Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics: Recent Research and Trends in the United States

Abstract

Objectives: To survey advances in public health and epidemiology informatics over the past three years.

Methods: We conducted a review of English-language research works conducted in the domain of public health informatics (PHI), and published in MEDLINE between January 2012 and December 2014, where information and communication technology (ICT) was a primary subject, or a main component of the study methodology. Selected articles were synthesized using a thematic analysis using the Essential Services of Public Health as a typology.

Results: Based on themes that emerged, we organized the advances into a model where applications that support the Essential Services are, in turn, supported by a socio-technical infrastructure that relies on government policies and ethical principles. That infrastructure, in turn, depends upon education and training of the public health workforce, development that creates novel or adapts existing infrastructure, and research that evaluates the success of the infrastructure. Finally, the persistence and growth of infrastructure depends on financial sustainability.

Conclusions: Public health informatics is a field that is growing in breadth, depth, and complexity. Several Essential Services have benefited from informatics, notably, "Monitor Health," "Diagnose & Investigate," and "Evaluate." Yet many Essential Services still have not yet benefited from advances such as maturing electronic health record systems, interoperability amongst health information systems, analytics for population health management, use of social media among consumers, and educational certification in clinical informatics. There is much work to be done to further advance the science of PHI as well as its impact on public health practice.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Public Health Informatics; disease outbreaks; health services needs and demand; public health practice.

Fig. 1

Overlapping areas of attention related to “public health informatics.”

Fig. 2

Conceptual framework for this review. (a) Essential services from the Public Health Functions Steering Committee. [18] (b) Supporting concepts based on AMIA 2011 consensus [4]