informationclinical

Informationclinical is a term used to describe the integration of information science with clinical practice to improve patient care. It focuses on how clinical data are collected, organized, stored, retrieved, interpreted, and shared across care teams and settings, and how this information guides decision making at the point of care.

Key components include electronic health records (EHRs), laboratory and imaging information systems, clinical decision support systems (CDSS), health information exchanges (HIEs), and patient-generated data from wearables or patient portals, all governed by data quality standards and privacy rules. Informationclinical aims to optimize the flow of accurate, timely information to clinicians, patients, and researchers, supporting diagnostics, treatment choices, and care coordination across settings.

Applications lie in improving diagnostic accuracy, coordinating care, optimizing treatment, enhancing patient safety, supporting clinical research, and enabling data-driven policy and population health surveillance. Challenges include privacy and security concerns, interoperability across diverse systems, data quality and provenance, information overload for clinicians, and the need for robust governance to ensure ethical use.

The concept intersects with health informatics, medical informatics, and clinical informatics more broadly, and is closely linked to efforts in implementing clinical decision support and standards-based data exchange (such as HL7, FHIR, SNOMED CT, and LOINC). As healthcare increasingly relies on data-driven methods, informationclinical emphasizes reliable information management as a core component of quality clinical care.