Managing the Transition from Tradition to Innovation for the Heidelberg/Heilbronn Medical Informatics Master of Science Program

Abstract

Background To keep pace with the developments in the medical informatics field, the curriculum of the Heidelberg/Heilbronn Medical Informatics Master of Science program is continuously updated. In its latest revision we restructured our master's program to allow more flexibility to accommodate updates and include current topics and to enable students' choices.

Objectives This study aimed to present our new concepts for graduate medical informatics education, share our experiences, and provide insights into the perception of these concepts by advanced students and graduates.

Methods Our new curriculum consists of three core components: Areas of concentration that bundle elective courses in an important domain of medical informatics, a large catalog of elective courses, and introductory/alignment courses for students without a bachelor's degree in medical informatics. We conducted an online survey of graduates and students with at least 75 credits to assess their opinion on the program's effectiveness and attractiveness.

Results Mandatory courses include clinical medicine, project management, research, and practical training in biomedical informatics. Five areas of concentration bundle elective courses for 30 credits to provide a solid foundation in an important domain in medical informatics. These are bioinformatics, data science, computer-aided diagnosis and therapy systems, information management, and software engineering in medicine. The catalog of electives offers a total of 67 courses. About 75% of the courses are assigned to more than one area of concentration. Our survey demonstrates that the participants highly appreciate the flexibility of the electives and the opportunity to develop an area of expertise.

Conclusion Offering a high degree of flexibility to our students has motivated them to join our program and resulted in a high level of student satisfaction. By designing the curriculum with areas of concentration and providing an infrastructure that permits courses on emerging topics to be added easily to the curriculum, we were able to meet our students' expectations.

Keywords

education - medical informatics - professional training - master of science program - curriculum - strategies for health IT training - workforce

Background and Significance

Our medical informatics program was founded in 1972 as a joint program by the University of Heidelberg and the Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences as one of the first medical informatics programs in the world[1] [2] and combined the strengths of Heidelberg in medical research and patient care with the technical expertise of Heilbronn. Our program offers a computer science–based approach to medical informatics and has graduated approximately 2,000 medical informaticians to date.

There are a variety of definitions for the terms biomedical informatics, medical informatics, and health informatics.[3] [4] In this article, we consider the terms to be interchangeable as others have done in publications on biomedical and health informatics education.[5] In our program, we use the term medical informatics because it is a literal translation of its official name in the German language. The program is compliant with the informatics program recommendations of the German Society for Informatics and has a special focus on application and at least 50% computer science–specific courses. The program has traditionally offered very broad topics including software engineering in medicine, information systems, e-health solutions, and medical signal and image processing. To ensure that our education supports a wide range of job descriptions, we evaluated the program with a survey of its graduates and the results were published.[6] [7] Originally, the program was designed as a 4.5-year program with diploma degree. It was transformed into a bachelor's program in 2007 and a consecutive master's program starting in 2010.

To keep pace with the developments in the field of medical informatics, the curriculum is continuously updated[8] [9] [10] [11] and is currently in its 8th revision. One of the driving forces behind the revision of the master's program was the rapid emergence of new topics in the field such as data science, which gained in importance in recent years.[12] [13] [14] A new revision always requires significant educational and administrative effort. Any revision must be approved by the councils of the two universities, which fortunately developed a well-synchronized process. However, to reduce overall effort and to incorporate new topics, a flexible solution was needed. In addition, we had seen a constant demand from students for more flexibility and choice based on the professional orientation they wish to pursue after graduation. Therefore, with the 8th revision of our program, we restructured our master's program completely to allow more flexibility for current topics and allow students more choices.

Objectives

The aim of our paper is to present our new concepts for graduate medical informatics education and to share our experiences. We complement this theoretical perspective with insights into the perceived appeal of, satisfaction with, and manageability of the program from the students' perspective based on a survey conducted among advanced students and graduates who were exposed to the new curriculum.

Background and Methods

Concepts and Quality Control of the Medical Informatics Master's Program

The medical informatics master's program is a 2-year program with 120 credits over four semesters compliant with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Each semester, 30 credits can be obtained. A total of 15 students are admitted each semester.

The University of Heidelberg is accredited by an agency approved by the German Accreditation Council. The university established a comprehensive quality management process for its degree programs and uses a variety of methods like surveys among students and alumni, self-reporting, and external reviews at least every 5 years. Additionally, the educational experience for each course is evaluated by the students every 2 years. A committee of professors, academic staff, and students meets once a semester to discuss problems in the curriculum or its implementation. If required, revisions of the program are based on the information received from all the above sources.

Concepts for the 8th (and Latest) Revision of the Medical Informatics Master's Program

The latest concept was developed based on the identified need for a flexible curriculum. Specifically, three main drivers were identified by analyzing the results of Heidelberg University's quality measurements: (1) The rapid emergence of new topics in the field of medical informatics that must be incorporated into the curriculum seamlessly and without heavy administrative effort; (2) students' expressed desire for course choice and individual study programs; and (3) the need to attract a wider variety of students, including students from related disciplines (e.g., computer science).

The program consists of two parts, one of which is compulsory and the other elective in nature. The compulsory part of the program consists of courses that provide 50% of the credits in the first semester and a master's thesis ([Fig. 1], blue modules). The program's flexibility is based on three core components: (1) A large catalog of elective courses; (2) areas of concentration that bundle elective courses in an important subject of medical informatics ([Fig. 1], green modules); and (3) introductory alignment courses for students who do not hold a bachelor's degree in medical informatics but in another field ([Fig. 1], module M3).

Fig. 1 Basic concept of the medical informatics master's program. Numbers in brackets indicate credits. Compulsory courses are shown in blue. Mandatory area of concentration (AoC) courses are shown in green. Module M3 can contain introductory/alignment courses from our bachelor's program. M7 and M8 contain elective courses that can sum up to a second area of concentration.

Catalog of Electives

The current catalog of electives contains more than 60 courses ([Supplementary Table S1], available in the online version). Each course is offered once a year. The catalog is an appendix to the master's curriculum and can be modified before each semester with little administrative effort unlike a curriculum revision which must be reviewed and passed by the councils of the two universities. Moving the modifications to the catalog allows new topics to be added quickly and topics that are no longer in demand to be removed (driver 1). The electives belong to one or more areas of concentration ([Supplementary Table S1] [available in the online version], column AoC) and can be selected by the students assuming they meet the constraints imposed by the areas of concentration (driver 2).

Areas of Concentration

To ensure a degree of coherence in the courses selected by students, we introduced the concept of areas of concentration ([Fig. 1], green modules). Five areas bundle elective courses of 30 credits to provide students with a solid foundation in one important domain of medical informatics. The areas of concentration are bioinformatics, data science, computer-aided diagnosis and therapy systems, information management in medicine, and software engineering in medicine. Over the course of their studies, students must complete at least one area of concentration by successfully completing all courses belonging to that area ([Supplementary Table S1] [available in the online version], column AoC).

Each area of concentration consists of three specific core subjects (area qualification) and a practical training experience, which together accounts for 15 credits ([Supplementary Table S1] [available in the online version], area printed in bold). The area qualification courses provide the core knowledge in the respective area, while the practical training ensures that the knowledge translates into applied competencies. The remaining 15 credits can be selected from the remaining electives indexed with the area of concentration.

The remaining 45 credits ([Fig. 1], gray modules) can be selected either in a way that the student completes a second area of concentration or freely according to individual's interests.

Introduction/Alignment Courses

For students without a bachelor's degree in medical informatics (driver 3), we offer 15 credits of introduction/alignment courses ([Fig. 1], M3), which we carefully selected from the courses of our bachelor's program. Students with a bachelor's degree in general or non-medical computer science can acquire missing knowledge in the field of medicine. Students with a bachelor's degree in medical engineering can acquire missing informatics and software engineering skills. Students with a medical informatics background may choose from any of the elective courses from the catalog of the master's program for this module.

