Health informatics: an intercultural perspective

Health informatics is a significant contribution to health care. It provides health professionals with powerful technologies to enhance their performance in caring for patients. The introduction of health informatics has added a new dimension in the health discourse. However, there are also issues and problems which are associated with health informatics, particularly in relation to privacy, confidentiality and data security, which are deeply embedded in culture. As privacy and confidentiality are linguistically and culturally constructed, health workers, patients and the public may have different views and exhibit different behaviours towards health informatics. The discussion of these issues is situated in an intercultural discourse.