Over the past thirty years, Healthcare Informatics has developed from a narrow cross-disciplinary interest to a discipline in its own right. More and more universities across the world have established Departments of Informatics within their Medical Faculties; and in Ireland too we have a growing number of full-time Healthcare Informatics professionals, in hospitals, in health boards, in universities and in service companies.

From 1976 to 1996, Healthcare Informatics interests in the Republic of Ireland were represented by the Medical Specialist Group of the Irish Computer Society. This group represented Ireland at the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI) and the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA). It hosted the European Medical Informatics conference, MIE 82, and was associated with the IMIA Working Group 8 international symposium on Nursing Informatics held in Dublin in 1988.

In May 1996 the members of the Medical Specialist Group formed a new society, the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland (Cumann Ríomheolais Sláinte), in order to broaden the base of membership and increase the range of services offered.

The Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland was inaugurated formally at its First Annual Conference in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, on Thursday 10th October 1996. The new society incorporates the Healthcare Informatics section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. Thus the Healthcare Informatics Society is in a position to build bridges between computer professionals interested in health care, and health care professionals interested in computing, while supporting and embracing the new professionals of health care informatics. There are currently over 700 members, drawn from information technology, medicine, nursing, other professions allied to medicine, education, government and industry.

The Objectives of HISI

The Objectives, as set out in the Constitution, are:

• To develop and disseminate knowledge of the use of informatics in health care.
• To promote research and education in health care informatics.
• To participate internationally with bodies of similar interests.
• In pursuit of the third objective, the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland has been accepted as a member of the European Federation for Medical Informatics, and the International Medical Informatics Association.

The Officers of HISI

The officers of the society are:

The Executive Committee of HISI

The members of the executive committee are:

The Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland:

• Incorporates the Healthcare Informatics sections of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland and of the Irish Computer Society
• Is official representative and member of the European Federation for Medical Informatics and the International Medical Informatics Association
• Is a founding member of Prorec Ireland

HISI supports the Health Informatics Training System (HITS), an online certification solution for all healthcare workers using technology in the healthcare sector. 

HISI also endorses Irish Council for Health Informatics Professions (ICHIP), Ireland's foremost Register for Health Informatics Professionals. 

If you would like to contact an Officer of the Society or a member of the Executive Committee, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .