Summary
Objectives: To provide an editorial introduction to the 2013 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics
with an overview of its contents and contributors.
Methods: A brief overview of the main theme, and an outline of the purposes, contents, format,
and acknowledgment of contributions.
Results: Health information technology (HIT) is currently widely implemented to improve healthcare
quality and patient safety while reducing costs. Although these benefits are expected
and largely advertised, the evidence for these benefits is still missing. Unintended
consequences are often reported and some applications have been shown to be wasteful,
harmful, and even fatal. Evidence-based health informatics has been defined as “the
conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence when making decisions
about the introduction and operation of information technology in a given health care
setting”. The 2013 issue of the IMIA Yearbook highlights important contributions about
the significant challenges that arise from the assessment of HIT solutions. Progress
towards evidence-based health informatics is identified to elicit what works, what
doesn't work, and why. In an environment where resources are limited, budgets lower
than in past years, and the need to improve care is becoming ever more pressing, focusing
on this topic should guide institutions and providers in the implementation of the
best health information technology.
Conclusion: This overview of progress and current challenges across the spectrum of the discipline
shows many great examples of evidence that have been gathered on the effectiveness
of HIT. However, evidence remains limited and a significant work should be conducted
to improve the development, testing, and implementation of HIT applications.
Keywords
Editorial - 2013 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics - evidencebased health informatics
- surveys of biomedical informatics - IMIA and its societies