Survey of Advanced Students and Graduates

To evaluate the concepts of the new master's program, we conducted a survey among advanced students and alumni who were exposed to the latest curriculum. We designed the questionnaire to assess the experience of students and thus judge the attractiveness of the program to prospective future students. We also aimed to understand the perception by current students and graduates of the distinctive components of the program.

Study Population and Survey Implementation

All alumni (exposed to the new curriculum) and advanced students of the new curriculum who had completed at least 75 credits were invited via email to participate in the online survey (n = 53). We provided a link to the survey and sent a reminder once. Students with 75 credits and more were selected because they have already completed most of the coursework required.

Survey Construction

The survey included four sections, each composed of a series of questions (cf. [Supplementary Appendix 1] [available in the online version], for the translated version).

1. Demographics

   General information about the participants' prior education and their career interests. Due to the relatively small size of the target group, it was not feasible to inquire about demographic details such as age, gender, or their highest degree attained to ensure anonymity. Consequently, it is not possible to distinguish between alumni and current students.

2. Knowledge of the program

   A priori knowledge about the program's concept and the influence of its components such as the areas of concentration, electives, and introduction/alignment courses on choosing our master's program.

3. Perception of program flexibility and course quality

   Perception of the program's flexibility, the areas of concentration, and the special courses. Additionally, we inquired about the acceptance of the introduction/alignment courses, the perception on a variety of areas of concentration, and the quality of a special research-related course.

4. General evaluation

   General evaluation of the program and students' overall satisfaction.

   We used 4-point Likert scales for single choice questions and a 5-point scale when a neutral response was appropriate. For analysis, we counted the responses at the different response levels that did not subject them to further descriptive statistics. We provided a free text comment option for 12 questions. We used the free text comments qualitatively to supplement the findings obtained from the quantitative data.

Results

Curriculum

Compulsory Courses

The following courses were required for all students (compulsory courses): clinical medicine (6 credits), research in biomedical informatics (2 credits), practical training in biomedical informatics (4 credits), and project management (3 credits).

In the practical training in biomedical informatics, the students collaborate in small groups of three or four to conduct a systematic review on a current topic in medical informatics. The objective of the course is to have students from diverse backgrounds (due to the nature of their bachelor's degree) contribute collectively to a medical informatics topic. The first version of the resulting manuscripts is distributed among the students in the other groups and the two supervisors for peer review. The final results are presented and discussed with all students and faculty to facilitate critical thinking and team building among the new students in the program.

Introduction/Alignment Courses

We offer introduction/alignment courses for the following topics: software engineering, programming, databases, statistics, medicine (basics), medical documentation (basics), information systems in healthcare (basics), healthcare management, medical image processing (basics), medical signal processing (basics), process management in healthcare, interoperability, and processes.

Compulsory Courses in the Area of Concentration

To complete an area of concentration qualification, the students must pass the associated core subjects listed at the beginning of [Supplementary Table S1] (available in the online version), one applied/hands-on course from the area of concentration, and additional electives worth 15 credits. The practical training in the data science area is divided into two smaller applied training pieces. One of them is performed jointly with medical students where students attempt to solve an applied clinical informatics task in an interdisciplinary fashion over the course of a semester. We consider the experience of working in a multidisciplinary team an important skill to be acquired in our medical informatics education.[15]

Catalog of Electives

The current catalog of electives includes 67 subjects, most of them worth 3 credits; 14 courses are worth 6 credits (see [Supplementary Table S1] [available in the online version]). The credit point increments were standardized to multiples of three to obtain high flexibility when combining electives. Approximately 75% of the courses are assigned to more than one area of concentration. The courses ethics and personnel law and management are included in all five areas. There are 18 courses dedicated to one area of concentration only. One example for this is the Frank – van Swieten Lectures, an international course delivered jointly with other universities.[16] All students learn the topic of strategic management of information systems based on the standard textbook for this topic[17] and visit a department in their local university hospital to analyze its information systems and processes. Subsequently, they model their observations according to the methods that were taught. At the end of June, all students gather for 3 days at the site of one of the participating universities. During this joint symposium, the information systems of all participating university hospitals are presented and systematically compared. Currently, Amsterdam, Leipzig, and Heidelberg/Heilbronn are participating. In the previous years, faculty and students from Braunschweig, Hall in Tyrol, and Antalya also participated in the Frank – van Swieten Lectures. Other programs may participate in the future.

