Aims and tasks of medical informatics - A commentary on Reinhold Haux's paper

Abstract

K. C. Lun commented on Professor Reinhold Haux's paper on grand challenges for medical informatics. According to Lun, Haux's definition of medical informatics as the discipline concerned with the `systematic processing of data, information and knowledge in medicine and health care' is incomplete without the inclusion of telecommunications, which is the backbone of many medical informatics applications. A useful adjunct to Haux's paper is the identification of the major challenges of medical informatics coming from the need for: information quality assurance; legal and social frameworks; standards; technological breakthroughs; and leadership.