Brazilian Society of Health Informatics
Encyclopedia
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, abbreviated as SBIS is a professional society created in November 1986 in Campinas
Campinas
Campinas is a city and municipality located in the coastal interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. is the administrative center of the meso-region of the same name, with 3,783,597 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census, consisting of 49 cities....
, during the First Brazilian Congress on Health Informatics It has the mission of promoting the development and the interchange of ideas and results in the fields devoted to the information technologies applied to the health sciences (Medical informatics, Telemedicine
Telemedicine
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities...
, Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...
, etc.).
Mission and areas of interest
SBIS is a nonprofit membership organization of individuals and institutions interested in developing and using information technologies to improve health care in Brazil. To accomplish its goal, SBIS may develop the following activities:- Stimulate educationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
al activities related to health informaticsHealth informatics.Health informatics is a discipline at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care...
; - Stimulate scientific research and technical development in Health Informatics;
- Organize conferencesAcademic conferenceAn academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
, symposiumSymposiumIn ancient Greece, the symposium was a drinking party. Literary works that describe or take place at a symposium include two Socratic dialogues, Plato's Symposium and Xenophon's Symposium, as well as a number of Greek poems such as the elegies of Theognis of Megara...
s, courses, seminars, and other activities that lead to experience and knowledge exchange; - Cooperate with sister societies;
- Contribute to the definition of healthcare policies;
- Promote Health Informatics as a means to reduce costs and improve the quality of healthcare services.
Some of SBIS areas of interest are:
- Health information systems
- Health information managementHealth Information ManagementHealth information management is the practice of maintenance and care of health records by traditional and electronic means in hospitals, physician's office clinics, health departments, health insurance companies, and other facilities that provide health care or maintenance of health records...
- Electronic patient record
- TelemedicineTelemedicineTelemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. It helps eliminate distance barriers and can improve access to medical services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities...
and telehealthTelehealthTelehealth is the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies. Telehealth could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone or as sophisticated as doing robotic surgery between facilities at different ends of the... - Medical decision support systems
- Biological signal processing
- Medical image processing
- Internet applications in health
- Health information standards
- Health informatics education
- Distance education in health
Currently it has around 780 associates, thus being the third largest in the Americas, after the American Medical Informatics Association
American Medical Informatics Association
AMIA, formerly known as the American Medical Informatics Association, is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the development and application of biomedical and health informatics in the support of patient care, teaching, research, and health care administration.- History :AMIA is the...
and the Canada's Health Informatics Association, and the largest in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, according to the International Medical Informatics Association. The Society is affiliated to the International Medical Informatics Association
International Medical Informatics Association
IMIA or the International Medical Informatics Association is an independent organisation that plays a role in promoting and furthering the application of information science in modern society, particularly in the fields of healthcare, bioscience and medicine. It was established in 1967 as a...
since 1988.
Governance
The current Executive Board (2008–2010) is led by Dr. Cláudio Giulliano Alves da Costa (President). Former presidents were: Roberto J. Rodrigues, Renato M.E. Sabbatini, Mariza Machado Klück, Beatriz de Faria Leão, Daniel Sigulem, Umberto TachinardiUmberto Tachinardi
Umberto Tachinardi,MD,MSc, is a Brazilian-born chief information officer and biomedical informaticist. Trained by the founders of the prestigious Medical Informatics group of the Heart Institute of São Paulo University Medical School , he started his...
, Lincoln de Assis Moura Jr. and Heimar de Fátima Marin
Heimar de Fátima Marin
Heimar de Fátima Marin, RN, MS, Ph.D., FACMI is a nurse who has devoted her professional career to improving patient care using information and communication technologies. She is Full Professor at the Federal University of São Paulo ....
. Short histories of Health Informatics in Brazil have been published elsewhere by former presidents of the Society.
Conferences and Meetings
SBIS organizes since 1986 a biannual national conference, the Brazilian Congress of Health Informatics and a biannual specialized conference on Electronic Health RecordElectronic Health Record
An electronic health record is an evolving concept defined as a systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations...
s (PEP); besides other, smaller and less periodical meetings.
The Brazilian Congress on Health Informatics takes place in different cities every two years and has as its main subjects the applications of information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
and telematics
Telematics
Telematics typically is any integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as ICT...
to medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, dentistry
Dentistry
Dentistry is the branch of medicine that is involved in the study, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases, disorders and conditions of the oral cavity, maxillofacial area and the adjacent and associated structures and their impact on the human body. Dentistry is widely considered...
and allied health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
sciences, from the point of view of the expert scientific and technical worker in these areas. The first conference was organized in November 1986, in the city of Campinas
Campinas
Campinas is a city and municipality located in the coastal interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. is the administrative center of the meso-region of the same name, with 3,783,597 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census, consisting of 49 cities....
by Dr. Renato M.E. Sabbatini. The vice-president was Dr. Hugo Sabatino
Hugo Sabatino
Hugo Sabatino is an Argentine-Brazilian physician, scientist and university professor affiliated to the Medical School of the State University of Campinas, in Campinas, State of São Paulo. Dr. Sabatino's main specialty is obstetrics. He has contributed to a new form of natural childbirth delivery...
