Japan Association for Medical Informatics

[3-A-2-01] The Role of Medical Information as a Social Infrastructure

*Katsuhiko Ogasawara1,2 (1. Japan Association for Medical Informatics (President), 2. Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University)

Medical Information, Social Infrastructure, Healthcare Information Technologist

COVID-19 highlighted various problems related to medical services and the necessity of healthcare DX. Furthermore, the physicians’ Work Style Reform will begin in 2024, which will require the active introduction of ICT. "Healthcare DX" and "Physicians' Work Style Reform" are linked, and medical information and medical informatics are expected to play an increasingly important role as a social infrastructure in the future. In order to expand the field of activities of Healthcare Information Technologists who support medical information services, it is necessary for them to be more involved in clinical practice and security services than ever before. In medical informatics research, some English-language journals have emerged in recent years with impact factor values much higher than those of a few years ago. In order to further develop medical informatics research in the future, it is necessity to foster young researchers, and it is necessary to reaffirm the importance of medical informatics education. In this lecture, I would like to overview the current state of medical information and medical informatics from the viewpoints of medical informatics research, healthcare information technologists, medical informatics education, and health policy. Furthermore, I would like to discuss the possibilities and challenges of "the role of medical information as a social infrastructure," which is also the theme of the 42nd-JCMI.