The idea of producing a “Guide to the Health Informatics Body of Knowledge - HIBOK” arose in 1998 from an awareness of the project documentation of the Guide for Software Engineering - SWEBOK Project. The idea of applying such an approach to healthcare informatics has been slow because of lack of recognition of the commonality of these engineering principles with respect to the healthcare specialty disciplines. But, in fact, in the 6 July 2000 report “Uniform Data Standards for Patient Record Information” by the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (http://www.ncvhs.hhs.gov/reptrecs.htm), the following extracted statements from the full report were made:

“II. Introduction

C. Background and General Rationale

4. Why has Healthcare been slower than other industries to implement an information infrastructure to improve quality and control costs? (p13) Many factors have contributed to slower adoption of an information infrastructure in healthcare. First, healthcare information is much more complex than information in other industries. … Another issue is behavior modification.

5. How do standards for patient medical record information (PMRI) fit within a national health information infrastructure? (p14) An Information infrastructure may be defined as including related standards, laws, regulations, business practices and technologies. …  Cost effective systems and technologies can then be developed that utilize the infrastructure and translate system effectiveness and efficiency into value for the user.

6. What are the consequences of not having complete and comprehensive standards for PMRI? … The lack of interoperability and comparability of healthcare data makes it difficult to process discrete data elements to support clinical decision making, to aggregate data for quality measures and to improve clinical processes.

7. Why is it taking so long to develop and implement complete and comprehensive standards for PMRI? (p15)The standards and processes necessary to communicate clinical information are vastly more complex than those in other industries. … Many observers have noted that the healthcare delivery system appears to have placed higher priority on acquiring systems for reimbursement than on developing systems that support quality of care.“

Guide to HIBOK Project Objectives

It is therefore clear that insufficient dialog between the health informatics and healthcare and the biomedical science disciplines with  the information systems engineering disciplines has occurred in an ongoing way so that the expected large increase in benefits that information can contribute to healthcare has yet to occur among these disciplines.  This dialog will lead to sustained interaction dealing with both conceptual content and its effective implementation. The HIBOK Project has been conceived as one way to help overcome this difficulty. The Objectives and Audience sections that are stated in the HIBOK Project Proposal are stated below.

Objectives

The objectives are to:

1. characterize the contents of the Health Informatics Body of Knowledge in its Conceptual Content and Implementation dimensions

2. provide a topical index to this Health Informatics Body of Knowledge

3.  provide a view of the core of Health Informatics that has worldwide consensus

4. characterize the core of Health Informatics with respect to the concepts in the basic science and clinical disciplines involved in healthcare and with respect to the Computer Science and Software Engineering disciplines that lead to implemented health information systems products and services in the market.

5. provide a common foundation for curriculum development in Health Informatics relevant to the individual specialty disciplines that could include both content and implementation dimensions.

Intended Audience

 The intended audience for the Guide to the Health Informatics Body of Knowledge includes:

•  Professional Societies

• Government Agencies

• Educational Institutions

• Voluntary Consensus Standards Developer Organizations

• Commercial and Industrial Associations

Guide to a Body of Knowledge

 Since the full body of knowledge in a broad subject such as Health Informatics cannot be realistically incorporated into a single document, there is a definite need for a Guide to the Health Informatics Body of Knowledge that can be used by each of the constituent specialty disciplines within their activities to bring a mastery of this subject to their membership. This Guide will seek to identify and describe the body of knowledge about Healthcare Informatics that is generally accepted by the practitioners in these disciplines.