ILUSTRE, RHYNA DIVINA GRACIA A.

BSN II- B

Nursing informatics is a combination of computer science, information science, and nursing science,
designed to assist in the management and processing of nursing data, information, and knowledge to
support nursing practice, education, research, and administration (Graves & Corcoran, 1989)

A computer system consists of two major elements: hardware and software.

Computer hardware is the collection of all the parts you can physically touch.
Computer software, on the other hand, is not something you can touch.
Software is a set of instructions for a computer to perform specific operations. You need both hardware
and software for a computer system to work.

Computer Hardware

❖ Hardware
➢ “Hardware” refers to the physical parts of a computer system that contains a circuit board, ICs, or
other electronics.
ie; motherboard, CPU, RAM, hard drive, etc.
• Abbreviated as HW

❖ Peripherals
➢ Peripherals, also known as Input-output devices, are any devices used to enter information and
instructions to a computer, and deliver useful data to a human.
➢ Examples: Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, Microphone

❖ Memory
➢ Like a human brain, it is used to store data and instructions.
➢ Memory that are temporary are RAM (Random Access Memory)
➢ Memory that are permanent are ROM (Read Only Memory)

➢ Volatile vs non-volatile,
■ Volatile memory loses its contents when there is no power(computer off). ie; RAM.
■ Non-volatile memory keeps its contents even if the power is lost. ie; Hard drives, flash drives

❖ Motherboard
➢ It is the backbone. It’s the computer’s central communications backbone connectivity point. It holds
together and connects most of the important devices such as the CPU, storage memory, graphics cards
and also connects to the Peripheral devices.
➢ A printed circuit board, that allows communication between all the computer hardware.
❖ CPU(Central Processing Unit)
➢ It is the computer's brain. It is the brains of the computer where most of the calculations take place.
It runs the operating system and applications, and constantly processes data.

Advanced Hardware and mHealth

❖ Advanced Hardware

❖ Bluetooth
➢ Standard short-range wireless interconnection of mobile phones, computers, and other electronic
devices by using radio waves.

❖ mHealth
➢ Short for “Mobile health”, a term used for practice of medicine and public health supported by
mobile devices. The most common application of mHealth is the use of mobile devices to educate
consumers about preventive healthcare services

❖ Mobile Device
➢ a portable computing device such as a smartphone or tablet computer.
➢ a handheld device that is made for portability and therefore both compact and lightweight.
➢ Examples: Smartphones(Iphone, Samsung, Oppo)

❖ Wi-fi
➢ a facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the Internet or
communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.
➢ short for “Wireless Fidelity”, it was simply trademarked term meaning IEEE 802.11x.\
➢ It uses radio frequencies to send signals between devices. Radio frequencies happen to be 2.4Ghz
and 5Ghz.