Course Module: Week 10
Public Health and Population Health Informatics
1. Introduction
This module will explore Public Health and Population Health Informatics. In
the past, traditional clinical care focused on treating the individual patient,
today, public health looks at the broader picture (Gamache et al., 2018). This
includes the health of entire communities, nations, and global populations. Aside
from that, this module will explain how people use data science, technology, and
information systems to track diseases, identify health disparities, and improve the
collective well-being of the community. The module will demonstrate the
differences between public health and population health informatics and their
respective tools and big data applications that reduce health disparities
according to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3 and 10. At the end of
this lesson, the students will understand the technological tools that are used to
monitor population health and how big data is actively leveraged to meet global
sustainability goals and lessen systemic health inequities.
2. Learning Objectives
By the end of this module, learners will be able to:
• Differentiate between clinical care, population health, and public health
paradigms.
• Explain the role of public health informatics (PHI) and population health
informatics (PopHI).
• Identify key tools used in public and population health informatics.
• Describe how big data supports SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and
SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
• Define Big Data in healthcare using the "3 Vs".
• Evaluate how informatics and data analytics can be applied to address
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and advance UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) 3 and 10.
3. Key Concepts
• Clinical Care
• Public Health
• Population Health
• Public Health Informatics (PHI)
• Population Health Informatics (PopHI)
• Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
• Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
• Health Information Exchanges (HIE)
• Electronic Disease Surveillance Systems (EDSS)
• Immunization Information Systems (IIS)
• Big Data in Healthcare
• Health Equity
• Disease Surveillance
• Risk Stratification
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
4. Lecture Outline & Topics
Topic 1: Zooming out: From Patient to Population
• The “Microscope vs. Telescope” Perspective: Moving from a "microscope"
view of individual patient care to a "telescope" view that examines health
patterns within neighborhoods and communities.
• Clinical Care vs. Population Health vs. Public Health:
o Clinical Care: Focused on the individual patient.
o Population Health: Focused on specific groups or cohorts, often using
aggregated clinical data.
o Public Health: Focused on the entire community through disease
prevention and health policy.
• The Informatics Distinction: PHI and PopHI
• The Data Foundation: Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): Understanding
that clinical care only accounts for 10-20% of health outcomes; the rest is
driven by behaviors, environment, and socioeconomic factors
• The Health Impact Pyramid: A five-tier framework illustrating how
interventions at the base (socioeconomic factors) have the greatest
population impact compared to those at the top (individual counseling).
• Essential Data Sources for Public Health
Topic 2: Tool for Public and Population Health Informatics
• Data Collection and Interoperability Tools:
o Electronic Health Records (EHRs): The primary source of clinical
information and public health reporting.
o Health Information Exchanges (HIE): Facilitates secure sharing of
patient data across different healthcare organizations.
o Standardization and Clinical Terminologies: Essential for data
exchange (HL7, FHIR) and universal coding (ICD-11, SNOMED CT,
LOINC)
• Surveillance and Systems Outbreak Management:
o Electronic Disease Surveillance Systems (EDSS): Automated reporting
of notifiable diseases.
◦ Syndromic Surveillance: Monitoring patterns of symptoms (e.g., ER chief
complaints, OTC drug sales) for early outbreak detection.
◦ Immunization Information Systems (IIS): Centralized databases for
tracking population-level vaccination records.
◦ Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS): Handling
specimen tracking and results reporting
• Population Health Management (PHM) Platforms:
o Risk Stratification Tools: Using predictive analytics to classify patients
by risk level (low, medium, or high).
o Care Coordination Software: Platforms that unify providers to
decrease care fragmentation.
o Patient Engagement Portals: Web and mobile applications allowing
patients to access records, schedule appointments, and
communicate with providers.
• Data Analytics and Visualization Tools
o Mobile Health (mHealth) & Wearables: Collecting patient-generated
health data (PGHD) for continuous monitoring.
o Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Using visual maps to analyze
relationships between location and health trends (e.g., disease
hotspots, pollution levels).
o Business Intelligence and Dashboards: Converting data from various
sources into clear reports to support administrative and clinical
decisions.
• Statistical Analysis Tools
• Emerging Trends in Health Informatics
Topic 3: Big Data and Reducing Inequalities (SDG 3 and 10)
• Big Data in Nursing Informatics (3 Vs): Defined by the "3 Vs": Volume (large
amounts), Velocity (real-time generation), and Variety (different types of
data).
• Big Data and SDG 3: Improving Health and Well-Being: Utilizing big data for
real-time disease surveillance, early identification of high-risk patients, and
personalized care planning.
• Big Data and SDG 10: Reducing Health Inequalities: Using analytics to
identify health disparities between rural and urban populations and linking
clinical outcomes to SDOH.
• Ethical and Equity Considerations
• Role of Nursing Informatics in Promoting Health Equity: Nurses serve as
leaders in developing inclusive datasets, designing equity-focused
dashboards, and advocating for ethical data use to achieve health equity.
References
Gamache, R., Kharrazi, H., & Weiner, J. (2018). Public and Population Health
Informatics: The bridging of big data to benefit communities. Yearbook of
Medical Informatics, 27(01), 199–206. [Link]
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