Informatics in palliative medicine

Information is at the core of much that is done in health care. Information on patients’ presenting problems, past medical history, treatments, and wishes is used to make decisions about care provision. Health-care services are planned on the basis of information related to resources utilization and needs. Health professionals acquire new information through formal educational programmes or by informal learning opportunities. Patients and their families go in search of information in order to be better informed about their care options. Research is driven by the collection and analysis of information or data. Information has been described as the data and knowledge that intelligent systems, either human or artificial, use to support their decisions⁽¹⁾. Information is the result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the user and the receiver.

The last two decades have witnessed an unprecedented explosion of information and access to it. This has been driven largely by computer-based systems and digital technologies. With some noticeable exceptions, particularly in developing countries or countries in which access to information is controlled by state systems, health professionals, administrators, patients and families now have relatively easy access to what is the Internet (Net) and its subsidiary the World Wide Web (Web), the largest repository and conduit of information in history. It is not surprising therefore that the age we now live in is being referred to as the ‘Information Age’ where information- and communication-related technologies are ubiquitous.

Palliative care is not immune to these profound influences and is already harnessing many of the technologies to improve the care of terminally ill patients and their families. This section explores some of these influences and opportunities as they may relate to palliative care, focusing largely on the role of informatics in supporting education of health professionals, patients and their families.