title: [Standards in Medical Informatics: Fundamentals and Applications].
abstract: The use of computers in medical practice has enabled novel forms of communication to be developed in health care. The optimization of communication processes is achieved through the use of standards to harmonize the exchange of information and provide a common language for all those involved. This article describes the concept of a standard applied to medical informatics and its importance in the development of various applications, such as computational representation of medical knowledge, disease classification and coding systems, medical literature searches and integration of biological and clinical sciences.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia; Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Estados Unidos. Electronic address: fernando.suarez@javeriana.edu.co.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Suárez-Obando
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Estados Unidos; Departamento de Epidemiología y Bioestadística, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
authors.forename: Jhon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Camacho Sánchez
keywords: Aplicaciones de informática médica; Ciencia de la información; Information science; Informática médica; Medical informatics; Medical informatics applications