Department of Medical Informatics, Xiangya Medical School, Central South University, 172 Tongzipo Road, Changsha, Hunan 410013, China.
Int J Med Inform. 2013 May;82(5):448-66. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2012.04.011. Epub 2012 Jun 15.
To outline the history of medical informatics education in the People's Republic of China, systematically analyze the current status of medical informatics education at different academic levels (bachelor's, master's, and doctoral), and suggest reasonable strategies for the further development of the field in China.
The development of medical informatics education was divided into three stages, defined by changes in the specialty's name. Systematic searches of websites for material related to the specialty of medical informatics were then conducted. For undergraduate education, the websites surveyed included the website of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MOE) and those of universities or colleges identified using the baidu.com search engine. For postgraduate education, the websites included China's Graduate Admissions Information Network (CGAIN) and the websites of the universities or their schools or faculties. Specialties were selected on the basis of three criteria: (1) for undergraduate education, the name of specialty or program was medical informatics or medical information or information management and information system; for postgraduate education, medical informatics or medical information; (2) the specialty was approved and listed by the MOE; (3) the specialty was set up by a medical college or medical university, or a school of medicine of a comprehensive university. The information abstracted from the websites included the year of program approval and listing, the university/college, discipline catalog, discipline, specialty, specialty code, objectives, and main courses.
A total of 55 program offerings for undergraduate education, 27 for master's-level education, and 5 for PhD-level education in medical informatics were identified and assessed in China. The results indicate that medical informatics education, a specialty rooted in medical library and information science education in China, has grown significantly in that country over the past 10 years. Frequent changes in the specialty's name and an unclear identity have hampered the visibility of this educational specialty and impeded its development. There is a noticeable imbalance in the distribution of degree programs in medical informatics in different disciplines, with the majority falling under information management. There is also an uneven distribution of the specialty settings of medical informatics at the various academic levels (bachelor's, master's, and doctoral). In addition, the objectives and curriculum design of medical informatics education differ from one university to another and also from those of foreign universities or colleges. It is recommended that China (1) treat medical informatics as a priority "must-have" discipline to build in China, (2) establish its own independent, balanced degree programs, (3) set up a specialty of "medical informatics" under the "medicine" category, (4) explore curriculum integration with international medical informatics education, and (5) establish and improve medical informatics education system.
概述中华人民共和国医学信息学教育的历史，系统分析不同学术层次（本科、硕士和博士）的医学信息学教育现状，并为中国该领域的进一步发展提出合理策略。
医学信息学教育的发展分为三个阶段，以专业名称的变化来界定。然后对医学信息学专业相关网站进行系统搜索。对于本科教育，调查的网站包括中华人民共和国教育部（MOE）网站和使用百度搜索引擎确定的大学或学院网站。对于研究生教育，网站包括中国研究生招生信息网（CGAIN）和大学或其学院或系的网站。专业是根据三个标准选择的：（1）本科教育，专业名称或课程为医学信息学或医学信息或信息管理与信息系统；研究生教育为医学信息学或医学信息；（2）专业由 MOE 批准并列入名单；（3）专业由医学院或医科大学或综合性大学的医学院设立。从网站上摘录的信息包括课程批准和列入名单的年份、大学/学院、学科目录、学科、专业、专业代码、目标和主要课程。
在中国共确定并评估了 55 个本科教育课程、27 个硕士教育课程和 5 个博士教育课程的医学信息学。结果表明，医学信息学教育是中国医学图书馆和情报学教育的一个专业，在过去 10 年中在中国有了显著发展。该专业名称频繁变化且身份不明，阻碍了该教育专业的可见度，并阻碍了其发展。不同学科的医学信息学学位课程分布明显不平衡，多数属于信息管理。医学信息学在不同学术层次（本科、硕士和博士）的专业设置也不平衡。此外，医学信息学教育的目标和课程设计因大学而异，也与国外大学或学院不同。建议中国（1）将医学信息学作为优先“必备”学科来建设，（2）建立独立、平衡的学位课程，（3）在“医学”类别下设立“医学信息学”专业，（4）探索与国际医学信息学教育的课程整合，（5）建立和完善医学信息学教育体系。
