History of Informatics

¶ … Health care has always been concerned about information management, especially as health care interventions and management have become increasingly complex. In spite of this, health care has weakly welcomed information technology into its midst, shunning computerized data management systems in favor of anachronistic and antiquated ones. When health care started using information technology, the role informatics played was largely ancillary. There were few specialists, and informatics were considered novel and strange. Yet since Virginia Saba introduced technology specifically designed for healthcare, the informatics field has become one of the most relevant to the gamut of healthcare management and operations. Currently, healthcare informatics stands alone as a unique area of specialization that fuses passion for health care management, concern for patient care, and computer technology.

There are five major milestones in the creation and evolution of health informatics. The first was the initial first wave of computing and information technology that took place in the 1950s. As Robson & Baek (2009) point out, early computing systems were immediately applied to their practical use in medicine throughout Western Europe and North America. The second major milestone in health informatics is the embrace of technology by major governmental and professional groups, for managing scientific research. The third major milestone in health informatics was the evolution of the American Association for Medical Systems and Informatics. The fourth major milestone in health informatics was the development of the Clinical Care Classification System by Virginia Saba. This milestone has yet to be surpassed in any significant way in terms of proprietary information systems breakthroughs. However, the fifth major milestone in health informatics is the evolution of revolutionary informatics systems in translational bioinformatics (AMIA, 2012).

After the initial integration of information technology with healthcare during the first two major milestones listed above, it was crucial to move forward to integrate informatics with health care education and practice. In response to the changing needs of health care, and the growing need for systematic integration of informatics in health care institutions, the American Medical Informatics Association was formed in 1989. At that time, the American Association for Medical Systems and Informatics (AAMSI), the American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI), and the Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care (SCAMC) all joined forces to create the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA, 2012). The fusion of these three main organizations under one umbrella helped to centralize funding and other resources for the promotion of medical informatics in health care education and institutions.

The history of informatics in the United States and in other countries is not to be confused with historical informatics, which is an entirely different subject. Informatics is a general term referring to information technology used to manage data in any given field. In health care, informatics encompasses everything from patient intake and assessment to test evaluation and treatment implementation. There are specific and targeted uses of healthcare informatics including the integration of medical technologies with centralized systems that are designed with graphical user interfaces. Generally, any integration of medical technology with information technology falls under the rubric of healthcare informatics. As Detmer, Munger & Lehman (2009) point out, medical informatics also includes several subsets of data management systems such as clinical, biomedical, and public health informatics. These are fast becoming areas of specialization that are improving individual and collective care. " Knowledge and skills in medical informatics are widely acknowledged as crucial to future success in patient care, research relating to biomedicine, clinical care, and public health, as well as health policy design," (Detmer, Munger & Lehman, 2009, p. 11).

A "nationally and internationally known pioneer of computer technology," Virginia Saba developed the Clinical Care Classification System. The Clinical Care Classification system is currently still in use, having evolved to address the complex needs of health care organizations. Virginia Saba's company, Sabacare, describes the Clinical Care Classification system as "a standardized, coded nursing terminology that identifies the discrete elements of nursing practice," (Saba, 2012). The proprietary informatics system provides a crucial "framework and coding structure for capturing the essence of patient care in all health care settings," (Saba, 2012).

Because of her evolving contributions to health care informatics, Saba became a leader in healthcare. In addition to software development, Saba promoted the effective use of technology to improve hospital administration and patient outcomes. Now, medical informatics systems are viewed as being crucial to the profession and for ensuring patient safety.