A Review of the Role of Health Informatics in Supporting the Malaysian Armed Forces Healthcare Services Delivery

Abstract

Military healthcare system is not dissimilar with its public or civilian counterpart. Healthcare delivery requires time- ly and accurate information from various sources, and it is information intensive. The present advances, affordability, inter-connectivity and integration of information technology has made the utilisation of health informatics vital in sup- porting the healthcare system. Health informatics focusses the use of information technology in promoting population health rather than of individuals. It provides health-facts situational awareness that is beneficial to a defined population. Thus, application of health informatics in the military healthcare system is apt. The application of health informatics is also observed in many public healthcare systems. Health informatics is often used as a tool to support health promotion and disease prevention programmes. This review article provides an overview of the health informatics discipline in the military healthcare system and compares between paper-based health recording and centralised elec- tronically-linked health information system. The current development, future projections and challenges of applying health informatics systems in the Malaysian Armed Forces Health Services were also reported.