informatics in medical education
TRANSCRIPT
EDITORIAL
Informatics in medical education
In times of rapid change, experience is your worst enemy.
(Getty, 1999)
How should medical students and graduates learn to
`acquire, process and use information’ in the information
age (Greenes & Shortliffe, 1990; camis.stanford, 1999)?
In the UK the council of medical deans etc. has just
produced a report (CHMS Joint Working Group, 1998)
and the NHS executive has produced recommendations
about the integration of clinical information and educa-
tion (NHS Executive Bristol, 1999). The International
Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) is about to
produce a repor t (Scheduled for N ovember 1999 ,
contr ibutions via www.rzuser, 1999) and the spr ing
meeting of the American Informatics Association (AMIA)
dealt with this topic (www.imia, 1999).There is widespread
consensus that knowledge and skill levels need to rise in
the medical profession because of changes in society and
the improved decision making the new technologies offer
(Friedman, 1996; www.aamc, 1999). Recommendations
based on evaluated courses and programs vary across
different types of professional specialization and stage of
career progression but some broad principles apply, taken
from informatics and educational theory. These may be
summarized in the following sequence: de ® ne, select,
formulate, perform, evaluate, communicate.
The educational needs of any individual or group need
to be identi® ed before courses or programmes to address
those needs are developed. Medical students have been
describes as norms, nerds and phobes (Allery et al., 1997).
Nerds, self-evidently, need no training at all and may be
useful resources for other students (and teachers). Norms
need only an introduction of the facilities available. They
may need some encouragement and support. Phobes may
never have touched a computer and may not wish to do so.
In professional practice there may be attitudinal objectives
to address before any intervention is possible. Few medical
professionals need the high-level programming skills of
applied computing specialists, but most will need some skills
to function and develop.
Many electronic learning aids have already entered
mainstream medica l education , supp lemen ting the
traditional methods of the early years and the apprentice-
ship model of the clinical years (Coiera, 1998; reddwarf,
1999). Problem-based underg raduate curr icula and
postgraduate evidence-based medicine for practitioners
are even more avid consumers of electronics tools (basi-
l.otago, 1999; www.updateusa, 1999). Newer methods of
learning using informatics tools include assymmetric
learning technologies (e.g. email support of students
remote from central support), shar ing tools across
disciplines within universities and across widely spread
learning institutions, for example in the public health
supercourse (www.pitt, 1999). Selection of the appropriate
learning technology is less straightforward because few
published evaluations of innovative tools are available.
Evaluation in this sense means the ability to infer outcomes
from speci® c mechanisms in given contexts. Some infor-
matics tools are adopted simply because they are new
(Pawson & Tilley, 1997). Rigorous evaluation will tell us
whether they are really tools or simply toys. Once the
results are known, they can be used to de® ne the place of
the new technology and further re® ne that learning activity
(Wilkes & Bligh, 1999).
Some informatics tools are easily implemented by
learners with little input from teachers. But some require
adaptation or careful integration to meet speci® c individual
or local needs if learners are to optimize the potential
bene® ts. One of the difficulties experienced worldwide in
this area is addressing the learning needs of teachers (Sulli-
van, 1999). One of the aphorisms heard at the Chicago
conference was that `People don’ t use computers: organiza-
tions do’ . Using informatics to learn and practise medicine
needs to be built into the structures of our medical schools
across all learning sites. There will be an increased
emphasis on multidisciplinary learning in this new environ-
ment. Intranets linking teaching mater ials, reference
sources and clinical records are already developing (Coiera,
1998).Web-based access to the learning hubs is also highly
desirable.
Periods of rapid change are threatening and exhilarating.
Medical teachers need to base their responses to innovative
opportunities in the appropriate theoretical framework. Since
that framework is inadequately de® ned, medical teachers
must take the opportunities our new experiences offer for
evaluation and publication of our results.
References
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Medical Teacher, Vol. 21, No. 6, 1999
ISSN 0142-159X (Print)1466-187X (Online)/99/060541-02 ½ 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltd 541
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DR FRANK SULLIVAN
Professor of Research & Development in
General Practice and Primary Care,
University of Dundee,
Tayside Centre for General Practice,
Kirsty Semple Way, Dundee DD2 4AD, UK
Email: [email protected]
F. Sullivan
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