Summary
Objectives:
Biomedical informatics practice and research have become so broad that I will comment
on only three areas. These are the electronic health record; prospective population
studies; and interactive publications.
Methods:
Review of the literature, Internet resources and material and reports generated by
internal and external research projects.
Results:
Development of an electronic health record continues to be problematic in the U.S.
A number of large-scale prospective cohort studies of normal populations are now actively
occurring or in planning stages in a number of countries; these present special research
opportunities in biomedical informatics. Although there are engineering challenges
to the implementation of interactive publications, they have the potential to enhance
understanding, learning, and memory of scientific and health concepts.
Conclusions:
Three areas of bio-medical informatics challenge us and offer interesting and worthy
research opportunities. These include the electronic health record, prospective cohort
studies, and interactive publications.
Keywords
Literature review - medical informatics - computerized patient record - population
surveillance - cohort studies