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Improving Health Care Through Information

William R. Hersh, MD

JAMA. 2002;288:1955-1958.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

INTRODUCTION

Health care is an information-based science. Much of clinical practice involves gathering, synthesizing, and acting on information. Medical informatics is the field concerned with the management and use of information in health and biomedicine. This article focuses on the problems that motivate work in this field, the emerging solutions, and the barriers that remain. It also addresses the core themes that underlie all applications of medical informatics and unify the scientific approaches across the field.

There is a growing concern that information is not being used as effectively as possible in health care. Recent reports from the Institute of Medicine have reviewed research findings related to information use and expressed concerns about medical errors and patient safety,¹ the quality of medical records,² and the protection of patient privacy and confidentiality.³ The latest Institute of Medicine report on this topic ties all these problems and potential solutions . . . [Full Text of this Article]

The Field of Medical Informatics

Applications of Clinical Informatics

Electronic Medical Records

Information Retrieval

Decision Support Systems

Core Themes

Future Directions

Author Affiliation: Division of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research, School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland.

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