Abstract
From the earliest development of counting and counting machines to today’s sophisticated public health systems, a fundamental problem of public health practice has been the development of systems that can collect and analyze data, then convert it to useful forms. The development of modern mechanical measuring devices was a quantum leap toward solving the problem, but even after the invention of the computer in the twentieth century, there was a continuing need for systems that would maximize integration of system components and minimize duplication of data entry. A review of the three waves of modern federal-state public health system development reveals the progression toward the optimization goal. In general, today’s systems to manage public health data and information have evolved in step with the scientific basis underlying public health practice, a practice that integrates findings in the biomedical field with the sciences of epidemiology and biostatistics.
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Lumpkin, J.R., Magnuson, J.A. (2014). History and Significance of Information Systems and Public Health. In: Magnuson, J., Fu, Jr., P. (eds) Public Health Informatics and Information Systems. Health Informatics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4237-9_2
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