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Methods Inf Med 1995; 34(05): 434-440
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634626
Editorial Commentary
Schattauer GmbH

Potholes in the Road to Professionalism in Medical Informatics

D. A. Giuse
1   Division of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
,
R. A. Miller
1   Division of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
17 February 2018 (online)

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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
 

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