The international partnership for health informatics education - Lessons learned from six years of experience

Objectives: To inform the medical and health informatics community on the rational, goals, and the achievement of the International Partnership for Health Informatics Education - IPHIE, (I Phi E), that was established at six universities in 1999. Methods: We elaborate on the overall goals of I Phi E and describe the current state of affairs: the activities undertaken and faculty and student experience related to these activities. In addition we outline the lessons we have learned over these past six years and our plans for the future. Results: I Phi E members first started to collaborate by supporting and encouraging the exchange of talented students and faculty and by establishing joint master classes for honors students. Following the success of these activities, new initatives were undertaken such as the organization of student workshops at medical informatics conferences and a joint course on strategic information management in hospitals in Europe. Conclusions: International partnerships such as I Phi E take time to establish, and, if they are to be successful, maintaining leadership continuity is critically important. We are convinced that I Phi E promotes professionalism of future medical informatics specialists. There will be a continuing growth of globalization in higher education. It will therefore become increasingly important to offer educational programs with international components.