TV Rao

Opinion - Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges

OPINION

Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges

TV Rao, MD
Department of Microbiology Travancore Medical College, Kollam, Kerala Email: drtvrao@gmail.com 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 of resources 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

An Open Access Peer Reviewed E-Journal

TV Rao

Opinion - Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges

separate academic units devoted to bioinformatics 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 (elearning) 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 exchange information anywhere, any time. ICT gives access to knowledge, and in principle, students can draw on a global pool of knowledge. ICT makes learning knowledge easier and sharing

creating awareness regarding learning strategies, 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 of information. 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 challenge Future physicians need to be prepared to deal 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 challenge This 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 quality of interventions and healthcare delivery but also, from a broader perspective, the very organization of the health care system. The third challenge

Students 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,

Health Sciences 2012;1(2):JS012

An Open Access Peer Reviewed E-Journal

TV Rao

Opinion - Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges

The third challenge is to motivate medical students 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 challenge Another 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 literacy This 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 online resources 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 medicine 7. 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 of the current teaching methods. In order to equip our students to face the global challenges in the medical profession, elearning 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.

Health Sciences 2012;1(2):JS012

An Open Access Peer Reviewed E-Journal