Informatics Around the World: Applying Health Informatics to Global Population Health Issues

Informatics Around the World: Applying Health Informatics to Global Population Health Issues

Certain population health issues are very local to day-to-day health organizations. Other issues are regional in nature, and yet other issues are inherently global. One of the challenges of studying population health is the different levels of scale and scope that apply to the trends that you have studied in this course.

Different nations around the world face different challenges related to the health of populations. Population health informatics solutions also very widely in their design and effectiveness depending upon how nations define goals and expectations for technical interventions. Furthermore, issues related to population health that are relevant in one country are not necessarily culturally, socially, or economically relevant in a neighboring country. For this reason, it is important for us to step back and examine the cultural and global relativism involved in addressing the topic areas examined in this course and the use of health informatics solutions in different nations.

For this Discussion, you have the opportunity to compare two different nations, population health challenges in those nations, and possible informatics solutions that might be used to address those challenges. Be sure to focus on the capabilities and possible geographic, political, or economic constraints of applying these informatics solutions within the specific nations that you choose.

To Prepare:

Using the three topic areas from Weeks 5–7,

In two countries of your choice from the list provided, select a clearly defined population health issue:

Australia

Canada

France

Germany

India

Norway

Sweden

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The United Kingdom

For each country, select a different health informatics system to address that country’s health concern (i.e., do not use the same health informatics system for both countries).

By Day 3

Post a description of a significant population health concern in each country and why, in each case, the population experiences this health concern. Then, explain the kind of population health informatics systems you would use to address each of the health concerns. (Remember to select a different system for each country’s health concern.) Justify your proposed solutions. Finally, explain why different population health informatics systems might be needed for varying health concerns.

By Day 5

Respond to at least two colleagues. Respond in one or both of the following ways:

Suggest another population health informatics system that might address one of the colleague’s chosen populations and health concern.

Suggest another reason why different health informatics systems might be needed for the two population health concerns a colleague selected.