Information-Retrieval Systems

Abstract

Information retrieval (IR) is the science and practice of identification and efficient use of recorded media. Although medical informatics has traditionally concentrated on the retrieval of text from the biomedical literature, the domain over which IR can be applied effectively has broadened considerably with the advent of multimedia publishing and vast storehouses of chemical structures, cartographic materials, gene and protein sequences, video clippings, and a wide range of other digital media of relevance to biomedical education, research, and patient care. As the ease with which information can be recorded and stored in digital form grows, the growth of biomedical knowledge, once spoken of primarily with reference to the biomedical literature, is now equally relevant to the retrieval of information from text within computer-based patient records, documents concerning the administration of medical care, supporting data for biomedical publications, and the literally tens of thousands of electronic-mail messages now sent and stored every day within personal and professional settings.