The Creation of a New Discipline

Abstract

The increasingly complex informatics technology that evolved since 1950 created a new domain of knowledge and a new professional discipline. In this chapter we discuss the foundations and evolution of the field of medical informatics, focusing on the role of publications, professional organizations, government, and industry in promoting the field's growth, success, and impact. The earliest reports on biomedical applications of computers began to appear at conferences sponsored by professional engineering societies as early as 1947. The English term, medical informatics, was successfully introduced at an international meeting held in 1974. Subsequently the range of topics and the field's scientific base have broadened, while academic informatics programs have been established at a growing number of institutions. The number of informatics articles published annually has grown rapidly, as have peer-reviewed informatics journals, the first two of which were launched in the 1960s. The first comprehensive medical informatics textbook (published in 1990) is now in its fourth edition. Starting in the 1960s, multiple organizations have been formed to focus on medical informatics; as their activities and influence increased, mergers followed, ultimately resulting in the creation of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) in 1988. Other key players have included nursing, industry, academia, and the federal government, especially through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More recently the field has been further nurtured at the federal level by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), which has championed the diffusion of electronic medical records, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS), which has funded clinical translational science awards and their supporting information systems.