Medical Informatics

Medical Bioinformatics
Medical bioinformatics can be considered as an interdisciplinary field combining systematic processing of data, information and knowledge in medicine and healthcare. It is a rapidly developing scientific field that uses computers and information technology to gain, store, analyze, communicate and display medical information and knowledge. This aids the understanding and improves accuracy, quickness and reliability of decision making. The 4 fundamental areas of bioinformatics are: communication, decision support, knowledge management and management of clinical information. Through it’s contributions and applications to research in bio-medicine and related health and computer sciences, a large responsibility of medical bioinformatics is the improvement of people’s health. The main aims of medical bioinformatics are to reduce medical risks, improve patient care and cut costs of treatment.

health care information systems
In a hospital, information processing is characterized by a close co-operation between health care profes-sionals (such as physicians, nurses etc.) and staff working in administration. This organization creates a computer network installed to support activities in administrative and diagnostic service departments by using computer-based application systems. This interconnected computer network of information is stored in servers if the hospital and helps to access to medical information at any time.

medical documentation
Medical documentation relates to a patient care or medical record. It consists of operation notes, progress notes, physician orders, physician certification etc. Therefore, the communication between the professionals rises, that increases the quality of the treatment.

medical signal processing and medical image processing
The main aim of Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) is to assist healthcare professionals in providing an ac-curate diagnosis within the shortest time possible. This leads to quicker treatment, which is in turn aided by Computer Aided Therapy (CAT) systems, another field of medical bioinformatics that helps to provide effective and efficient treatment for the patient. CAD and CAT allow Doctors and Nurses to detect and deal with conditions rapidly, vastly reducing the time a patient could possibly spend in hospital, while also helping to maintain a high quality of care and quality of life

signal processing
Signal processing is the art and science of modifying acquired time-series data for the purposes of analysis or enhancement. It's an enabling technology that gives the basic theory and material of processing data or transferring information contained in formats broadly designated as signals. This measuring techniques, can only be used in conjunction with efficient methods and tools for processing and adequate presentation of images. Examples include spectral analysis (using the Fast Fourier or other transforms) and enhancing acquired data using digital filtering.

medical image processing
Image Processing is processing of images using mathematical operations by using signal processing of photos or videos. Most image-processing techniques involve treating the image as a two-dimensional signal and applying standard signal-processing techniques to it. Images are also processed as three-dimensional signals where the third-dimension being time or the z-axis.

molecular bioinformatics
Another part of the medical bioinformatics is the molecular bioinformatics, which focuses on keeping, storing and using the information that gathered, but at a deeper biological level. This method gives tools for helping biologically to the human body. The data gathered can be expressed graphically to allow clear trends and links to be made. As a result of updated database new topics of investigation can be highlight-ed and as such more material can be added to the database. Over time one database can grow and develop to become more compact, detailed and easier to interpret.

1950-1975
The period from 1950-1975 can be classified as “reorganizing and pioneering” stage foreshadowing big technological ideas and achievements. It plays an important role in laying the foundation of the “new emerging information technology” and various applications concerning IT in healthcare and medicine. Typical for that time is the individual and still unrecognized work in small isolated groups of scientists focusing on signal analysis and laboratory applications with main aspects in databases, modelling and simulation of some biological processes, still considering analog computers.

1975-1990
The following 15 years (1975-1990) build upon the work and achievements resulting from the previous period. Referred to as “childhood and youth” these years confirmed that in the domain of medicine and healthcare the use of computer applications is inevitable. The establishment of the first national and international alliances together with bioinformatics courses and schools are followed by the foundation of specific conferences trying to systematize the leading areas of medical bioinformatics. The term EHR - “Electronic Health/Medical Record” shaped that period and the development of the generalization of Clinical and Hospital Information Systems accompanied with medical data analysis and protection.

1990 - 2000
On the period of 1990–2000 (or can be called the Consolidation period), increased the idea that computer is an important and crucial tool in the medical world. In this term the subject of studying and learning got into the in most medical schools and several specialized medical/health bioinformatics schools have been created. Also, governments created national strategies for implantation of medical bioinformatics in their states. Another reason is the collapse of communist regime in East European countries, which all the governments of these new countries had the will to become modern, and made them to develop same technology like the western countries.

2000 - 2010
In the new millennium (2000 - 2010), was understood the potential that has this subject. However, lack of success in the field, and support by the governments, by reasons of politics, made hard time to continue the research . Therefore, cooperation between the European countries and USA made to keep the re-search, which was successful.

The future of medical bioinformatics
In the modern period we can make only opinions and thoughts about the procedures that will happen in the world of medical bioinformatics. Some believe that it is more likely to rethink about their health strategies, as a result of the new trend of this modern world, like integration of the data among people, the amount of data, the increasing number of users of the data etc.