Introduction
This is an era of informatics where the quantity and quality of information is increasing exponentially – a phenomenon commonly referred to as “information explosion ” or “information epidemic ”. As a consequence, users face the problem of managing the variety of information they are covered by, known as the “information barrier”, which in turn causes frustration named “informatics anxiety ” (Greenes 1990).
Health information needs are universal. Health care professionals, health managers, statisticians, decision‐makers within the health system, health insurance organizations, public health providers, and consumers – they all need health information. The ever‐increasing amount of available information makes it even more important to manage the flow of knowledge. The multidisciplinary nature of public health disciplines makes it especially hard to capture useful updates without becoming overwhelmed by the diversity of information.
From Information to Informatics
Information...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abdelhak M, Grostick S, Hankin MA, Jacobs E (1996) Health information: management of a strategic resource. WB Saunders, Philadelphia
AbouZahr C, Boerm T (2005) Health information systems: the foundations of public health. Bull World Health Organ 83:578–583
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2006) National Public Health Performance Standards Program. Orientation to the Essential Public Health Services. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/od/ocphp/nphpsp/EssentialPHServices.htm. Accessed 26 Apr 2006
Department of Health and Human Services (2000) Protecting the Privacy of Patients' Health information: Summary of the Final Regulation. Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr. Accessed 20 Mar 2006
Dinca-Panaitescu S (2003) Health Informatics. Lecture 4. Health Data acquisition, storage and processing. Available at: http://www.atkinson.yorku.ca/~sdinca/HLST2040/HLST2040.htm. Accessed 24 May 2006
Eng TR (2001) The eHealth Landscape: A Terrain Map of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies in Health and Health Care. The Informatics Review. Available at: http://www.informatics-review.com/thoughts/index.html. Accessed 20 Mar 2006
European Commission, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (2005) European Community Health Indicators, phase 2 ECHI-2. Final report by the ECHI project
Eysenbach G (2000) Recent advances: Consumer health informatics. BMJ 320:1713–1716
Frenk J, Sepúlveda J, Gómez-Dantés O, McGuinness MJ, Knaul F (1997) The future of world health: The new world order and international health. BMJ 314:1404–1407
Gardner M (1997) Information retrieval for patient care. BMJ 314:950–953
Greenes RA, Lorenzi NM (1998) Audacious goals for health and biomedical informatics in the new millennium. J Am Med Inf Assoc 5:395–400
Greenes RA, Shortliffe EH (1990) Medical informatics. An emerging academic discipline and institutional priority. JAMA 263:1114–1120
Hersh W (2002) Medical informatics – improving health care through information. JAMA 288:1955–1958
Mullner RM, Chung K (2006) Current issues in health care informatics. J Med Syst 30:1–2
O'Carroll PW, Yasnoff WA, Ward ME, Ripp LH, Martin EL (2003) Public health informatics and information systems. Springer, New York
Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization (2001) Health Indicators: Building Blocks for Health Situation Analysis. Epidemiological Bulletin / PAHO, vol 22, no 4
The Knowledge College (2001) Knowledge and Knowledge Management. Available at: http://theknowledgecollege.net. Accessed 18 Mar 2006
Van Bemmel JH, Musen MA (1997) Handbook of Medical Informatics. Springer, Heidelberg. Available at: http://www.mihandbook.stanfrod.edu/handbook/home.htm. Accessed 25 Apr 2006
Van der Lei J (1991) Use and abuse of computer‐stored medical records. Methods Inf Med 30:79–80
WHO Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (1998) The World Health Report 1998: Life in the 21st century, a vision for all. World Health Organization, Geneva
WHO Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (2003) Improving data quality: a guide for developing countries. World Health Organization, Geneva
WHO Library Cataloguing in Publication Data (2004) World report on knowledge for better health: strengthening health systems. World Health Organization, Geneva
WHO Regional Office for Europe (1998) HEALTH 21: an introduction to the health for all policy framework for the WHO European Region. World Health Organization, Copenhagen
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Telehealth. Accessed 2 Apr 2006
Wootton R (1996) Telemedicine: a cautious welcome. BMJ 313:1375–1377
Wyatt JC, Sullivan F (2005) eHealth and the future: promise or peril? BMJ 331:1391–1393
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag
About this entry
Cite this entry
Paunović, K. (2008). Health Information . In: Kirch, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Public Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_1422
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_1422
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5613-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5614-7
eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine