Public health informatics has been defined as the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. It is one of the subdomains of health informatics via the use of computers, clinical guidelines, communication, and information systems, which apply to the vast majority of public health-related professions, such as nursing, clinical/ hospital care/ public health, and medical research.
The world is becoming increasingly technologically advanced, and this is also seen in public health. New informatics tools are constantly being developed and implemented. These include, for instance, geographic information systems. These are used to improve levels of surveillance, including disease reporting. They can be applied in a variety of sectors, including the Comprehensive Assessment for Tracking Community Health (CATCH). The CATCH is in place to have systematic methods in place that enable better health needs assessments at the grassroots, and community levels. The system also ensures the right decisions can be made in the right way, focusing on healthcare policy development, resource allocation, strategy implementation, hypothesis generation, and information dissemination in a range of formats. Put together, these can identify new areas of population health that require further investigation.
Page | 30
This can be done through:
1. Collection of public health data
2. Study models of different systems 3. Storage of public health data
4. Analysis of public health data
5. Applications in health surveillance and epidemiology 6. Social Media Analytics
Public health informatics has been defined as the systematic application of information and computer science and technology to public health practice, research, and learning. It is one of the subdomains of health informatics via the use of computers, clinical guidelines, communication, and information systems, which apply to the vast majority of public health, and related professions, such as nursing, clinical/ hospital care/ public health, and medical research.
The world is becoming increasingly technologically advanced, and this is also seen in public health. New informatics tools are constantly being developed and implemented. These include, for instance, geographic information systems. These are used to improve levels of surveillance, including disease reporting. They can be applied in a variety of sectors, including the Comprehensive Assessment for Tracking Community Health (CATCH). The CATCH is in place to have systematic methods in place that enable better health needs assessments at the grassroots, and community levels. The system also ensures the right decisions can be made in the right way, focusing on healthcare policy development, resource allocation, strategy implementation, hypothesis generation, and information dissemination in a range of formats. Put together, these can identify new areas of population health that require further investigation.
Page | 30
This can be done through:
- Collection of public health data
- Study models of different systems 3. Storage of public health data
- Analysis of public health data
- Applications in health surveillance and epidemiology 6. Social Media Analytics