Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Biomedical and Health Informatics

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (02) ◽  
pp. 105-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ammenwerth ◽  
G. Demiris ◽  
A. Hasman ◽  
R. Haux ◽  
W. Hersh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
International Medical

Summary Objective: The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) agreed on revising the existing international recommendations in health informatics /medical informatics education. These should help to establish courses, course tracks or even complete programs in this field, to further develop existing educational activities in the various nations and to support international initiatives concerning education in biomedical and health informatics (BMHI), particularly international activities in educating BMHI specialists and the sharing of courseware. Method: An IMIA task force, nominated in 2006, worked on updating the recommendations’ first version. These updates have been broadly discussed and refined by members of IMIA’s National Member Societies, IMIA’s Academic Institutional Members and by members of IMIA’s Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education. Results and Conclusions: The IMIA recommendations center on educational needs for health care professionals to acquire knowledge and skills in information processing and information and communication technology. The educational needs are described as a three-dimensional framework. The dimensions are: 1) professionals in health care (e.g. physicians, nurses, BMHI professionals), 2) type of specialization in BMHI (IT users, BMHI specialists), and 3) stage of career progression (bachelor, master, doctorate). Learning outcomes are defined in terms of knowledge and practical skills for health care professionals in their role a) as IT user and b) as BMHI specialist. Recommendations are given for courses /course tracks in BMHI as part of educational programs in medicine, nursing, health care management, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, health record administration, and informatics /computer science as well as for dedicated programs in BMHI (with bachelor, master or doctor degree).To support education in BMHI, IMIA offers to award a certificate for high-quality BMHI education. It supports information exchange on programs and courses in BMHI through its Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education.

Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Health and Medical Informatics

2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (03) ◽  
pp. 267-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Knaup ◽  
Reinhold Haux
Keyword(s):  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Healthcare Management ◽  
International Medical ◽  
Information And Communication

AbstractThe International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) agreed on international recommendations in health informatics/medical informatics education. These should help to establish courses, course tracks or even complete programs in this field, to further develop existing educational activities in the various nations and to support international initiatives concerning education in health and medical informatics (HMI), particularly international activities in educating HMI specialists and the sharing of courseware.The IMIA recommendations centre on educational needs for healthcare professionals to acquire knowledge and skills in information processing and information and communication technology. The educational needs are described as a three-dimensional framework. The dimensions are: 1) professionals in healthcare (physicians, nurses, HMI professionals, …), 2) type of specialisation in health and medical informatics (IT users, HMI specialists) and 3) stage of career progression (bachelor, master, …).Learning outcomes are defined in terms of knowledge and practical skills for healthcare professionals in their role (a) as IT user and (b) as HMI specialist. Recommendations are given for courses/course tracks in HMI as part of educational programs in medicine, nursing, healthcare management, dentistry, pharmacy, public health, health record administration, and informatics/computer science as well as for dedicated programs in HMI (with bachelor, master or doctor degree).To support education in HMI, IMIA offers to award a certificate for high quality HMI education and supports information exchange on programs and courses in HMI through a WWW server of its Working Group on Health and Medical Informatics Education (http://www.imia.org/wg1).

Health Informatics: Handle with Caution

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (02) ◽  
pp. 79-81
Author(s):  
V. Leroy ◽  
S. Maurice-Tison ◽  
B. Le Blanc ◽  
R. Salamon
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Data Security ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Inappropriate Use

Abstract:The increased use of computers is a response to the considerable growth in information in all fields of activities. Related to this, in the field of medicine a new component appeared about 40 years ago: Medical Informatics. Its goals are to assist health care professionals in the choice of data to manage and in the choice of applications of such data. These possibilities for data management must be well understood and, related to this, two major dangers must be emphasized. One concerns data security, and the other concerns the processing of these data. This paper discusses these items and warns of the inappropriate use of medical informatics.

Medical Informatics: A Key to the Future of Medicine and Health Care?

1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (05) ◽  
pp. 454-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Care Organization ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Research Education ◽  
The Future

Abstract:Commenting on the paper of Heathfield and Wyatt (The Road to Professionalism in Medical Informatics: A Proposal for Debate. Methods of Information in Medicine 1995) argued that Medical Informatics as a scientific discipline has reached a professional status. However, depending on the geographic location and the field of research, education or applications, requirements for further “professionalization” differ. It is proposed that Medical Informatics and Health Informatics should be regarded as one discipline and that Medical Informatics has to contribute to research, education and to the practice of health care in order to improve diagnostics, therapy and health care organization. The future of Medical Informatics is strongly dependent on health care professionals, who must be well-educated in medical informatics; these may be physicians, nurses, health care administrators, specialists in medical informatics, or others. There is still a continuing need for the systematic processing of data, information and knowledge in medicine and in health care. Also, due to its essentially cross-sectional nature encompassing most other disciplines in medicine and health sciences, Medical Informatics must be regarded as a key to the future of medicine and health care.

