Health informatics education; an information-related undergraduate perspective

Abstract

This paper considers health infonnatics education from the perspective of the provision of undergraduate teaching, based on infonnatics foundations, and adopting an integrated and infonnation­ related approach. Some educational approaches to the subject are reviewed, and the proposed BSc degree in Health Infonnatics at City University is outlined as an exemplar. 1. Informatics as a discipline I take health informatics to be, simply, the application of the information sciences to problems of health care; we shall look at the concept in more detail later. Most commen­ tators regard health informatics, both pragmatically and philosophically, as a part of the healthcare disciplines (1). There is, however, an alternative perspective, which regards the subject as an part of the information sciences; or, perhaps better, an instantiation of informatics in one application domain, that of medicine and health-care generally. Both perspectives are valid. Indeed, this dichotomy, while it undoubtedly causes some confu­ sion, is a source of creative tension which can stimulate the interdisciplinary interac­ tions which are a major force behind the development of the field. The term "informatics" is one with a long history, but relatively little consensus in meaning. Originating in Russia during the 1950s, it was adopted in English, German (Informatik) and French (informatique). It has often been used for the term "computer science". However, an alternative meaning has come into widespread usage, to denote a broader discipline, dealing with all aspects of the handling of information and knowl­ edge, and often used synonymously with "information science/s". That is the sense in which I shall use the term. The approach to the topic adopted here is based on that of the educational philosopher Paul Hirst (2), who proposed that there are seven basic ''forms of knowledge": math­ ematics; physical sciences; human sciences; literature and the fine arts; morality; reli­ gion; philosophy. These are sometimes stated equivalently as: logico-mathematical; empirical; interpersonal; aesthetic; moral; religious; philosophical. Each of these has its own methods and paradigms.