The new set-up of the medical informatics Master of Science program at the University of Amsterdam

Abstract

Objectives To describe the new set-up of our Master of Science program in medical informatics that started in September 2006 at the University of Amsterdam-Academic Medical Center, The Netherlands. Methods To harmonize with the Bologna declaration, we transformed our former medical informatics program from a 4-year course into a 3-year bachelor and a 2-year (English) Master of Science Medical Informatics program. We describe the objectives, organizational structure and contents of this new medical informatics master program. Results The new master program now is aimed at (international) baccalaureates in medical informatics, computer science, medicine and other health-related studies and professionals from these disciplines. The master course comprises four study semesters of 30 EC each, equal to 120 EC in total. Central to the program is the context of hospital organization, encompassing medical practice and patient care, information and communication technologies and (logistic) structuring of health care and health care processes. The program comprises core education (60 EC), discipline-related in-depth-study (12 EC) and an academic work placement (48 EC). Students from a range of other disciplines will be admitted to the master program after successful completion of an individualized conversion program (a maximum of 30 EC). Conclusions With the new set-up of our master course and by offering individualized conversion programs, we hope to both accommodate the learning needs of our own medical informatics baccalaureates and to attract other (international) students and professionals to our new program. Our ultimate aim is to bring forth medical informatics specialists who can make significant contributions to the field.