Education and health informatics

In this contribution, the role of health informatics in the medical curriculum is discussed. Firstly, trends in healthcare are presented that may have an impact on the use of IT in healthcare and consequently on education. Then, the traditional educational system is discussed and it is argued that the educational system should be changed. The problem-based approach is presented as an example of a new approach. The implications for education and training in health informatics are given. Given the lack of knowledge with respect to the basics of health informatics of both health professionals and students, attention has to be paid to learning materials. Both IT-EDUCTRA and NIGHTINGALE are presented as European projects that focus on education and training. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.