Medical Informatics Education Needs Information System Practicums in Health Care Settings

Summary

Objectives: To report about the themes and about experiences with practicums in the management of information systems in health care settings (health information management) for medical informatics students.

Methods: We first summarize the topics of the health information management practicums/projects that the authors organized between 1990 and 2003 for the medical informatics programs at Heidelberg/ Heilbronn, Germany, UMIT, Austria, as well as for the informatics program at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Experiences and lessons learned, obtained from the faculty that organized the practicums in the past 14 years, are reported.

Results: Thirty (of 32) health information management practicums focused on the analysis of health information systems. These took place inside university medical centers. Although the practicums were time-intensive and required intensively tutoring students with regard to health information management and project management, feedback from the students and graduates was mainly positive.

Discussion: It is clearly recommended that students specializing in medical informatics need to be confronted with real-world problems of health information systems during their studies.

Keywords

Medical informatics - health informatics - hospital information systems - health information systems - education

• References

• 1 Ball MJ, Garets DE, Handler TJ. Leveraging IT to Improve Patient Safety. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42: 503-8.
• 2 Hasman A, Safran C, Takeda H. Quality of Health Care: Informatics Foundations. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42: 509-18.
• 3 Kuhn KA, Giuse DA. From Hospital Information Systems to Health Information Systems – Problems, Challenges, Perspectives. Methods Inf Med 2001; 40: 275-87.
• 4 Knaup P, Frey W, Haux R, Leven FJ. Medical Informatics Specialists: What are their Job Profiles? Results of a Study on the First 1024 Medical Informatics Graduates of the Universities of Heidelberg and Heilbronn. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42: 578-87.
• 5 Frey W, Haux R, Leiner F, Leven FJ. Medical Informatics Heidelberg/Heilbronn: Graduates’ Experiences and Job Situation. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33: 290-8.
• 6 Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on Education in Health and Medical Informatics Methods Inf Med. 2000; 39: 267-77. See also http://www.imia.org
• 7 Anderson J, Grémy F, Pagès JC. (eds.) Education in Informatics of Health Personnel. Amsterdam: North Holland Publ Comp 1974
• 8 Pagès JC, Levy AH, Grémy F, Anderson J. (eds.) Meeting the Challenge: Informatics and Medical Education. Amsterdam: North Holland Publ Comp; 1983
• 9 Salamon R, Moehr JR, Protti DJ. (eds.) Medical Informatics and Education. Victoria: University of Victoria Press; 1989
• 10 Van Bemmel JH, Zvárová J. (eds.) Knowledge, Information and Medical Education. Amsterdam: North Holland Publ Comp; 1991
• 11 Haux R, Leven FJ, Moehr JR, Protti DJ. (eds.) Health and Medical Informatics Education. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33: 246-331.
• 12 Haux R, Swinkels W, Ball MJ, Knaup P, Lun KC. (eds.) Health and Medical Informatics Education: Transformation of Healthcare Through Innovative Use of Information Technology. Int J Med Inf 1998. 50 1-300.
• 13 Kulikowski CA. A Micro-Macro Spectrum of Medical Informatics Challenges and Opportunities: From the Informatics of Molecular Medicine to that of Transforming Health Care in a Globalizing Society. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 20-4.
• 14 Lun KC. Challenges in Medical Informatics: Perspectives of an International Medical Informatics Organization. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 60-3.
• 15 Musen MA. Medical Informatics: Searching for Underlying Components. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 12-9.
• 16 Musen MA, van Bemmel JH. Challenges for Medical Informatics as an Academic Discipline. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 1-3.
• 17 Shahar Y. Medical Informatics: Between Science and Engineering, Between Academia and Industry. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 8-11.
• 18 Talmon JL, Hasman A. Medical Informatics as a Discipline at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 4-7.
• 19 Van der Lei J. Closing the Loop Between Clinical Practice, Research, and Education: the Potential of Electronic Patient Records. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 51-4.
• 20 Haux R. Health Care in the Information Society: What Should be the Role of Medical Informatics?. Methods Inf Med 2002; 41: 31-5.
• 21 van Bemmel JH, Musen MA. (eds.) Handbook of Medical Informatics. Heidelberg: Springer; 1997
• 22 Hasman A, Albert A, Wainwright P, Klar R. (eds.) Education and training in health informatics: guidelines for European curricula. Amsterdam: IOS; 1995
• 23 Mantas J. (ed.) Health and Medical Informatics Education in Europe. Amsterdam: IOS; 2000
• 24 Moehr JR, Leven FJ, Rothemund M. Formal Education in Medical Informatics. Review of Ten Years’ Experience with a Specialized University Curriculum. Methods Inf Med 1982; 21: 169-80.
• 25 Leven FJ. Curriculum for medical informatics at the University of Heidelberg/School of Technology Heilbronn. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33: 262-7.
