SRHDB.Org

Where is the life we have lost in living ?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T.S.Eliot

BACKGROUND

In the early 1960s when even 'computer science' was new, the phrase 'medical computer science' was used to refer to the subdivision of computer science that applies the methods of the larger field to medical topics. The term 'Biomedical Computing' has also been used for a number of years.

'Medical informatics' originated in Europe with a broder scope than 'medical computing'. Shortliffe used the term 'Medical Informatics' through the first standard texbook on the subject in 1990. Medical Informtics was defined as the 'rapidly developing scientific field that deals with the storage, retrieval and optimal use of biomedical information, data, and knowledge for problem solving and decision making'. We have listed the some of the definitions from textbooks and journal articles (tabulated by year).

The gigantic amounts of research on genormics brought "Bioinformatics" to the forefront. Even the name 'Medical Informatics' maybe changing to accomodate the new developments.

Coiera states that, ' Informatics is still exploring its shape as a principled science and at some point it is more important to come to a view of what that shape is, rather than await perfection'. A formal definition of 'this shape' may be useful now.