CHIA recommends: The History of Medical Informatics Development – an Overview

CHIA recommends

We asked Dr Jen Bichel-Findlay FAIDH CHIA, Honorary Associate at UTS and Examination Committee Chair, to point to a recent publication/resource that is relevant to a CHIA. She recommends: The History of Medical Informatics Development – an Overview.

It has often been said that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. It has also been said that history repeats itself because no one was listening the first time. We as health informaticians know that history matters, but it is challenging to impart that significance to novices entering the profession. In order to appreciate where we are now, it is necessary to see where we came from. This 2020 article by Masic provides an informative overview of how health informatics developed, from the pioneering work in the 1950s to the present time. Masic identifies the major milestones along the way, and how various organisations were created to respond to this dynamic and evolving discipline.

Reading this article equips CHIA candidates with knowledge related to Competency 5.1 [History of health and biomedical informatics (HBI) and analysis of related literature], but increases everyone’s knowledge on the survival of our profession. As Lord Byron once said – The best prophet of the future is the past.