Veterinary informatics
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary [1]informatics is synonymous with [2]information science defined as "the collection, classification, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of recorded knowledge treated both as a pure and as an applied science".
Veterinary informatics is the application of information science to the unique characteristics of veterinary medicine.
Aspects of the field
These include:
- architectures for electronic medical records and other health information systems used for billing, scheduling or research.
- decision support systems in healthcare
- messaging standards for the exchange of information between health care information systems (e.g. through the use of the HL7 data exchange standard) - these specifically define the means to exchange data, not the content
- controlled medical vocabularies such as the Standardized Nomenclature of Medicine, Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT) or Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes (LOINC) - used to allow a standard, accurate exchange of data content between systems and providers.
- use of hand-held or portable devices to assist providers with data entry/retrieval or medical decision-making
History
Medical informatics began in the 1950s with the rise of usable computation devices, computers.
Early names for medical informatics included medical computing, medical computer science, computer medicine, medical electronic data processing, medical automatic data processing, medical information processing, medical information science, medical software engineering and medical computer technology