HLTH 230 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026
What are the two definitions of health informatics - Answers 1) HI deals with the resources, devices,
and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health
and biomedicine
2) health + informatics
What are the three components of HI? - Answers health care
information science
computer science
which of the three components of HI is talked about least? - Answers information science
what is informatics? - Answers *science of information*
studies the structure, algorithms, behaviour, and interactions of natural and artificial systems which
store, process, access, and communicate information
Data - Answers -facts or observations or measurements
-stored in raw form
-contained in a database
what is required to describe a data model - Answers terminology
what are the most common databases used? (2) - Answers structured query language (SQL)
relational databases
Knowledge (4) - Answers -defined relationships btwn data and concepts
-formulated from data analysis
-global rules about the world
-contained in knowledge base
ontology - Answers -a knowledge model
-the set of concepts understood in a knowledge base & the rules about how the concepts can be
arranged meaningfully
knowledge base - Answers database of elements of knowledge
Information - Answers obtained by applying knowledge to data
related to order and novelty
usually specific to individual cases and users
what does order and novelty mean in terms of information - Answers -not all info is good
-free-text physician notes are less information
-same patients might not have a change in information
what are the ultimate objectives of HI - Answers -create knowledge based on data
-infer information based on data and existing knowledge
-feed the extracted information to the user to optimize health care
what makes a sub-field within HI - Answers any health domain + informatics
bioinformatics (3) - Answers looking at biological data (cells, genetics, protein-protein interactions)
with informatics
most mature field compared to the other subfields
develop and improve methods for storing biological data
medical informatics - Answers looking at medical problems
used mostly by physicians
increasingly used by patients, researchers, and hospital administrators
imaging information - Answers -deals with medical imaging data
-about the data imaging devices generate
-this is data intensive and tech-driven
Public health informatics - Answers applies information tech to public health problems
-diseases surveillance has been a prime topic
-emerging applications in health promotion
Fitbits are related to what sub-field of HI - Answers public health informatics
Global health informatics - Answers -addresses health challenges in developing countries
-part of public health informatics
-usually uses cell phones
consumer health informatics - Answers -bridges the gap btwn patients and health resources
-related to telemedicine
, mobile health (mHealth) - Answers empowers everyone to take control of their own health
takes a lot of research and entrepreneurial activity
which 2 HI subfields use cell phones - Answers global and mHealth
can big data make health care better? - Answers data storage is easier now that computer
networking is better
everything is tied to the internet and makes it possible to collect data from different individual
population
investors think yes
what expertise does HI require - Answers -HI is multidisciplinary
-HI should be an expert in one or two disciplines
-requires team work
what is the most important discipline in modern HI - Answers computer science
Machine learning - Answers branch of artificial intelligence
give the comp some data then the computer learns pattern on its own and then builds its own
algorithms
Natural language processing
what is it?
why do we need it? - Answers enables computers to understand human language
need it because there are too many journals to make sense of everything & a lot of health data is in
free text
Computer security - Answers related to authentication
required since health data contains sensitive information
high performance computing - Answers optimizing the use of a large number of computers
why is mobile programming useful for health - Answers many users prefer mobile devices to
desktop/laptop computers
also many opportunities in both hospital and home/community care
what is the relation between engineering and health informatics - Answers -associated with hardware
(medical devices, image processing)
-not related to informatics because its not dealing with data (knowledge, information) but the data
itself comes from sensors and physical devices
what is the use of statistics in HI - Answers -making sense of noisy data
-description and interference
-biostats is essential in epidemiology
information technology (IT)
what is it?
