Clinical Governance and Clinical Informatics: Why Modern Healthcare Needs Both Working Together
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Clinical governance and clinical informatics are often spoken about as separate domains—one focused on safety and quality, the other on data, systems, and digital workflows. But in today’s healthcare environment, they are inseparable. You cannot deliver safe, high‑quality care without robust digital systems, and you cannot build effective digital systems without strong clinical governance.
This article explores how the two disciplines intersect, why the relationship matters, and how health organisations can strengthen both to improve patient outcomes.
What Is Clinical Governance?
Clinical governance is the framework that ensures patients receive safe, high‑quality, evidence‑based care. It covers:
- Clinical risk management
- Quality improvement
- Clinical audit and measurement
- Credentialing and scope of practice
- Consumer engagement
- Incident management and learning systems
- Clinical leadership and culture
At its core, clinical governance ensures that care is safe, effective, person‑centred, timely, efficient, and equitable.
What Is Clinical Informatics?
Clinical informatics is the discipline that connects clinical practice with digital systems. It focuses on:
- Designing and optimising clinical workflows
- Ensuring digital systems support safe care
- Managing clinical data quality
- Implementing standards such as FHIR, SNOMED CT, and LOINC
- Supporting decision support tools and analytics
- Bridging the gap between clinicians and technical teams
Clinical informatics ensures that digital tools are usable, clinically meaningful, and aligned with real‑world practice.
Why Clinical Governance Needs Clinical Informatics
Modern healthcare is digital healthcare. That means clinical governance frameworks must now extend into digital systems, data flows, and technology‑enabled care.
Here’s why:
1. Safety risks now live inside digital systems
Medication errors, documentation gaps, missing alerts, and incorrect data mappings can all originate from poorly designed or poorly governed digital workflows.
Clinical informatics provides the expertise to identify, mitigate, and monitor these risks.
2. Data quality is a clinical safety issue
If data is incomplete, inconsistent, or incorrectly coded, it affects:
- clinical decision‑making
- reporting
- analytics
- risk management
- patient outcomes
Clinical informatics ensures data is structured, standardised, and clinically accurate.
3. Digital transformation requires clinical leadership
Implementing EMRs, virtual care platforms, or interoperability solutions is not just an IT project. It requires:
- clinical engagement
- workflow redesign
- change management
- governance oversight
Clinical informatics provides the bridge between clinicians and technology teams.
4. Clinical governance committees need digital expertise
Traditional governance committees often lack deep understanding of:
- interoperability
- data standards
- algorithmic bias
- digital risk
- cybersecurity impacts on clinical care
Clinical informatics fills this gap, ensuring governance decisions are informed by digital realities.
Why Clinical Informatics Needs Clinical Governance
The relationship goes both ways. Clinical informatics cannot function effectively without strong governance.
1. Governance provides authority and accountability
Clinical informatics initiatives—such as workflow redesign, data standardisation, or decision support—require:
- clear ownership
- defined responsibilities
- escalation pathways
- approval processes
Governance structures provide this foundation.
2. Governance ensures alignment with organisational priorities
Without governance, digital projects risk becoming:
- siloed
- inconsistent
- duplicative
- misaligned with clinical strategy
Clinical governance ensures informatics work supports broader safety and quality goals.
3. Governance protects against unintended consequences
Digital systems can introduce new risks, such as:
- alert fatigue
- automation bias
- over‑reliance on algorithms
- workflow bottlenecks
- data misinterpretation
Clinical governance ensures these risks are identified, monitored, and mitigated.
Where Clinical Governance and Clinical Informatics Intersect
Here are the key areas where the two disciplines must work hand‑in‑hand:
1. Digital Clinical Safety
- Clinical risk assessments for digital systems
- Safety testing before go‑live
- Monitoring digital incidents
- Ensuring safe decision support
2. Data Governance
- Data quality frameworks
- Standardised terminology (SNOMED CT, LOINC)
- FHIR‑based interoperability
- Metadata and provenance
3. Workflow and System Design
- Clinician‑led design
- Usability testing
- Reducing cognitive load
- Ensuring workflows match real‑world practice
4. Change Management
- Training and education
- Communication strategies
- Embedding new digital behaviours
- Measuring adoption and impact
5. Clinical Decision Support
- Evidence‑based rules
- Alert governance
- Bias and safety monitoring
- Alignment with clinical guidelines
The Future: Integrated Digital Clinical Governance
Healthcare organisations are increasingly recognising the need for digital clinical governance—a unified approach that blends traditional clinical governance with digital safety, data governance, and informatics expertise.
This includes:
- Digital safety committees
- Clinical informatics representation on governance boards
- Digital risk registers
- Data quality dashboards
- FHIR‑based interoperability oversight
- AI and algorithm governance frameworks
Organisations that adopt this integrated model are better positioned to deliver safe, efficient, and modern care.
Final Thoughts
Clinical governance and clinical informatics are no longer separate worlds. They are two sides of the same coin—both essential for delivering safe, high‑quality, digitally enabled care.
As healthcare becomes increasingly data‑driven, organisations that integrate these disciplines will lead the way in safety, innovation, and patient outcomes.