Networkcentric healthcare and bioinformatics: Unified operations within three domains of knowledge

Bioinformatics is a rapidly developing field of quantitative biomedical research with the potential to transform the three principle domains within healthcare operations of research, clinical practice and administration. Presently, a significant part of bioinformatics research concentrates on genomics and proteomics. Despite growing clinical enthusiasm for the discoveries and creation of new information and knowledge that such research brings, current results are still outside the daily clinical reality. As a measure to close the gap and integrate bioinformatics into the rest of the healthcare domains, the authors propose a networkcentric approach. Based on operations within the unified space created by the overlap of three domains of knowledge, networkcentric healthcare operations support free information flow among all constituents (actors) within the healthcare space, rapid generation and exchange of pertinent knowledge, as well as enhanced awareness of the significance and practical implementation of new discoveries within specialized fields of biomedicine (e.g. bioinformatics). Healthcare networkcentricity will also facilitate conversion of information into readily accessible knowledge, accelerate translation of that knowledge into clinical practice, and reduce the stress of information overload. Changes in the use of Information/Computer/ Communication Technologies (IC2T) and enhanced efficiency of Decision/Executive Support Systems (DSS/ESS) are pivotal to the success of the networkcentric approach as discussed in the paper.