Accident and Emergency Informatics

Time is short in emergency situations; the need for action becomes imperative. Biomedical Informatics can be invaluable in supporting the management of emergency medicine, and the need for the creation of Accident and Emergency Informatics (A&EI) as a novel subfield became obvious. As in all areas of Biomedical Informatics, A&EI must deal with issues such as relevant data collection, the management of data extracted from accident sites, health records or sensors, wearables and apps, and appropriate data processing, with the dual purpose of preventing harm and decision support. This book is an introduction to the research and application domain of A&EI, and is the product of three years work by the Working Group in A&EI of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). The book presents ten chapters organized in four sections. The first section explores the framework for achieving an emergency-informatics health information infrastructure; the second focuses on the gathering of critical clinical data related to the building up of a smart environment for A&EI; the third introduces state-of-the-art technologies for integration into virtual emergency registries; and the final part considers the delicate issues of patient safety raised by the introduction of surveillance technologies into clinical care, along with other issues presenting challenges to the domain of A&EI for the future. The book is an important contribution to the field of A&EI, and will be of interest to healthcare professionals, informaticians, and all those who want a better understanding of the domain of Accident and Emergency Informatics.