, and the editor-in-chief of the Conference's proceedings was Dr. Renato G.G. Terzi, all with the Medical School
Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas is a college of the State University of Campinas, located in the campus of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil...
at the same university. During this conference, the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics was launched, as well as the Brazilian Journal of Health Informatics. The conference was then repeated in 1988 (São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
), 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996 (Campos do Jordão
Campos do Jordão
Campos do Jordão is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2003 was 47,903 and the area is 290.27 km². The elevation is 1,628 m....
), 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 (Natal
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
-History:The northeastern tip of South America, Cabo São Roque, to the north of Natal and the closest point to Europe from Latin America, was first visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the saint of the day...
), 2006 (Florianópolis
Florianópolis
-Climate:Florianópolis experiences a warm humid subtropical climate, falling just short of a true tropical climate. The seasons of the year are distinct, with a well-defined summer and winter, and characteristic weather for autumn and spring. Frost is infrequent, but occurs occasionally in the winter...
) and 2008 (Campos do Jordão). The next conference will be held in November 2010, in Porto de Galinhas
Porto de Galinhas
Porto de Galinhas is a beach in the municipality of Ipojuca, Pernambuco, Brazil. Porto de Galinhas is a major tourist destination. The beach is famous for its bright-water beaches and the natural pools.It is part of the municipality of Ipojuca, and located south of the state capital, Recife.It has...
, Pernambuco
Pernambuco
Pernambuco is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. To the north are the states of Paraíba and Ceará, to the west is Piauí, to the south are Alagoas and Bahia, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean. There are about of beaches, some of the most beautiful in the...
.
Publications
SBIS' flagship periodical is the on-line scientific journalScientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
, Journal of Health Informatics (Heimar Marin, Editor-in-Chief). It also publishes SBIS News, an electronic bulletin hosted by Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups
Yahoo! Groups is one of the world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. The term Groups refers to Internet communication which is a hybrid between an electronic mailing list and a threaded Internet forum, in other words, Group messages can be read and posted by e-mail or on the Group's...
(Renato M.E. Sabbatini, editor-in-chief), and coordinates the SBIS-L e-mail discussion list.
Electronic Health Record Certification Project
In collaboration with the Brazilian Federal Council of MedicineConselho Federal de Medicina
The Conselho Federal de Medicina is the Brazilian public agency, an autarchy of the Ministry of Work and Employment which is officially in charge of professional regulation and medical licensing in the area of medicine in the country...
since 2007, SBIS has developed one of few programs in the developing world geared towards the software certification
Certification
Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, assessment, or audit...
in the area of electronic health records. The standards for access, information security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....
, digital certification, patient confidentiality
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an ethical principle associated with several professions . In ethics, and in law and alternative forms of legal resolution such as mediation, some types of communication between a person and one of these professionals are "privileged" and may not be discussed or divulged to...
, storage of records, etc., have been discussed together and officially approved by a number of decrees enforced by CFM and are part now of a Manual, a course for buildup of a task force of specialized consultants. The certification standards cover ambulatory healthcare, clinical laboratory and other areas, and in the future will be expanded for inpatient health records and Picture archiving and communication system
Picture archiving and communication system
A picture archiving and communication system is a medical imaging technology which provides economical storage of, and convenient access to, images from multiple modalities . Electronic images and reports are transmitted digitally via PACS; this eliminates the need to manually file, retrieve, or...
.
Professional Education
In 2008 the Society approved the creation of a new initiative and a directorship to boost educational activities in health informatics. A website and a Learning Management SystemLearning management system
A learning management system is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content...
based on Moodle
Moodle
Moodle is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment...
server were created in 2009 (address http://www.sbis.virtual.org.br). The site is used to support presential courses as well as to offer purely distance courses, seminars, lectures, and other educational activities. The site has also a digital library
Digital library
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...
with on-line references to papers, reviews, e-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
s, multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
files, etc., which are deemed useful for education and learning purposes. In addition, webconferencing facilities using DimDim
Dimdim
Dimdim was a software company that provided a web-based platform for realtime, rich-media collaboration and meetings. Dimdim provided free web conferencing service where users could share desktops, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam. It has been compared to the WebEx 2.0...
have been added and can be used by associated individuals and institutions.
Professional Certificate in Health Informatics
In October 2009 the Society launched a program for certificatingProfessional certification
Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task...
health care professionals as specialists, in a manner similar to medical specialties coordinated by the Brazilian Medical Association
Brazilian Medical Association
The Brazilian Medical Association founded in 1951, is the national class association of physicians in Brazil. With more than 140,000 associates, is the second largest in the Americas, just after the American Medical Association....
and the Federal Council of Medicine
Conselho Federal de Medicina
The Conselho Federal de Medicina is the Brazilian public agency, an autarchy of the Ministry of Work and Employment which is officially in charge of professional regulation and medical licensing in the area of medicine in the country...
in Brazil. The program entails a minimum list of technical proficiency, a written and oral annual examination, and the issue of a certificate which is valid for five years. The revalidation of the certificate will be mandatory by means of continuing education
Continuing education
Continuing education is an all-encompassing term within a broad spectrum of post-secondary learning activities and programs. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada...
credits. The Society installed also an educational accreditation
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...
program in place, for recognizing courses and curricula
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
in health informatics, for this purpose, with a point-based system of credits. The entire program is under the responsibility of a new Directorship of Professional Education, coordinated by Prof. Renato M.E. Sabbatini.