On IMIA‘s International Activities in Health and Biomedical Informatics Education

2010 ◽  
Vol 49 (03) ◽  
pp. 305-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux ◽  
P. J. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Biomedical Informatics ◽  
International Medical ◽  
Future Perspectives ◽  
High Quality ◽  
The World ◽  
Quality Health ◽  
High Level

Summary Background: Education has long been, and continues to be, one of the major thematic areas of the activities of IMIA, the International Medical Informatics Association. Objective: To report on IMIA’s past activities and to discuss possible future perspectives on IMIA’s role on biomedical and health informatics education. Methods: Summarizing past activities by searching in reports and publications. Making suggestions for wider discussion on possible future activities. Results: Since its inception, IMIA has been active in the field of education, mainly through its working group on education. Among other activities, nine working conferences have been held, many of which have resulted in publications as outcomes, which have helped to exchange knowledge on the development of high-quality health and biomedical informatics education. Recommendations on education in health and medical informatics were endorsed by IMIA in 1999, and a revised version is currently in preparation. Conclusions: IMIA should continue to stimulate the exchange of knowledge on a range of aspects of health and biomedical informatics education in the countries and regions of the world, with IMIA’s academic institutional members playing an increasing role. Establishing procedures for the international accreditation of high-level programs in health and biomedical informatics through IMIA is one of several areas that need to be discussed as IMIA plans and develops its future activities.

Health Care in the Information Society: What Should Be the Role of Medical Informatics?1

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (01) ◽  
pp. 31-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Information And Communication

Summary Objective: To discuss the consequences for medical informatics in encouraging and advancing the development of information processing methodology (IPM) and information and communication technology (ICT) to contribute to high-quality and efficient health care. Methods: Characterization of the current state of ICT, commenting on literature. Results and conclusions: Medical informatics is the discipline, concerned with the systematic processing of data, information, and knowledge in medicine and health care. Our societies are continuously being influenced by modern IPM and ICT. It can be expected that these developments, leading us into an “information society”, will continue. Three factors may significantly influence health care in the near future: the development of the population towards an aging society, progress in medicine, and progress in informatics. The major aims that will have to be achieved are the (1) patient-centered use of medical data, (2) process-integrated decision support, using high-quality medical knowledge, and (3) comprehensive use of patient data for clinical research and health reporting. Medical informatics research is needed on the electronic patient record, modern architectures for health information systems, and medical knowledge bases. In order to adequately pursue the goal of “transforming health care through innovative use of ICT for the 21st century”, health care professionals are needed, who are well-trained in medical informatics, respectively health informatics. Medical informatics must offer such educational programs and assure a sufficiently high quality of education.

Challenges in the Evolution of the Medical Informatics Program at Heidelberg/Heilbronn (Germany)

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (01) ◽  
pp. 66-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Haag ◽  
F. J. Leven ◽  
H. Dickhaus ◽  
P. Knaup
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Graduate Programs ◽  
Public Health Informatics ◽  
Master Program ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Bologna Declaration ◽  
Objective Health

Summary Objective: Health and medical informatics (HMI) is an evolving discipline. Therefore, evolving educational programs in HMI have to take a variety of requirements into account. The aim of this paper is to analyze these requirements and to compare them with the medical informatics program Heidelberg/Heilbronn, Germany. Methods: Systematic analysis of the IMIA recommendations on educating HMI, the Bologna declaration, current technological and health care developments and the results of graduates surveys. Results: The latest revision of the Heidelberg/ Heilbronn medical informatics program not only takes current developments into account but also realizes the IMIA recommendations, the Bologna declaration and graduates’ data and feedback obtained in structured surveys. The topics bioinformatics, IT security and tele-medicine were strengthened, taking major research and application trends into account. The program has been transformed into a consecutive bachelor/master program. It qualifies its graduates to work in the field of medical informatics as well as in informatics. Conclusions: Medical informatics is a very broad field. Programs have to make concessions to scope: It is not possible to provide profound knowledge and skills in computer science and also teach a variety of application areas like bioinformatics, public health informatics and clinical informatics in depth within one medical informatics program. Many graduate programs in various nations concentrate on providing HMI skills to health care professionals.

