Method Inform Med
-
Medical care and medical education can be supported more than in the past by using new tools and new premises for the effective linkage between bodies of knowledge and the use of that knowledge. The medical record can be converted from a source-oriented record to a problem-oriented record, enabling to trace not only what was done, but why it was done. ⋯ We now have knowledge-coupling tools that can be used directly with the patients at the time of problem solving. Patients are becoming active participants in this process, bringing about new roles for experts as well as expert systems.
-
Education in medical informatics in The Netherlands: a nationwide policy and the Erasmus curriculum.
The curricula of all Medical Faculties still bear the characteristics of an era in which the physician was not educated in managing medical information systems, using communication networks, and processing knowledge. In attempting to formulate the prerequisites for developing and adjusting future curricula, we discuss the evolution of medical information technology during the past 25 years and give examples to illustrate that, by extrapolating current trends, future developments in information technology, medicine and education can be predicted. A plea is made for a strong interaction between scientific developments in medical informatics and academic education. ⋯ Furthermore, a nationwide policy on medical informatics in The Netherlands, is discussed. Our treatise is concluded by presenting the outline of the curriculum in medical informatics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Educational recommendations conclude the paper.
-
Starting with the quotation by Paul Ricoeur: Man needs love indeed; he needs justice still more; but most of all he needs meaning, this paper states that in this present situation medical education does not prepare students to deal with human needs, neither their own nor those of their patients. This is due to the almost exclusive devotion to hard sciences, contaminated by unscientific ideological drift, which tends to negate subjectivity and to suppress any significance of human destiny. Although medical informatics, by definition, eliminates meaning and knowledge, it can - if properly used as a complement and not as a competitor of human intelligence - help to renovate medical education, introduce true humanistic dimensions, and restore the element of human subjectivity.