how does it relate to HI? - Answers application of of computers and telecommunications equipment
to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate
more than just computers
HI applies IT to health problems
Moore's law - Answers the number of transistors in a unit area doubles every two years
what is the WWW - Answers world wide web
interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet
hypertext - Answers links to other documents
written in hypertext markup language
URL - Answers universal resource locator
is the address of document
what do web browsers do? - Answers allow users to navigate WWW using the HyperText Transfer
Protocol (HTTP)
how is the internet traffic split up? - Answers 49% human
50% non human
what are the four V's of data - Answers volume: scale of data
variety: different forms of data
velocity: analysis of streaming data
veracity: uncertainty of data
what is the objective of bioinformatics - Answers to generate knowledge about biological processes
Human genome project - Answers sequencing and functional mapping of the entire human genome
genomics - Answers -sequences and analyzes the function and structure of genomes
What are the two definitions of health informatics - Answers 1) HI deals with the resources, devices,
and methods required to optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health
and biomedicine
2) health + informatics
What are the three components of HI? - Answers health care
information science
computer science
which of the three components of HI is talked about least? - Answers information science
what is informatics? - Answers *science of information*
studies the structure, algorithms, behaviour, and interactions of natural and artificial systems which
store, process, access, and communicate information
Data - Answers -facts or observations or measurements
-stored in raw form
-contained in a database
what is required to describe a data model - Answers terminology
what are the most common databases used? (2) - Answers structured query language (SQL)
relational databases
Knowledge (4) - Answers -defined relationships btwn data and concepts
-formulated from data analysis
-global rules about the world
-contained in knowledge base
ontology - Answers -a knowledge model
-the set of concepts understood in a knowledge base & the rules about how the concepts can be
arranged meaningfully
knowledge base - Answers database of elements of knowledge
Information - Answers obtained by applying knowledge to data
related to order and novelty
usually specific to individual cases and users
what does order and novelty mean in terms of information - Answers -not all info is good
-free-text physician notes are less information
-same patients might not have a change in information
what are the ultimate objectives of HI - Answers -create knowledge based on data
-infer information based on data and existing knowledge
-feed the extracted information to the user to optimize health care
what makes a sub-field within HI - Answers any health domain + informatics
bioinformatics (3) - Answers looking at biological data (cells, genetics, protein-protein interactions)
with informatics
most mature field compared to the other subfields
develop and improve methods for storing biological data
medical informatics - Answers looking at medical problems
used mostly by physicians
increasingly used by patients, researchers, and hospital administrators
imaging information - Answers -deals with medical imaging data
-about the data imaging devices generate
-this is data intensive and tech-driven
Public health informatics - Answers applies information tech to public health problems
-diseases surveillance has been a prime topic
-emerging applications in health promotion
Fitbits are related to what sub-field of HI - Answers public health informatics
Global health informatics - Answers -addresses health challenges in developing countries
-part of public health informatics
-usually uses cell phones
consumer health informatics - Answers -bridges the gap btwn patients and health resources
-related to telemedicine
, mobile health (mHealth) - Answers empowers everyone to take control of their own health
takes a lot of research and entrepreneurial activity
which 2 HI subfields use cell phones - Answers global and mHealth
can big data make health care better? - Answers data storage is easier now that computer
networking is better
everything is tied to the internet and makes it possible to collect data from different individual
population
investors think yes
what expertise does HI require - Answers -HI is multidisciplinary
-HI should be an expert in one or two disciplines
-requires team work
what is the most important discipline in modern HI - Answers computer science
Machine learning - Answers branch of artificial intelligence
give the comp some data then the computer learns pattern on its own and then builds its own
algorithms
Natural language processing
what is it?
why do we need it? - Answers enables computers to understand human language
need it because there are too many journals to make sense of everything & a lot of health data is in
free text
Computer security - Answers related to authentication
required since health data contains sensitive information
high performance computing - Answers optimizing the use of a large number of computers
why is mobile programming useful for health - Answers many users prefer mobile devices to
desktop/laptop computers
also many opportunities in both hospital and home/community care
what is the relation between engineering and health informatics - Answers -associated with hardware
(medical devices, image processing)
-not related to informatics because its not dealing with data (knowledge, information) but the data
itself comes from sensors and physical devices
what is the use of statistics in HI - Answers -making sense of noisy data
-description and interference
-biostats is essential in epidemiology
information technology (IT)
what is it?
how does it relate to HI? - Answers application of of computers and telecommunications equipment
to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate
more than just computers
HI applies IT to health problems
Moore's law - Answers the number of transistors in a unit area doubles every two years
what is the WWW - Answers world wide web
interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the internet
hypertext - Answers links to other documents
written in hypertext markup language
URL - Answers universal resource locator
is the address of document
what do web browsers do? - Answers allow users to navigate WWW using the HyperText Transfer
Protocol (HTTP)
how is the internet traffic split up? - Answers 49% human
50% non human
what are the four V's of data - Answers volume: scale of data
variety: different forms of data
velocity: analysis of streaming data
veracity: uncertainty of data
what is the objective of bioinformatics - Answers to generate knowledge about biological processes
Human genome project - Answers sequencing and functional mapping of the entire human genome
genomics - Answers -sequences and analyzes the function and structure of genomes
