Criteria for classification of medical information

Medical information, which is the central notion in medical informatics, covers a large scale of structures and forms. Several classifications are possible and two criteria have been used in this paper: structural level and informational level. According to structural level we can distinguish three major areas: bioinformatics and neuroinformatics for molecular/cellular level, medical informatics for individual level and health informatics for community level and healthcare units. According to informational level the terms of data and knowledge are used and the representative information for each structural level is analysed also from this point of view: Finally, information transfer from living systems to computers is also seen through the structural point of view.