Summary of the session today

Dear all

As promised, here is a summary of the discussion today. This is created by Perplexity based on a transcript done by Autotekst. 

---

Based on the transcript, here are the key takeaways from the discussion on categories of disease and their implications for informatics:

1. Disease Classification Systems:
   • The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is a comprehensive system with around 85,000 codes for classifying diseases.
   • Other classification systems like SNOMED CT are also used in healthcare.
2. Challenges in Disease Classification:
   • Some diseases can fall under multiple categories, making classification complex.
   • There's a distinction between "disease" (objective, physiological) and "illness" (subjective experience of being unwell).
   • The biomedical classification system may have limitations in addressing comorbidities and psychosomatic conditions.
3. Implications for Informatics:
   • Standards like HL7 FHIR help in defining how health data should be structured and transmitted in IT systems.
   • Interoperability between different healthcare IT systems is crucial but challenging, especially when transitioning between different versions of classification systems (e.g., ICD-10 to ICD-11).
4. Practical Considerations:
   • Healthcare professionals often rely on digital resources like NEL and UpToDate to supplement their knowledge and validate decisions.
   • The complexity of medical knowledge makes it impossible for healthcare professionals to memorize everything, highlighting the importance of well-designed information systems.
5. Challenges for Digital Health Solutions:
   • Developing systems that can handle the complexity of multiple diseases and their interactions is crucial.
   • Balancing the need for detailed classification with usability and flexibility in IT systems is important.
6. Interdisciplinary Collaboration:
   • Informatics students need to understand basic medical concepts and classification systems to effectively develop healthcare IT solutions.
   • There's a need to bridge the gap between medical terminology and informatics concepts.
7. Future Directions:
   • The European Health Data Spaces initiative aims to standardize health data exchange across EU countries, but faces challenges due to varying adoption of classification systems like ICD-11.
8. Learning Process:
   • Students expressed the need for clearer instructions and more structured preparation for future sessions.
   • The use of AI tools like Perplexity in the learning process was discussed, with mixed opinions on its effectiveness during live discussions.

These takeaways highlight the complexity of integrating medical knowledge into informatics systems and the importance of understanding both domains for effective digital health solutions.