Health and Medical Informatics Education

1994 ◽  
Vol 33 (03) ◽  
pp. 246-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Haux ◽  
F. J. Leven ◽  
J. R. Moehr ◽  
D. J. Protti
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Science Program ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Academic Degree ◽  
The University

Abstract:Health and medical informatics education has meanwhile gained considerable importance for medicine and for health care. Specialized programs in health/medical informatics have therefore been established within the last decades.This special issue of Methods of Information in Medicine contains papers on health and medical informatics education. It is mainly based on selected papers from the 5th Working Conference on Health/Medical Informatics Education of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), which was held in September 1992 at the University of Heidelberg/Technical School Heilbronn, Germany, as part of the 20 years’ celebration of medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn. Some papers were presented on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the health information science program of the School of Health Information Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Within this issue, programs in health/medical informatics are presented and analyzed: the medical informatics program at the University of Utah, the medical informatics program of the University of Heidelberg/School of Technology Heilbronn, the health information science program at the University of Victoria, the health informatics program at the University of Minnesota, the health informatics management program at the University of Manchester, and the health information management program at the University of Alabama. They all have in common that they are dedicated curricula in health/medical informatics which are university-based, leading to an academic degree in this field. In addition, views and recommendations for health/medical informatics education are presented. Finally, the question is discussed, whether health and medical informatics can be regarded as a separate discipline with the necessity for specialized curricula in this field.In accordance with the aims of IMIA, the intention of this special issue is to promote the further development of health and medical informatics education in order to contribute to high quality health care and medical research.

Health and Medical Informatics Competencies: Call to Participate in Updating the IMIA Recommendations

2002 ◽  
Vol 41 (02) ◽  
pp. 86-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Douglas ◽  
Evelyn Hovenga
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Working Group ◽  
International Medical ◽  
Three Dimension ◽  
Virtual University ◽  
Group 1

Summary Objectives: On behalf of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), its Working Group 1 (WG1) addresses health and medical informatics education. Methods: As part of its mission, WG1 developed recommendations for competencies, describing a three-dimension framework and defining learning outcomes. Results: Officially approved by IMIA in 1999, the recommendations have been translated into seven languages. In 2001, WG1 charged a small group with updating the recommendations and consider the work undertaken by others to develop competencies. Additional work underway in support of the recommendations includes a literature review to help extract the fundamental competencies from the recommendations. To ensure the highest quality of input in the updated recommendations, WG1 is issuing a call for participation to the international informatics community. Conclusions: Further work with the competencies will result in updated IMIA guidelines. These are expected to support the creation of a virtual university for health and medical informatics.

Good Medicine and Good Health-care Demand Good Information (Systems)

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (05) ◽  
pp. 385-387
Author(s):  
R. -D. Hilgers ◽  
R. Hofestädt ◽  
U. Hübner ◽  
P. Knaup-Gregori ◽  
C. Ose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
German Journal ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Good Information ◽  
Patient Registries

SummaryThe demand for evidence-based health informatics and benchmarking of ‘good’ information systems in health care gives an opportunity to continue reporting on recent papers in the German journal GMS Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (MIBE) here. The publications in focus deal with a comparison of benchmarking initiatives in German-speaking countries, use of communication standards in telemonitoring scenarios, the estimation of national cancer incidence rates and modifications of parametric tests. Furthermore papers in this issue of MIM are introduced which originally have been presented at the Annual Conference of the German Society of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology. They deal as well with evidence and evaluation of ‘good’ information systems but also with data harmonization, surveillance in obstetrics, adaptive designs and parametrical testing in statistical analysis, patient registries and signal processing.

Knowledge for Medicine and Health Care

2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (04) ◽  
pp. 596-600
Author(s):  
Jan H. van Bemmel
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
American Medical ◽  
Medical Informatics ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
International Medical ◽  
Honorary Doctorate ◽  
National Library ◽  
American Medical Informatics Association ◽  
The University ◽  
The U.S

SummaryDr. Donald A. B. Lindberg, Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, received an honorary doctorate from UMIT, the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology in Innsbruck, Tyrol. The celebration took place on September 28, 2004 at an academic event during a conference of the Austrian, German, and Swiss Societies of Medical Informatics, GMDS2004. Dr. Lindberg has been a pioneer in the field of computers in health care from the early 1960s onwards. In 1984 he became the Director of the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, the world’s largest fully computerized biomedical library. Dr. Lind-berg has been involved in the early activities of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA), among others being the chair of the Organizing Committee for MEDINFO 86 in Washington D.C. He was elected the first president of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and served as an editor of Methods of Information in Medicine.

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