Medical Informatics in Clinical Practice: An Overview.

Health and patients care is data intensive and involves a wide spectrum of information and often may involve input from other clinical departments and ancillary of clinical support department. For efficient care patients data should be integrated and accessible throughout clinics and hospital. Clinical departmental computer systems can enhance the collection,. Distribution and interpretation of patients data. Providing a high-quality service to patients involves having the right information at the right place and at the right time. Computer technology and networking have revolutionized access and transmission of medical knowledge. Medical informatics involves the use of computer system-analytic tools to support patients of public health care and this forms the basis of hospital information systems. Although the subject of medical informatics has been popularized over two decades in many countries including South African, it remains a largely unexplored subject in the Nigerian medical community. Knowledge and practice and application of computer technology in both private and public Nigeria educational and health institutions are largely rudimentary of non-existent. Yet, health information systems hold tremendous benefits for improving the quality of care including effective utilization of scare human resources. This review article is providing and overview on medical informatics and to stimulate interest in computer support in health care in our locality. NQJHM Vol. 13 (3-4) 2003: pp. 16-1