Recent Advances: Medical informatics

Recent advances in medical informatics* The application of information and com- munication technologies in health care should be problem rather than technology driven * The use of existing communication tech- nologies such as mobile telephones, voice mail, and email may significantly improve delivery of health care * Research is needed to understand human communication processes and needs in health care * Clinical information systems have an impor- tant role in the delivery of evidence based clinical practice * The appropriate use of computerised proto- cols can significantly improve clinical outcome * Universal and complete clinical coding schemes are unrealisable, and the continued modification of centralised thesauruses may be technically and financially unsustainable * Multiple task specific terminologies devel- oped in conjunction with clinical protocols may offer the most effective and maintainable long term strategy