This essential text provides a readable yet sophisticated overview of the basic concepts of information technologies as they apply in healthcare. Spanning areas as diverse as the electronic medical record, searching, protocols, and communications as well as the Internet, Enrico Coiera has succeeded in making this vast and complex area accessible and understandable to the non-specialist, while providing everything that students of medical informatics need to know to accompany their course. Fully revised, the third edition of Guide to Health Informatics remains essential reading for all health science undergraduates, clinical health professionals, and health service managers who need to appreciate and understand the role of informatics and its associated technologies for optimal practice and service delivery.