Here are 5 Specialties in Healthcare Informatics. Healthcare informatics is a rapidly growing area of expertise right now. It is here that technology, computing, and information technology, or IT, come together for the common purpose of creating better healthcare outcomes. Because of the speed of expansion happening in this industry, there are a number of great specialty areas within it from which one can work. What are some of those specialties at this point in time? Here are five of the most promising to date.
Healthcare Informatics: Five Great Specialties to Choose From
- Dental Informatics
- Mental Health Informatics
- Nursing Informatics
- Telemedicine Informatics
- Translational Bioinformatics
1. Dental Informatics
The world of dentistry is certainly one to have embraced the informatics movement over recent years. In this application, informatics is used in dental imaging, diagnoses, record-keeping, the making of health decisions, and much more. Dentists, hygienists, nurses, office staff, practice managers and even dental patients are directly affected and directly utilize this branch of informatics more frequently every single day.
2. Mental Health Informatics
The world of mental health and its medical care is very large and growing. Psychiatry, or the professionally directed use of medication for mental health issues, as well as psychology, the therapy-based side of mental healthcare, has been seen taking on informatics systems commonly. On the research side of mental healthcare, scientists and researchers are using informatics as a powerful tool to discover and track all types of findings in mental health theory and practice. In the office, administrative staff is using informatics for scheduling, staff training, organization and record-keeping, and more.
3. Nursing Informatics
Much like its application in other specialty areas, informatics in nursing is all about streamlining and perfecting the mix of human and technological tools in modern medical approach. Per the American Medical Informatics Association: “Nursing Informatics is the science and practice that integrates nursing, its information and knowledge, with information and communication technologies to promote the health of people, families, and communities worldwide.” Interestingly, nursing is often the area of informatics to spearhead new informatics approaches for the entire medical industry.
Related Resource: Top 15 Most Affordable Accelerated Masters in Healthcare Informatics Online
4. Telemedicine Informatics
Telemedicine is the use of real-time, interactive communication technologies for patient-provider interactions. While there are critics of this area of health informatics, the general industry consensus is one of acceptance and increasingly common utilization. Additionally, the federal government’s own Medicaid Program, known for stringent judgment of medical services and their subsequent coverage through insurance means, actually endorses and encourages the practice as a more efficient means of healthcare in many cases including mental health.
5. Translational Bioinformatics
Translational bioinformatics is an area of what is known as “precision medicine”. Here, increasingly large volumes of information about patients, their histories, life circumstances, health statuses, and more are compiled, analyzed with the latest techniques, and then used to generate a 360-degree view of the patient for them specifically. While still a very young field within health informatics, translational bioinformatics is widely viewed as a potential cornerstone of the medical industry in coming times.
Informatics in medicine means for a much richer process of patient and condition management. As this relatively new approach in medicine expands its role, more and more areas are being seen adopting its benefits. The five healthcare informatics specialties discussed here are but a small handful of the many to likely be coming soon.
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