Health informatics in the eyes of the overseas-born health professionals

Background: With the rapid development of information technology (IT), health informatics (HI) has a firm technological basis for the development and enhancement of health care systems. Although health informatics depends heavily on the power of technology for its form and function, it is fundamentally a human discourse which deals with issues such as interpersonal communication, organisational interaction, trust, confidentiality etc. Objective/Hypothesis: This study investigated the views and attitudes of overseas-born health professionals about health informatics in terms of confidentiality, coordination, management, communication and technical user-friendliness. Method: Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in this study. It included a survey and interviews of overseas-born health professionals in Australia. Results: The results indicated that there was some confusion among health workers about the concept and principles of health informatics. Confidentiality was viewed as a significant aspect which may make or break health informatics. Concerns were also raised about possible miscommunication and mismanagement.