MEDICAL INFORMATICS, an emerging multidisciplinary field at the intersection of medicine, technology, and information sciences, is believed to significantly impact health and MEDICAL practice. 1 Nowadays, it is not strange to see new approaches for producing, measuring, and monitoring digital biomarkers using implantable sensors, wearable devices, and mobile health apps on intelligent platforms and knowledgebased systems. Tapping an app icon on a smartphone might save a human life. Mobile health apps can assist patients in managing their MEDICAL and health issues, especially in the case of chronic diseases. Mobile apps can also facilitate clinical diagnosis, treatment, and even MEDICAL procedures for health professionals. Clinical INFORMATICS, a newly added subspecialty program after MEDICAL specialties, seems to improve the current and future of clinical practice. 2, 3 A broader field, known as Health INFORMATICS, is a connected set of disciplines and branches from medicine, computer sciences, and humanities. Similar to MEDICAL/clinical INFORMATICS, the overarching field of health INFORMATICS aims to improve access to, enhance quality and safety, and reduce the cost of health services. . .

MEDICAL INFORMATICS is a developing body of knowledge concerned with the use of information and communication technology in support of MEDICAL research, education and also for promoting health care delivery. The field focuses on the bioMEDICAL information, patient data, and also acquisition, storage, retrieval and optimal use of information for solving problem and decision making. The goal of MEDICAL INFORMATICS is to help health care workers improve their way of working and the outcome of their performances. There is a variety of classification types for the different applications of MEDICAL INFORMATICS among which Telemedicine, Electronic MEDICAL Records, Information Retrieval and Decision Support Systems are the most important. Different applications of MEDICAL INFORMATICS can contribute to better outcomes in patient care and decrease the costs of health care services through error reduction, providing patients with their needed information and supporting physicians with updated information and related knowledge.

Introduction: The drive for health care and MEDICAL sciences to become evidence-based has been accelerated during recent years and therefore quick access to relevant information without the use of information and communication technology seems impossible. The aim of this study was to evaluate MEDICAL students' knowledge of computers and information science in Urmia University.Methods: This survey was implemented using questionnaire research method. A total of 166 from 275 MEDICAL students in different levels namely physiopathology, internship, and externship were assessed in November 2006. The data were collected in questionnaires. They were analyzed with SPSS.Results: Some 71.3% of the students had access to a computer at their homes but most of them (77%) had had no formal computer training before. Most of students could send and receive emails and also attach a file to it. Most of them had a little information about advanced search tools (27.7%) and search operators (5.4%). Approximately 1/3 of students knew about MEDICAL information banks and used them.Conclusion: Most of students had no formal computer training before, though such trainings would help students perform educational search tasks more quickly. Students had a little information about using search tools, though they are the most important tools for getting access to information resources within the web. MEDICAL information banks are sources that would help MEDICAL students to gain more quick access to useful articles; however, students had little information about these important sources and therefore did not use them frequently.

Dear Editor-in-Chief: Some countries in Africa and the Middle East, such as Iran, have potential advantages in MEDICAL tourism industry, including low-cost and high-quality services, competent physicians and marginal natural and historical attractions.

The aim of this study was to describe the achievements of MEDICAL INFORMATICS in the rehabilitation of deaf and hearing-impaired people. The databases of PubMed, Web of Sciences, and Google Scholar and MEDICAL INFORMATICS associations’ websites were searched. The findings indicated that MEDICAL INFORMATICS specialists had performed five types of projects in cooperation with clinicians, paramedics, and MEDICAL and computer engineers including training deaf and hearing-impaired people, sign language translator, analysis of audio signals, hearing disorders diagnosis and speech recognition. Of these projects, training deaf people had a long history and was the focus of attention. Analysis of audio signals and speech recognition projects needed more studies.