and in the roles and knowledge required by health
professionals (Gibson, Dixon, & Abrams, 2015). It is therefore appropriate to have professional
organizations to oversee the job of these health professional by accrediting them and make them
comply with the standards of the job.
The website of Best College reviews identifies five organizations and their importance.
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), American Health Information Management
Association (AHIMA), Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), National
Institutes of Health Informatics (NIHI) and American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA). These are
resolute professionals who bring their training, education, experience, and insight to every event.
These professional associations or organizations in healthcare offer opportunities for
professional enrichment of persons in the field, provide continuing education to learn emerging
technologies about the field, networking, job opportunities etc.
Educational Programs
Clinicians must deal with information from an array of disparate sources, which they must
process into decisions and prioritized tasks for the clinical team and patients. The disciplines of HIM
and HI increasingly support clinicians’ as well as patients’ health information needs. Furthermore,
health information professionals are crucial members of the interdisciplinary and inter-professional
teams that coordinate care of individuals across facilities and providers. They have the expertise in
privacy and security of data; information sharing agreements, policies, and procedures; data quality
and integrity; data standards and definitions; records and content management through its lifecycle,
clinical documentation and health information analysis that will allow the optimum utilization of data
for health system use. (Gibson et al 2015)
Health care professionals have been a key factor in advancing health informatics. They play a
key role in implementing, managing, and leading healthcare organization as they move forward with
automation (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 33). As health professionals are on the increase, it is in the
right direction to have educational programs that impacts the needed knowledge for them to conduct
their job well and enable them to excel. There are several new specialties emerging which must also
have guidelines and therefore educational programs becomes a necessity in the field.
The scripture, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and
understanding” (Proverbs 2:6, English Standard Version). My understanding of this scripture as it
relates to this study is that, as we continue to pursue knowledge in health informatics, God is always
there to grant us understanding of the materials so one can excel in this field.
Without health care professionals leading health care organizations, health informatics would
not be as successful, and many organizations would certainly fail. For health professionals and health
informatics specialists to provide effective leadership, they must understand the institution’s vision and
values and the people and processes within the organizations (Nelson & Staggers, 2018, p. 33)
References
English Standard Version Bible. Bible Gateway Online. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Proverbs+2%3A6&version=ESV
Gibson, C.J., Dixson, B.E., & Abrams, K. (2015). Convergent evolution of health information
management and health informatics: A perspective on the future of information professionals
in health care, Appl Clin Inform 2015; 06(01): 163-184, DOI: 10.4338/ACI-2014-09-RA-0077
Kampov-Polevoi, J., & Hemminger, BM., (2010). Survey of biomedical and health care informatics
programs in the United States. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 98(2), 178–181.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.3163/1536-5050.98.2.014
Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2018). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach (2nd ed.). St. Louis,
MO: Elsevier. ISBN: 9780323402316.
New Living Translation. (1993). Bible Gateway Online. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Philippians%203%3A12-14&version=NLT
Shanholtzer, B., & Ensign, A, (2021). Healthcare informatics. McGraw-Hill Education. https://prod.reader
ui.prod.mheducation.com/epub/1e640c1728d6645238ec8871b254eebc/data-uuid-
037fff67a656436e8e05c473c6035182
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