The Center for Biomedical Informatics
State University of Campinas, Brazil

Research Abstracts

The rapid spread of computer usage in the Health Sciences has increased enormously the demand for specific training and education of professionals and students in this area. We relate here our experience in the curricular insertion and improvement of a new discipline of Medical Informatics in our institution, at undergraduate level, for the medical and nursing careers, which was started in the second semester of 1988. The aim of this teaching area is to introduce students to the basic knowledge on Informatics and its applications in the Health Sciences, through the practical use of microcomputers in several areas. The curriculum in Medical Informatics started as a single 45-hour course, but is now (e.g., since the first semester of 1991), divided into two separate, 36-hour, elective courses. The first one, titled "Introduction to Medical Informatics", is offered to medical students from the first to the fourth years, and is structured around two themes: 1) basic introduction to Informatics (12 h); 2) practical use of Microcomputers (24 h). The second course is titled "Applications of Informatics to Medicine" and is offered to advanced students (e.g., those that can demonstrate sufficient knowledge and skills in the use of microcomputers, similar to those imparted in the first course) and presents the medical applications of computers. Its audience is comprised mostly by students from the third to the sixth years. In the first course, the students learn computer fundamentals and have their first contact with a programming language (BASIC). They learn also how to use text processing, spreadsheet, graphics, database management, online bibliographical search and biostatistics programs. In the second course, they are lectured on the fields of application of computers in Medicine (medical records, anamnesis, laboratory automation, medical image and signal processing, epidemiology, diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic decision making, applications in research and education, etc.). Each lecture is followed by a lab class, where students manipulate one or two simple microcomputer programs, especially developed for the course, which illustrate all the potential applications. In this course, the students are also introduced to the dBASE III programming language, and are required to develop a small database application in the health sciences. Specific instruction in other application areas allow them to develop small medical expert systems, as well computer-based clinical simulations, using simple shell programs especially developed for this purpose. In addition, we have developed several auxiliary teaching materials, such as a color slide collection, a 200-page textbook on medical applications and a 120-page lab manual on microcomputer literacy, besides a collection of 21 public-domain programs for IBM/PC compatibles. The courses have enjoyed great acceptation and success and are now ministered two times a year, with about 15 students per class. The partition of the original single block course has make possible the extension of time dedicated to Informatics in the medical undergraduate curriculum. Furthermore, students from the initial and final years at the Medical School are more motivated and have a firmer background to profit from the fundamental and advanced courses, respectively. It is planned to introduce a third elective discipline within the next two years, of a more advanced nature (Medical Information Systems and Medical Documentation), for students of the last two years in the medical and nursing schools.

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Last Updated: March 2, 1996

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