Abstract:
Heathfield and Wyatt’s article in the current issue of Methods opens a debate about
the status of Medical Informatics as a discipline and as a profession. While the desire
for more professionalism of Medical Informatics is laudable, certain points in the
article are debatable. Based on widely circulated definitions of profession and science,
on the thousands of people who make medical informatics their main occupation, and
on at least 10,000 peer-reviewed publications, the authors argue that the discipline
is already a profession, albeit a fledgling one. Contrary to the positions of Heathfield
and Wyatt, exemplary, long-lasting medical informatics applications demonstrate that
the best artifacts of medical informatics already meet the most important requirement
for professionalism, i. e., the commitment to clients and the public to perform a
socially useful function.
Keywords:
Medical Informatics - Professionalism - System Development - Education