• 26 Haux R, Leven FJ. Twenty years medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: evolution of a specialized curriculum for medical informatics. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33: 285-9.
• 27 Leven FJ, Haux R. Twenty-five Years of Medical Informatics Education at Heidelberg /Heilbronn: Discussion of a Specialized Curriculum for Medical Informatics. Int J Med Inf 1998; 50: 31-42.
• 28 Moehr JR. Teaching Medical Informatics: Teaching at the Seams of Disciplines, Cultures and Nations. Methods Inf Med 1989; 28: 273-300.
• 29 Moehr JR, Berenji GR, Green CJ, Kagolovsky Y. Project-Based Teaching in Health Informatics: A Course on Health Care Quality Improvement. In Patel V, Rogers R, Haux R. (eds.) MEDINFO 2001. Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Medical Informatics. Amsterdam: IOS; 2001: 1061-5.
• 30 Moehr JR. Projektstudium: Ein didaktisches Modell zur Realisation von berufspraktischer Ausbildung im Studium der Medizinischen Informatik. In Reichertz PL, Koeppe P. (eds.) Die Ausbildung in der Medizinischen Informatik Berlin: Springer; 1982: 91-104. (in German)
• 31 Knaup P, Haux R, Häber A, Lagemann A, Leiner F. Teaching the Fundamentals of Information Systems Management in Health Care: Lecture and Practical Training for Students of Medical Informatics (Heidelberg /Heilbronn). Int J Med Inf 1998; 50 195-205.
• 32 Haux R, Winter A, Ammenwerth E, Brigl B. Strategic Information Management in Hospitals. An Introduction to Hospital Information Systems. New York: Springer; 2004
• 33 Haux R, Lagemann A, Knaup P, Schmücker P, Winter A. Management von Informationssystemen. Stuttgart: Teubner; 1998. (in German)
• 34 Häber A, Haux R, Knaup P. Analysis, Modelling and Simulation of Information Systems as Part of the Medical Informatics Program at Heidelberg/Heilbronn. In Mantas J. (ed.) Health and Medical Informatics Education in Europe. Amsterdam: IOS 2000; 162-9.
• 35 Haux R, Ammenwerth E, Ter Burg WJ, Pilz J, Jaspers MWM. An International Course on Strategic Information Management for Medical Informatics Students: Aim, Content, Structure, and Experiences. Int J Med Inf 2004; 73: 512-4.
• 36 Jaspers MWM, Ammenwerth E, ter Burg WJ, Kaiser F, Haux R. An International Course on Strategic Information Management for Medical Informatics Students: International Perspectives and Evaluation. Int J Med Inform 2004; 73: 807-15.
• 37 Haux R, Schmidt D. Master of Science Programin Health Information Management at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: a Health Care Oriented Approach to Medical Informatics. Int J Med Inf 2002; 65: 31-9.
• 38 Haux R. Biomedical and Health Informatics Education at UMIT – Approaches and Strategies at a Newly Founded University. Int J Med Inf 2004; 73: 127-38.
• 39 Lechleitner G, Pfeiffer KP, Wilhelmy I, Ball MJ. Cerner Millennium: The Innsbruck Experience. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42: 8-15.
• 40 Diomidous M, Verginis I, Mantas J. The Construction of a Simulation-Based System for the Development of Powerful and Realistic Models and Practicals for Healthcare Professionals. IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed 1998; 2: 174-82.
• 41 Diomidus M, Mantas J. Assessing the progress of the M.Sc. course in health informatics under the ERASMUS programme. Int J Med Inf 1998; 50: 159-63.
• 42 Coward JH. Description of Training Undergraduates in Health Information Science Using a Cooperative Education Model. In Salamon R, Moehr JR, Protti DJ. (eds.) Medical Informatics and Education. Victoria: University of Victoria Press; 1989: 544-8.
• 43 Protti DJ. Health Information Science at the University of Victoria: The First Ten Years. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33: 254-72.
• 44 Miller K, Protti DJ. Wright I, Guerriere M. Innovative Informatics Education: Aligning Theory and Practice Through Strategic Partnership. In Cesnik B, McCray AT, Scherrer J-R. (eds.) MEDINFO 98. Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Medical Informatics. Amsterdam: IOS 1998; 89-92.
• 45 Bygholm A, Hejlesen O, Nohr C. Problem- Oriented Project Work in a Distance Education Program in Health Informatics. In Cesnik B, McCray AT, Scherrer JR. (eds.) MEDINFO 98. Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Medical Informatics. Amsterdam: IOS 1998; 740-4.
• 46 Nohr C, Andreassen S. Theory and practice of medical informatics professionally balanced in problems and projects. Methods Inf Med 1995; 34: 446-9.
• 47 Kaplan B, Shaw NT. Future directions in evaluation research: people, organizational, and social issues. Methods Inf Med 2004; 43: 215-31.
• 48 Ammenwerth E, de Keizer N. An inventory of evaluation studies in information technology in health care trends in evaluation research 1982-2002. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 44-56.
• 49 Jaspers MW, Gardner RM, Gatewood LC, Haux R, Schmidt D, Wetter T. The International Partnership for Health Informatics Education: lessons learned from six years of experience. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 25-31.
• 50 Lindberg DAB. Research Opportunities and Challenges in 2005. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 483-6.
• 51 Moehr JR, Blankenbaker R, Collen MF, Hyner G. Methods of information in the age of prospective medicine. Methods Inf Med 2005; 44: 270-2.
• 52 Aronson E, Patnoe S. Jigsaw Classroom. New York: Longman; 1997