Book excerpt: New addition to the ABC series looking at how technology can aidhealth care This ABC focuses on how patient data, health knowledge, andlocal service information are managed during the routine tasks thatmake up clinical work. It looks at medical record keeping, how touse the information that records contain for clinical, qualityimprovement and research activities, how to use new media tocommunicate with clinical colleagues and patients, and theavailability and uses of clinical knowledge resources. After a short introduction to health informatics, each chapteris organised around a typical patient scenario that illustratesinformation dilemmas arising in clinical consultations. These casestudies help make the link between prescribing and treatment. A final chapter considers the implications of informatics andeHealth for the future of the health professions and their work. Italso includes a glossary of health informatics terms. Click on the sample chapter above for a look at what is healthinformation.