I recently began a doctorate program at the University of Utah in Biomedical Informatics. When I tell family and friends I often get “What is biomedical informatics?” For most I say something akin to “informatics is like mathematics, but with information instead of numbers.” Which is marginally true at best. Biomedical informatics is much, much more. The word informatics is considered to have come from Europe in the 1960’s. For instance, the French word informatique loosely translates to data processing or the handling of information [1]. Informatics is the art and science of taking data and information and processing it to where astute knowledge exists and clear sighted decisions may be made. Informatics should not be confused with information technology (IT), which comprises only the tools and technology facilitating informatics. The term informatics is now used everywhere, ranging from legal informatics, and business informatics to dental informatics, just to name a few. Biomedical informatics takes biological and medical data, across the gamut, and processes it into information and actionable knowledge, with the aim to improve the efficiency and quality of decision making and outcomes in healthcare. It consists of data spanning from cells, DNA and genes in the human body, to medical records, laboratory data and provider order entry systems in the clinical setting, all the way to health data of entire populations. As one can imagine, the field of biomedical informatics is interdisciplinary, composed of people with a variety of backgrounds from computer scientists, statisticians, cognitive and social scientists, all the way to M.D.s; all with a mission to improve the overall execution and outcomes of healthcare.
Since biomedical informatics is a broad term, it is not surprisingly an umbrella term covering many more specific, ever evolving, “informatics” disciplines. The main ones being Bioinformatics, Translational Informatics, Clinical Informatics, Consumer Health Informatics, and Public and Population Health Informatics. Although there may be disagreement, the term healthcare informatics is usually considered synonymous with biomedical informatics.
Bioinformatics concerns itself at the cellular level with DNA, genes and most all the “omics” fields spawned after the Human Genome Project: genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, biomics, etc. Translational informatics takes the research efforts of other biomedical informatics efforts and “translates” them back into the clinic in the form of new products or procedures like medications or diagnostics. Recently a company named Assurex Health, now Myriad Neuroscience, researched the individual genetic makeup, or genotype, needed for the efficacy of each medication commonly used in treating clinical depression [2]. The research was translated back into the clinic in the form of a commercial diagnostic test called GeneSight [3]. Today a Psychiatrist ordering GeneSight can understand the exact medications which will and will not work on a patient experiencing depression based upon their individual genetic makeup; truly precision medicine at work.
Clinical informatics applies informatics and technology to the delivery of healthcare in the clinic. It is commonly referred to as applied or operational clinical informatics. Think of nurses, laboratory staff and pharmacists interacting with a medical record system in a hospital setting. Now imagine the system alerting the nurse to a possible negative drug interaction. Clinical informatics is the art and science behind creating such decision support systems, with the end to improve the efficiency and outcomes in healthcare. Clinical research informatics, on the other hand, deals primarily with information processing during clinical trials, like the management and analyses of data from human drug studies.
Consumer health informatics is from the patient perspective, designed to empower them with information and knowledge so they can participate, at a meaningful level, in their own healthcare. Consumer health informatics has provided tools such as the patient portal, where instant access to physician notes and laboratory results, ultimately empowers the patient.
Population and Public Health Informatics is involved at the macro, population level. For example, a public health department researching the implications of tobacco use among its population, then creating cessation and support programs to address it; and finally, analyzing the results as they pertain to the overall health of the population or public, not the individual patient.
Biomedical informatics is an interdisciplinary field, with the end goal of improving healthcare. It is the working with, processing and analysis of healthcare data in order to turn it into information and actionable knowledge. Yet I still like to tell friends and family, as a biomedical informaticist, I am a math-e-magician for biomedical information. It usually gets a laugh.
References
Nelson, R., & Staggers, N. (2018). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Hall-Flavin DK, Winner JG, Allen JD, Carhart JM, Proctor B, Snyder KA, et al. Utility of integrated pharmacogenomic testing to support the treatment of major depressive disorder in a psychiatric outpatient setting. Pharmacogenetics and Genomics. 2013;23(10):535–48.
GeneSight - Genetic Testing for Personalized Medicine Treatment [Internet]. [cited 2020Aug28]. Available from: https://genesight.com/
Robert Fawcett August 30, 2020