Health Care and Informatics: On IMIA’s Opportunities and Responsibilities in its 5th Decade

Summary

ObjectiveTo report about major past and future activities of IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association.

Method Summarizing discussions and planning activities within IMIA, in particular with respect to its Board and General Assembly meetings in 2007; looking at recent informatics evolution by commenting on IMIA Yearbook surveys and best paper selections.

Results Major recent IMIA activities include Medinfo 2007, finalizing its long-term strategic plan ‘Towards IMIA 2015’, and the reinforcement of IMIA’s collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). The IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics, published annually since 1992, can be regarded as an important observatory for progress in health and biomedical informatics. Future activities comprise implementing IMIA’s strategic plan, reshaping its portfolio of conferences, preparing Medinfo 2010, in addition to continuing to support and enable collaborative international exchange of research and education and bridging to the practice of health and biomedical informatics.

Conclusions Informatics has emerged as an increasingly important field for health care and for the health and biomedical sciences. Within the last 40 years IMIA has evolved to a truly global organization, in a world, where medical informatics has gained significant importance for high-quality, efficient health care and for research in biomedicine and in the health sciences. Now in its 5^th decade, IMIA’s responsibilities as well as opportunities as a global, independent organization have both increased.

Geissbuhler A, Kulikowski C, editors. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2008.

Keywords

Medical informatics - health informatics - biomedical informatics - IMIA

 

