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7/29/2019 Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges
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TV Rao Opinion-Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges
OPINIONImplementation of Medical Informatics inMedical CollegesTV Rao, MDDepartment of MicrobiologyTravancore 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 ofresources 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
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separate academic units devoted tobioinformatics 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 (e-learning) 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 exchangeinformation anywhere, any time. ICT gives
access to knowledge, and in principle,
students can draw on a global pool of
knowledge.
ICT makes learning and sharingknowledge easierStudents 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,
creating awareness regarding learningstrategies, 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 ofinformation.
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 challengeFuture physicians need to be prepared todeal 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 challengeThis 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 qualityof interventions and healthcare delivery but
also, from a broader perspective, the very
organization of the health care system.
The third challenge
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TV Rao Opinion-Implementation of Medical Informatics in Medical Colleges
The third challenge is to motivate medicalstudents 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 challengeAnother 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 literacyThis 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 onlineresources 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
medicine7.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 ofthe current teaching methods. In order to
equip our students to face the global
challenges in the medical profession, e-
learning 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.
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