Managing Pandemics with Health Informatics

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pandemic Management
• Public Health

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical role of health informatics in healthcare delivery and public health.
• Existing health information systems were rapidly adapted to manage the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize significant research contributions on health informatics applications in pandemic management published in 2020.
• To identify key areas where health informatics supported responses to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Main Methods:

• An extensive literature search was performed on PubMed and Scopus for peer-reviewed articles from 2020.
• A multi-step selection process involving editors, external reviewers, and the IMIA Yearbook editorial committee identified three best papers.

Main Results:

• Health informatics supported pandemic response through analytics for patient screening and triage.
• Telehealth and remote monitoring were utilized for patient and population management.
• Electronic Health Record (EHR) and administrative systems managed hospital operations.
• Public health authorities used informatics for population-level data capture, storage, management, and visualization.

Conclusions:

• Health informatics was indispensable in managing patients and populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Information systems and standards enabled rapid case identification, triage, and trend monitoring.
• The selected papers represent a subset of COVID-19 research, emphasizing pandemic response; future work should focus on recovery and infrastructure strengthening.