• References

• 1 Haux R. Preparing for change: Medical informatics international initiatives for health care and biomedical research. Comput Methods Programs Biomed 2007; 88: 191-6.
• 2 http://www.IMIA.org Last access January 5, 2008.
• 3 Lorenzi NM. 40 Years of IMIA: Shaping medical informatics worldwide. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 163-4.
• 4 Peterson HE. From punched cards to computerized patient records: a personal journey. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2006. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45 (01) 180-6.
• 5 Ball MJ. (1995). Bridging to New Worlds. Reflections on the IMIA Precidency 1992-1995. Manuscript, distributed at Medinfo 95. Available upon request from the author..
• 6 Huesing SA. IMIA – A 40 Year organizational overview. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 186-91.
• 7 http://www.WHO.int Last access January 5, 2008.
• 8 http://www.who.int/about/regions/en/index.html Last access January 5, 2008.
• 9 http://www.APAMI.org Last access January 5, 2008.
• 10 http://www.EFMI.org Last access January 5, 2008.
• 11 http://www.uku.fi/english/organizations/helina-l (temporal address) Last access January 5, 2008.
• 12 http://www.IMIA-LAC.net Last access January 5, 2008.
• 13 Kuhn KA, Warren JR, Leong YT. editors, MEDINFO 2007. Amsterdam: IOS Press; 2007
• 14 Lorenzi NM. Towards IMIA 2015 – the IMIA Strategic Plan. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 1-5.
• 15 The IMIA Strategic Plan: Towards IMIA2015. http://www.imia.org/images/IMIA_Strategic_Plan.pdf Last access January 5, 2008.
• 16 Geissbuhler A. et al. Towards health for all: WHO and IMIA intensify collaboration. Joint Communique during Medinfo 2007 in Brisbane. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 503-5.
• 17 World Health Organization. eHealth Resolution. 58th World Health Assembly, Resolution 28. May 25 2005. Geneva: WHO; 58th World Health Assembly’s home page http://www.who.int/gb/e/ e_wha58.html English version: http://www.who. int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58/WHA58_28-en.pdf Last access January 5, 2008.
• 18 Healy JC. The WHO eHealth Resolution. eHealth for all by 2015?. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 2-3.
• 19 http://www.ifip.or.at Last access January 5, 2008.
• 20 Ball MJ, van Bemmel JH, Kaihara S. IMIA Presidential retrospectives on medical informatics. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 165-75.
• 21 Kulikowski CA. IMIA: Coalescing medical informatics worldwide for 40Years. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 176-85.
• 22 Peterson HE, Hutter M. IMIA’s Publication History. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 192-6.
• 23 http://www.schattauer.de/index.php?id=1384 Last access January 13, 2008.
• 24 Einbinder JS, Bates DW. Leveraging information technology to improve quality and safety. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 22-9.
• 25 Bergmann J. Health and clinical managementimpact on clinical outcome. Findings from the section on health and clinical management. IMIAYear-book of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 30-3.
• 26 Bates D. et al. The impact of computerized physician order entry on medication error prevention. JAMIA 1999; 06: 313-21.
• 27 Kuperman GJ, Gibson RF. Computer physician order entry: benefits, costs, and issues. Ann Intern Med 2003; 139 (01) 31-9.
• 28 Ammenwerth E, Talmon J, Ash JS, Bates DW, Beuscart-Zéphir MC, Duhamel A, Elkin PL, Gardner RM, Geissbuhler A. Impact of CPOE on mortality rates – contradictory findings, important messages. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45 (06) 586-93.
• 29 Ozdas A, Miller RA. Care Provider Order Entry (CPOE): A Perspective on Factors Leading to Success or to Failure. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 128-37.
• 30 Knaup P, Bott O, Kohl C, Lovis C, Garde S. Electronic Patient Records: Moving from Islands and Bridges towards Electronic Health Records for Continuity of Care. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 34-46.
• 31 Meystre S. Electronic patient records: some answers to the data representation and reuse challenges. Findings from the section on patient records. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 47-9.
• 32 Garde S, Hovenga E, Buck J, Knaup P. Expressing clinical data sets with openEHR archetypes: A solid basis for ubiquitous computing. Int J Med Inform 2007; Dec; 76 (Suppl. 03) 334-41.
• 33 Sfakianakis S, Chronaki CE, Chiarugi F, Conforti F, Katehakis DG. Reflections on the role of open source in health information system interoperability. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 51-61.
• 34 Bott OJ. Health information systems – technology and acceptance. Findings from the section on health information systems. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 61-5.
• 35 Kuhn KA, Giuse DA, Lapao L, Wurst SH. Expanding the scope of health information systems - from hospitals to regional networks, to national infrastructures, and beyond. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 500-2.
• 36 Shabo A. A global socio-economic-medico-legal model for the sustainability of longitudinal electronic health records. Part 1. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 240-5.
• 37 Shabo A. A global socio-economic-medico-legal model for the sustainability of longitudinal electronic health records - part 2. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 498-505.
• 38 Konstantas D. An overview of wearable and implantable medical sensors. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 61-5.
• 39 Westphal R. Sensors, medical image and signal processing. Findings from the section on sensor, signal and imaging informatics. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 70-3.
• 40 Haux R. Individualization, globalization and health – about sustainable information technologies and the aim of medical informatics. Int J Med Inform 2006; 75: 795-808.
• 41 Demiris G. editor Smart homes and ambient assisted living in an aging society: new opportunities and challenges for biomedical informatics. Methods Inf Med 2008; 47: 56-95.
• 42 Leong TY, Kaiser K, Miksch S. Free and open source enabling technologies for patient-centric, guideline-based clinical decision support: a survey. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 06 (01) 74-86.
• 43 Brigl B. Decision Support, Knowledge Representation and Management: A Balancing Act between Clinical Use and Implementation of Sophisticated Reasoning Techniques? Findings from the Section on Decision Support, Knowledge Representation and Management. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 87-9.
• 44 Mantas J. Education and consumer health informatics. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 90-4.
• 45 Marschollek M. Advances in education and consumer health informatics. Findings from the section on education and consumer informatics. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 95-7.
• 46 Frey LJ, Maojo V, Mitchell JA. Bioinformatics linkage of heterogeneous clinical and genomic information in support of personalized medicine. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 98-105.
• 47 Lang E. Integrating bioinformatics into clinical practice: progress and evaluation. Findings from the section on bioinformatics. IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2007. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46 (01) 106-8.
• 48 bIMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2004: Towards Clinical Bioinformatics. Stuttgart. Stuttgart: Schattauer; 2004
• 49 Maojo V, Kulikowski C. Medical informatics and bioinformatics: integration or evolution through scientific crises?. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 474-82.
• 50 bNews from the International Medical Informatics Association. Methods Inf Med. 2007; 46 (06) III-VI.
• 51 Murray P. et al. Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom: Transition towards Implementation of the IMIA Strategic Plan. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 625-8.
• 52 http://www.mie2008.org Last access January 6, 2008.
• 53 http://www.infolac2008.com.ar Last access January 6, 2008.
• 54 http://www.medinfo2010.org Last access January 22, 2008.
• 55 http://www.sahia.org.za Last access January 22, 2008.
• 56 Moehr JR. Where to in the next ten years of health informatics education?. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 283-7.
• 57 Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on education in health and medical informatics. Methods Inf Med 2000; 39: 267-77.
• 58 Winter A, Funkat G, Haeber A, Mauz-Koerholz C, Pommerening K, Smers S, Stausberg J. Integrated information systems for translational medicine. Methods Inf Med 2007; 46: 601-7.
• 59 Lehmann CU, Altuwaijri MM, Li YC, Ball MJ. et al. Translational research in medical informatics or fromtheorytopractice:Acallforanappliedinformatics journal. Methods Inf Med 2008; 47: 1-3.
• 60 Geissbuhler A, Bagayoko CO, Ly O. The RAFT network: 5 years of distance continuing medical education and tele-consultations over the Internet in French-speaking Africa. Int J Med Inform 2007; 76: 351-6.
• 61 Haux R, Ammenwerth E, Herzog W, Knaup P. Health care in the information society. A prognosis for the year 2013. Int J Med Inform 2002; 66: 3-21 (with discussion: 3-120).
• 62 Reichertz PL. Hospital information systems – past, present, future. Int J Med Inform 2006; 75: 282-99.
• 63 van Bemmel JH. The young person’s guide to biomedical informatics. Methods Inf Med 2006; 45: 671-80.
• 64 Hersh W, Gorman P. editors Teach Globally, Learn Locally. Proceedings of the 2003 IMIA Working Group on Education Meeting. Int J Med Inform. 2004. 73 95-213.