Individualization, globalization and health – about sustainable information technologies and the aim of medical informatics

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Abstract

This paper discusses aspects of information technologies for health care, in particular on transinstitutional health information systems (HIS) and on health-enabling technologies, with some consequences for the aim of medical informatics. It is argued that with the extended range of health information systems and the perspective of having adequate transinstitutional HIS architectures, a substantial contribution can be made to better patient-centered care, with possibilities ranging from regional, national to even global care. It is also argued that in applying health-enabling technologies, using ubiquitous, pervasive computing environments and ambient intelligence approaches, we can expect that in addition care will become more specific and tailored for the individual, and that we can achieve better personalized care. In developing health care systems towards transinstitutional HIS and health-enabling technologies, the aim of medical informatics, to contribute to the progress of the sciences and to high-quality, efficient, and affordable health care that does justice to the individual and to society, may be extended to also contributing to self-determined and self-sufficient (autonomous) life. Reference is made and examples are given from the Yearbook of Medical Informatics of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and from the work of Professor Jochen Moehr.

Section snippets

Introductory remarks

Conferences like this one on ‘Reflections and realities: how much impact has our health/medical informatics research had on our health care systems?’ held in honor of Professor Jochen Moehr give opportunities to reflect on the achievements in the past and on the future of our field of medical informatics or health informatics, as it is called at the University of Victoria.1

A new world through progress in medicine and informatics

In the late 1960s Jochen Moehr began his scientific career [5], soon dedicated to the then new field of medical informatics, at the Medical School Hanover (e.g. [6], [7], [8]) and afterwards at the University of Heidelberg and University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn (e.g. [9], [10]). At this time, the world looked rather different from the one, we are living in today.

Until today there was a tremendous progress in informatics and information technology (we may here think of the Internet and on

On transinstitutional health information systems and globalization

First I will concentrate on health information systems (HIS [21], [22], [23]), a field of medical informatics with significant achievements in the past and many future challenges for research and practice. Also to this field Jochen Moehr has contributed substantially (e.g. [16], [24], [25]). Here I want to concentrate on so-called transinstitutional health information systems (tHIS), now, in my point of view, being one of the major fields of research for and practice of medical informatics, as

On health-enabling technologies and individualization

Let me now concentrate on so-called health-enabling technologies, a new field of research and practice of medical informatics, providing us new opportunities, but also new challenges. Health-enabling technologies are strongly related to ubiquitous health care systems. Again I want to start with a quote from an IMIA Yearbook, here the recent IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2005, focusing on ubiquitous health care systems: “Information technology helps to improve the quality of health care

The aims of medical informatics

According to Hasman et al. the aim of medical informatics is “to contribute to a high-level of health care, and of research and education in medicine and the health sciences by systematically processing data, information and knowledge” [67]. In other words the aim of medical informatics is to contribute to the progress of the sciences and to high-quality, efficient, and affordable health care that does justice to the individual and to society.

In applying health-enabling technologies for senior

Discussion and final remarks

The aim of my paper was to discuss aspects of information technologies for health care, in particular on transinstitutional health information systems and on health-enabling technologies, with some consequences for the aim of medical informatics. Many of the statements are subjective, and may even have to be so. However, according to the high relevance of the discussed topics, seen at least in Europe, considerable funding initiatives have been set up here on ambient assisted living and

Acknowledgements

I want to thank many of my colleagues for their contributions to this paper through an uncountable number of discussions. Only some of them can be mentioned. I want to acknowledge Elske Ammenwerth, Birgit Brigl, Oliver Bott, Joachim Bergmann, Nils Hellrung, Gudrun Hübner-Bloder, Thomas Schabetsberger, Christoph Seidel and Alfred Winter for their contributions to health information systems, and Casimir Kulikowski, Michael Marschollek, Maik Plischke, Hans-Jörg Schek, Friedrich Wahl, Klaus-Hendrik

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    Written, extended version of a keynote presentation, given at the Colloquium ‘Reflections and Realities: How Much Impact Has Our Health/Medical Informatics Research Had On Our Health Care Systems?’ held in honor of Professor Jochen Moehr on 4 June 2005, at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In addition, parts of two other invited lectures, the author gave on 17 February 2005, in Bialystok, Poland [1] and on 13 November 2005, in Kwei-Shan, Tai-Yuan, Taiwan [2] have been included.

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