What is Clinical Informatics?
• As defined by the American Medical Informatics Association, Medical Informatics focuses on understanding and promoting the effective organization, analysis, management and use of information in health care. • Clinical Informatics is a sub-field of Medical Informatics that deals with the storage retrieval and optimal use of medical information, data and knowledge for problem solving and decision-making to support the practice and delivery of clinical care. • Clinical Informatics has numerous purposes including streamlining the processes of patient care, providing clinicians with accurate data in a timely manner, improving the quality of care, and reducing costs. • Technology supports and improves clinical informatics but does not define or limit it. • Clinical Informatics improvement efforts focus on how technology and business processes fulfill information needs.
