Quality Informatics

Quality Informatics is the study of use of information in understanding and improving the quality and safety of health care.

In the case of quality informatics (as of Fall 2007), many 'information systems' do not involve computers or software at each step. Rather, techniques of approaching quality related issues involve a structured, thoughtful approach where

- purpose is defined and problems are diagnosed and modeled
- metrics for understanding both the problem and success are defined
- an intervention is devised and implemented
- an evaluation is completed
- the cycle repeats

The system defined by these steps is called Quality Improvement, and there are a set of informatics-related needs at each step and for the process overall.

Many people focus on the informatics aspects of the metrics and the intervention, but each step requires consideration of the information system used.

As part of this wiki, we have a set of quality improvement project examples.

For students of BMI 537, please see BMI537 template for an example project. Add yours to this text.