Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul 1;7(2):e216.
doi: 10.5210/ojphi.v7i2.5931. eCollection 2015.

What's Past is Prologue: A Scoping Review of Recent Public Health and Global Health Informatics Literature

Brian E Dixon  1 , Jamie Pina  2 , Hadi Kharrazi  3 , Fardad Gharghabi  3 , Janise Richards  4
Affiliations

What's Past is Prologue: A Scoping Review of Recent Public Health and Global Health Informatics Literature

Brian E Dixon et al. Online J Public Health Inform. .

Abstract

Objective: To categorize and describe the public health informatics (PHI) and global health informatics (GHI) literature between 2012 and 2014.

Methods: We conducted a semi-systematic review of articles published between January 2012 and September 2014 where information and communications technologies (ICT) was a primary subject of the study or a main component of the study methodology. Additional inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to filter PHI and GHI articles from the larger biomedical informatics domain. Articles were identified using MEDLINE as well as personal bibliographies from members of the American Medical Informatics Association PHI and GHI working groups.

Results: A total of 85 PHI articles and 282 GHI articles were identified. While systems in PHI continue to support surveillance activities, we identified a shift towards support for prevention, environmental health, and public health care services. Furthermore, articles from the U.S. reveal a shift towards PHI applications at state and local levels. GHI articles focused on telemedicine, mHealth and eHealth applications. The development of adequate infrastructure to support ICT remains a challenge, although we identified a small but growing set of articles that measure the impact of ICT on clinical outcomes.

Discussion: There is evidence of growth with respect to both implementation of information systems within the public health enterprise as well as a widening of scope within each informatics discipline. Yet the articles also illuminate the need for more primary research studies on what works and what does not as both searches yielded small numbers of primary, empirical articles.

Conclusion: While the body of knowledge around PHI and GHI continues to mature, additional studies of higher quality are needed to generate the robust evidence base needed to support continued investment in ICT by governmental health agencies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors do not have any competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA diagram for PHI articles
Figure 2
Figure 2
PRISMA diagram for GHI articles
Figure 3
Figure 3
Count of PHI articles based on the type of information system implemented or evaluated, stratified by year of publication.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Count of PHI articles based on study methodology, stratified by year of publication.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Count of PHI articles based on the jurisdictions that implemented or used the information systems described in the article, stratified by year.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Count of GHI articles based on the type of information system implemented or evaluated, stratified by year of publication (2013 N=82 and 2014 N=199)
Figure 7
Figure 7
Count of GHI articles based on study methodology, stratified by year of publication.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Shortliffe E. Biomedical Informatics: The Science and the Pragmatics. In: Shortliffe EH, Cimino JJ, editors. Biomedical Informatics: Springer London; 2014. p. 3-37.
    1. Magnuson JA, O’Carroll P. Introduction to Public Health Informatics. In: Magnuson JA, Fu JPC, editors. Public Health Informatics and Information Systems: Springer London; 2014. p. 3-18.
    1. Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG. 2009. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. J Clin Epidemiol. 62(10), 1006-12. Epub 07 2009. 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.005 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Koplan JP, Bond TC, Merson MH, Reddy KS, Rodriguez MH, et al. 2009. Towards a common definition of global health. Lancet. 373(9679), 1993-95. Epub 06 2009. 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60332-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lenert L, Sundwall DN. 2012. Public health surveillance and meaningful use regulations: a crisis of opportunity. Am J Public Health. 102(3), e1-7. Epub 03 2012. 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300542 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources