implementation of medical informatics in medical colleges

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TV Rao Opinion-Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges

OPINIONImplementation of Medical Informatics inMedical CollegesTV Rao, MDDepartment of MicrobiologyTravancore Medical College, Kollam, Kerala

Email: [email protected]

Medical informatics is the main constituent

of biomedical informatics, the field that

deals with the cognitive, information -

processing and communication tasks of

medical practice, education, and research, as

well as the information science and

technology employed to support these tasks.It is intrinsically an interdisciplinary field,

with a high focus on application, but it also

addresses a number of fundamental research

problems besides planning and policy issues.

Academic units of medical informatics are

increasingly being established at several

medical colleges and institutions; medical

informatics professionals are being sought to

serve on faculties and hospital staffs; and

medical informatics is emerging as a distinct

academic entity.

Information and communication technology

(ICT) comprises computers, networks,

satellite communications, robotics,

videotext, cable television, electronic mail

(e-mail), and automated office equipment.

Developments in ICT have resulted in the

increased application of these technologies

in the practice of medicine and provision of

medical care. The gap between developed

and developing countries is wide in terms ofresources for developing effective tools of

medical informatics. The health sector is

about 15 years behind other sectors in the

application of ICT. Computers are

increasingly becoming affordable and easier

to use and continue to be the most powerful

information-processing tools. The rapid

growth of the ICT sector needs to be

paralleled by the upgrading of the teaching

methodologies in Medicine.

Early academic units for medical or health

informatics tended to focus on the

application of informatics to clinical practice

and clinical research; subsequently, many

well-organized institutions have established

Health Sciences 2012;1(2):JS012 1 An Open Access Peer Reviewed E-Journal


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separate academic units devoted tobioinformatics and clinical informatics.

ICT, mainly the computer, is increasingly

being used in medical education. However,

there are still some concerns regarding the

methods of employing ICT in education

and ensuring equitable access to teachers

and learners. Nevertheless, ICT solves the

problems about space and time for the

delivery of education. Electronic learning (e-learning) has advanced from being

represented by textbooks in electronic

format (which are considerably enhanced by

the use of multimedia adjuncts) to a truly

interactive medium that can meet the

educational needs of students and

postgraduate learners.

Students can now communicate, contact

teachers, and collect and exchangeinformation anywhere, any time. ICT gives

access to knowledge, and in principle,

students can draw on a global pool of

knowledge.

ICT makes learning and sharingknowledge easierStudents can individually and or in groups

prepare records of notes and presentations

(portfolio) for subsequent use and thus

register their progress. Several studies have

shown that empowering students with

resources from ICT promotes the following

aspects of education: learning for life,

creating awareness regarding learningstrategies, improving personal and

professional standards, adapting to the

globalized world, accessing knowledge

across geographical and cultural borders,

formulating personal goals for the learning

process,controlling the personal learning

process, procuring relevant information,

organizing and formulating knowledge

independently, and acquiring knowledge

rather than mere re-production ofinformation.

The following are recognized as important

challenges in the application of ICT to

medical education and should be

incorporated and addressed in the

curriculum and training.

The first challengeFuture physicians need to be prepared todeal with the changing behavior of patients,

who are now internet-savvy and who may

sometimes appear to know more about their

diseases than the physicians themselves.

The second challengeThis is closely linked to the first challenge; it

is to raise awareness among physicians and

medical students about the many benefits of

using ICT to improve not only the qualityof interventions and healthcare delivery but

also, from a broader perspective, the very

organization of the health care system.

The third challenge



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The third challenge is to motivate medicalstudents and practitioners to use ICT to

obtain information, learn, and develop. It is

proposed that ICT literacy should be a

mandatory skill for all medical students.

Although underemployed in most medical

faculties, e-learning represents the future of

initial and continuous medical training,

along with virtual resources and

communities, simulations, and 3D

animations.

The fourth challengeAnother challenge inherent to the use of

ICT in medical education is the lack of

clarity regarding the manner of applying this

innovation to teaching and learning.

Information literacyThis should be considered a mandatory skill

in the training of all physicians. E-learning,although not yet very widespread in medical

faculties, represents the future of initial and

continuous medical training. Tools such as

virtual simulators, 3D animations, and

virtual communities and e-portfolios are

important innovations that will have a

growing impact on medical education and

practice.

To optimize the application of ICT to

medicine, all medical students and faculties

should be trained in the following topics, by

providing them the required lectures,

demonstrations, and access to onlineresources of data:

1. Computer and power of computers

in science and medicine

2.Use of the Internet and modern

methods of Web search

3.ICT for medical professionals

4.Retrieval of medical information

5.e-learning in medicine

6.Podcasting and video-casting in

medicine7.Contributing and sharing knowledge

on the World Wide Web.

India is witnessing a rapid increase in the

number of medical colleges and institutions.

Senior teachers have to adapt to newer

methods of training and teaching students;

otherwise, it will be difficult to keep pace

with the changes taking place in every

branch of Medicine. Medical informatics

certainly helps overcome the drawbacks ofthe current teaching methods. In order to

equip our students to face the global

challenges in the medical profession, e-

learning should be given priority in medical

and nursing education, since humans alone

cannot fill all the gaps in training. Although

concerns regarding the loss of the human

touch in teaching and practicing Medicine

may accompany the advances in technology,

the application of ICT to the training of

medical students is inevitable.


implementation of medical informatics in medical colleges

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