Integration of Informatics and Health Informatics into Health Educational Programs of Higher Education in Greece

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this paper is to study the inclusion of Informatics and Health Informatics subjects in the health sciences departments’ curricula of higher education in Greece. Its main purpose is to determine the level of health informatics knowledge, dexterities and skills that these departments provide for their graduates. Method: Informatics and Health Informatics subjects were recorded from the departments’ curricula available on their ocial Web sites. Afterwards, these subjects were categorised based on the description of the objectives, the content and the syllabus of each department and on the Goals of Informatics Education identified by the American Medical Informatics Association. Results: Our research indicated that most of the subjects mainly focus on introductory concepts and applications rather than on advanced issues of informatics, resulting, mostly, in producing Information Technology users rather than Health/Medical Informatics specialists. Conclusion: The study presented in this paper points out the imperative need of health educational programs of higher education in Greece to adjust their curricula to the current educational requirements in order to provide their graduates with the necessary knowledge in health information technologies.