Department of Medical Informatics

Overview of the department

In recent years, the medical information handled in hospitals are rapidly increasing. Besides, because of the reform of national medical care system and the increase of public interest in medical safety, the medical information systems are expected new roles, such as those related to hospital management and risk management. Since its establishment, we have had an information-processing section to manage and administer medical information systems. The section was reorganized into the Medical Information Center to handle general health-care information, and it has reorganized into the Department of Medical Informatics since 1998. The department is charged with in-hospital medical information systems and inter-university health care networks, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Main activities

The Department of Medical Informatics keeps the stable operation of medical information systems that are available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to meet information-based needs in health care settings. To accomplish this, the department has adopted cutting-edge computer and network technologies, and established medical information systems as a means of solving various problems that occur in clinical settings. Since the department handles important medical information, we also implements various measures for the protection of personal information and system security, including the following activities:

– Administration and management of medical information systems in our hospital
– Ensuring the accurate recording and appropriate storage of medical information to utilize promptly
– Protection of the security of medical information and privacy of patients
– Utilization of information systems to establish a system for the prevention of medical accidents and malpractice
– Promotion of cooperation between new medical equipment, facilities, and medical information systems
– Research to apply cutting-edge ICT to health care
– Promotion of medical information exchange with other health care institutions
– Implementation of ICT and security education for medical students
– Implementation of security training for hospital staff
– Provision of support for University Hospital Medical Information Networks (UMIN) and information-sharing

Our external activities include the provision of support to promote the utilization of medical information in community health care, train healthcare information technologists, and develop appropriate standards.