Factors Influencing the Evolution of Topics in Biomedical Informatics.

Our study contributes to the history of international medical informatics through investigating the thematic evolution of the MEDINFO conferences during a period of consolidation and expansion of the discipline. The themes are examined and potential factors influencing the evolutionary developments are discussed.

Adding Sound to Medical Data.

Medical data can be represented in various forms. The most common is visualization, but recent work started to also add sonic representation - sonification. In this study we start with a theoretical background, then focus on medical applications. The discussion synthesizes the authors view about the present state of the domain and tries to foresee future potential developments in medicine. In conclusion we present a set of original recommendations for developing new applications with potential use in medicine and healthcare.

Evolution of Interdisciplinarity in Medical Informatics in Europe: Patterns from Intertwining Histories.

The IMIA History project book we are co-editing with colleagues from the IMIA History Working Group includes histories of early contributions to medical and healthcare informatics, as described by a sample of pioneers and experts, detailing how their own ideas developed from their work on various topics in the field at the beginnings of their contributions to the field. Its contents serve as a preliminary guide for meta-analyses of how the different contributors state their personal interdisciplinary origins from today's perspectives. In this short article we provide a brief preview of how an analysis of disciplinary characteristics from individual histories can begin to shed light on processes of interdisciplinary evolution of medical informatics in Europe.

Roots of Interdisciplinarity in European Medical Informatics.

The roots of interdisciplinary of medical informatics are sought through the analysis of the themes approached by the pioneers of this field. The data included in the study comes mostly from "personal stories" of European these scientists collected by IMIA WG History as well as from some biographical notes. Most researchers came from the technical-scientific field, but the double specialization was very common. The proportions of the main topic approaches are discussed. The roots of medical informatics interdisciplinary were formed during the pioneering period, when most major concepts and chapters of medical informatics took contour.

History of Romanian Medical Informatics: Learning from the Past to Reshape the Future.

OBJECTIVES: The paper presents a review of the history of medical informatics in Romania, starting from the pioneering works, relating the present, and foreseeing the future. METHODS: Major milestones of the development of this field have not been simply enumerated, but described within the specific socio-political frame, grasping the entire context over the last four decades in Romania. Two main perspectives have been traced: education and training in medical informatics and implementations in healthcare. RESULTS: Four distinctive historical periods are identified and the major events of each period are described in a critical manner. The history of the Romanian Society of Medical Informatics is presented in a separate chapter. The last section is dedicated to the present state of the field in Romania. CONCLUSION: The history of Romanian Medical Informatics spans many years and is rich in content. The Romanian Society of Medical Informatics is mainly the result of the efforts undertaken by an enthusiastic and sound professional community, trying to continue the tradition, to achieve new goals, and to work as an active member of the international biomedical/health informatics community.

Can Sonification Become a Useful Tool for Medical Data Representation?

This 'vision' paper refers to sonification - a novel method to represent data by sounds. A short theoretical background comprises the main features to attach sound to a set of data - how to map the correspondence between the sound parameters (pitch, duration) and the initial set of data. The classification of sonification methods is followed by a description of sound display tools - tempolenses and artifacts (saccadic display or loudness variations). The Results section comprises examples of sonification performed by our team: heart rate (HR), ECG signals, HR variations during exercise, including warning procedures. The procedure to evaluate the discriminant power of various sonification algorithms is then described. As a 'vision' paper, the most important part is not represented by the results, but the potential future developments, presented in the Discussion section, which starts with a critical view of the present state and presents future potential applications of sonification in medicine.

50th Anniversary International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) History Working Group and Its Projects.

The IMIA History Working Group has as its first goal the editing of a volume of contributions from pioneers and leaders in the field of biomedical and health informatics (BMHI) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of IMIA's predecessor IFIP-TC4. This paper describes how the IMIA History WG evolved from an earlier Taskforce, and has focused on producing the edited book of original contributions. We describe its proposed outline of objectives for the personal stories, and national and regional society narratives, together with some comments on the evolution of Medinfo meeting contributions over the years, to provide a reference source for the early motivations of the scientific, clinical, educational, and professional changes that have influenced the historical course of our field.

Methods for Sonic Representation of ST Depression During Exercise.

Sonic display of ST depression during exercise helps both the patient and the investigator to better identify the transition from normal values to "attention" region and reaching the "alert" threshold. Two types of sonic display were tested, based on combinations of saccadic sounds and different pitch.

Adding Sound to ECG.

This poster presents preliminary results of a project aiming to develop tools for adding sound associated to medical data for potential medical applications. Sonification procedures, the methodology used for testing various sonic representations of ECG, and the results are presented.

Open Innovation Challenge in Healthcare. Role for Education.

The vision of this paper is that collaboration creates new openings for engagement of non-commercial actors, such as universities, in innovation networks on the one hand, while opening up for collaborative innovation, and getting valuable real life anchors on the other hand, all these underpinned by greater connectivity and globalization. We present our approach in re-designing the courses on medical informatics and data processing to meet these challenges by employing public Internet services and media facilitation.

Methods for sonic representation of heart rate during exercise.

Sonic display of HR changes during exercise helps both the patient and the investigator to better identify the transition from rest values to "exercise" zone. then crossing the "attention" threshold and reaching the "alert" threshold. Three types of sonic display were tested, based on combinations of saccadic sounds, different intensities and different pitch. The results indicate a clear preference towards a display marking each of the four zones by a specific pitch.

Teaching bioinformatics to engineers.

The paper refers to our methodology and experience in establishing the content of the course in bioinformatics introduced to the school of "Information Systems in Healthcare" (SIIS), master level. The syllabi of both lectures and laboratory works are presented and discussed.

History of medical informatics in europe - a short review by different approach.

The panel intended to collect data, opinions and views for a systematic and multiaxial approach for a comprehensive presentation of "History of Medical Informatics", treating both general (global) characteristics, but emphasizing the particular features for Europe. The topic was not only a subject of large interest but also of great importance in preparing a detailed material for celebration of forty years of medical informatics in Europe. The panel comprised a list of topics, trying to cover all major aspects to be discussed. Proposals of staging the major periods of medical informatics history were also discussed.

Evolution of trends in European medical informatics.

This presentation attempts to analyze the trends in Medical Informatics along half a century, in the European socio-political and technological development context. Based on the major characteristics which seem dominant in some periods, a staging is proposed, with a description of each period - the context, major ideas, views and events. A summary of major features of each period is also added. This paper has an original presentation of the evolution of major trends in medical informatics.

A Short Factography About IMIA and EFMI.

International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and European Federation of Medical Informatics are scientific associations which represents Health/Medical informatics as scientific and profesional disciplines. Those associations have long tradition in spreading knowledge, experiences and strategies in organization, practical applications and education within Health, Medical and Biomedical informatics in approximately 60 countries the world. In this review we present basic facts about IMIA and EFMI.who celebrate this 50 years of their establishing as professional associations.

Tempolenses with variable magnification for sonic representation of medical data. Application for cardiac signals.

The purpose of this study was to develop the tools and the methodology for a systematic analysis of usefulness of adding sonic representation of data, supplementary to visualization. This paper is mainly dedicated various temporal lenses, including the newly developed lenses with variable magnification, proposed as a tool for a better perception of short events combined with a compression of irrelevant intervals. Sonification procedures are also briefly presented. The programs were tested using various cardiac signals: ECG and heart rate HR both in humans and in rats (experimental data). The results, represented by the sound files, were uploaded in an accessible library, which contains both sonic and visual representation of the signals.

EFMI initiatives for inter-regional cooperation: the TrEHRT project.

The paper refers to EFMI's initiatives to develop an international cooperation with different regional groups of IMIA. More details are presented about the successful project "TrEHRT - Traveler's Electronic Health Record Template". Its potential applicability, compact structure and functional simplicity turned this product into a template capable to become an international standard, using mobile phones.

A global travelers' electronic health record template standard for personal health records.

Tourism as well as international business travel creates health risks for individuals and populations both in host societies and home countries. One strategy to reduce health-related risks to travelers is to provide travelers and relevant caregivers timely, ongoing access to their own health information. Many websites offer health advice for travelers. For example, the WHO and US Department of State offer up-to-date health information about countries relevant to travel. However, little has been done to assure travelers that their medical information is available at the right place and time when the need might arise. Applications of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) utilizing mobile phones for health management are promising tools both for the delivery of healthcare services and the promotion of personal health. This paper describes the project developed by international informaticians under the umbrella of the International Medical Informatics Association. A template capable of becoming an international standard is proposed. This application is available free to anyone who is interested. Furthermore, its source code is made open.

Building eHealth national strategies - the Romanian experience.

A description of the newest Romanian eHealth project is presented. The SIUI project - Integrated Unique Information System of the National Health Insurance House was tested on three pilot units in 2007 and generalized in 2008, becoming mandatory for all healthcare units in 2009. The implementation process revealed some difficulties and the user acceptance is still low. A couple of supporting measures, including educational programs, are finally discussed.

Towards the integration of medical informatics education for clinicians into the medical curriculum.

In the context of an existing first year, one-semester mandatory course of medical informatics (MI) for medical students, we tested an interactive teaching approach in parallel with the traditional academic program. After six semesters (at the beginning of the clinical stage) we collected feedback from the former students in the two parallel programs (with anonymous questionnaires comprising both subjectively-rated items and open-ended questions). We conclude that an introductory course on information and communication technology and information skills can be useful at the beginning of the medical curriculum, while an interactive, problem-based-learning-type MI course should be included during the clinical stage. Early development of these skills, and their use/utility across the curriculum, are important aspects of integrating MI education into clinical training.