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Methods Inf Med 2011; 50(06): 545-555
DOI: 10.3414/ME11-06-0005
Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

Confluence of Disciplines in Health Informatics: an International Perspective

A. Geissbuhler
1   Geneva University, Geneva, Switzerland
,
M. Kimura
2   Hamamatsu University, School of Medicine, Department of Medical Informatics, Hamamatsu, Japan
,
C. A. Kulikowski
3   Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
,
P. J. Murray
4   International Medical Informatics Association
,
L. Ohno-Machado
5   University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
,
H.-A. Park
6   Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
,
R. Haux
7   University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
22 January 2018 (online)

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Summary

Objective: To discuss international aspects as they relate to the convergence of disciplines in health informatics.

Method: A group of international experts was invited at a symposium to present and discuss their perspectives on this topic. These have been collated in a single manuscript.

Results and Conclusions: Significant challenges, as well as opportunities, appear when cumulating the intrinsic multidisciplinary nature of health informatics interventions with the diversity of contexts at the global level, in particular when considered in the perspective of a confluence, i.e., the mixing of different waters and their merging into a new, stronger entity. Health informatics experts reflect on key issues such as collaborative software development and distributed knowledge sourcing, social media and mobile technologies, the evolutions of the discipline from an historical perspective, as well as examples of challenges for implementing ubiquitous healthcare or for supporting disaster situations when infrastructures get disrupted.

Keywords

Biomedical informatics - health informatics - medical informatics - international perspectives - global health informatics
 

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