Another special course is the research project, which is worth 12 credits. In this course, senior researchers propose research projects for one or two students, which are then reviewed by the examination board to ensure the suitability and scientific nature of the project. The objective is for the students to conduct a research project independently under the supervision of the senior researcher, culminating in the production of a scientific paper. The research project is not assigned to a specific area of concentration. Any topic related to medical informatics may be proposed.

Survey Results

The 8th version of the curriculum went live in October 2020. Since then, 99 students enrolled in the medical informatics master's program, 10 of whom transitioned from the previous curriculum to the new version. By now, 27 of them graduated, 18 are currently writing their master's thesis, and additional 8 students have accumulated at least 75 credits (as of February 2024). Our survey targeted this specific cohort of 53 students.

A total of 28 students or graduates responded to the survey, which corresponds to a 53% response rate. More than half of the participants received a bachelor's degree in medical informatics (n = 16/28; [Fig. 2], left panel), six in biomedical engineering and four in computer science, and two in other academic disciplines. A total of 12 participants indicated an interest in pursuing a career path in industry (43%), 4 in academia (14%), and 10 are interested in both and remain undecided (36%). Two participants are interested in other areas (7%) (Q2, see translated questionnaire in [Supplementary Appendix 1] [available in the online version]).

Fig. 2 Field of bachelor's degree of survey participants (left panel, n = 28) and selection of areas of concentration (right panel, n = 41). Note that 41 areas of concentration were selected in total because 13 participants selected two areas. Answers from Q1 and Q20 in the translated questionnaire ([Supplementary Appendix 1]). CSo, computer science other; DS, data science; DT, computer-aided diagnosis and therapy systems; IM, information management in medicine; MedT, medtech or similar; MI, medical informatics; Oth, other; SE, software engineering in medicine. Note that bioinformatics had not been selected yet.

Areas of Concentration and Catalog of Electives

Before starting the program, 11 participants were fully aware of the areas of concentration and the available selection process for the areas of concentration (39%), while 17 had a general idea of the area of concentration selection options (61%; Q3). This feature of the program influenced the decision of most participants (86%) to enroll in our medical informatics master's program ([Fig. 3], Q4). Before starting their studies, 9 participants were fully aware of the possibilities in the extensive catalog of electives (32%), 13 had a general idea (46%), and 6 were unaware of these possibilities (21%; Q5). Flexibility in electives was a factor in the choice of program for 73% of the 22 participants who were aware of it ([Fig. 3], Q6). Of the 12 participants who did not have a bachelor's degree in medical informatics 2 were fully aware of the option to take introductory/alignment courses (17%), 6 had a general idea (50%), and 4 were not aware of this option (33%; Q7). Six of the eight participants who were aware of the option responded that it influenced their decision to enroll in the program (75%; Q8). Nine of these participants (75%) took advantage of those options and chose to take introduction/alignment courses (Q9). Four of them reported that the courses were somewhat helpful for further study (44%), four reported that they were not helpful (44%), and one participant was uncertain about the courses' effectiveness (11%; Q10).

Fig. 3 The degree to which the options of choosing areas of concentration and the high number of elective courses influenced the decision to study the medical informatics master's program (Q4 and Q6). Out of 28 participants 6 mentioned that they were not aware of the high number of elective courses and are therefore not represented in the upper bar.

Students perceived the wide variety of courses as positive although some limitations were identified (Q12–Q16). More than 75% of participants found the wide range of choices liberating, a pleasure, and an opportunity for personal growth ([Fig. 4], left panel). However, 64% of the participants also found it challenging and 39% of the participants found it confusing ([Fig. 4], right panel).

Fig. 4 Participants' perceptions of the wide range of courses offered (Q16–Q20). Left panel: positive aspects; right panel: negative aspects.

The areas of concentration data science, information management, and software engineering were chosen almost equally often (n = 12/11/12, [Fig. 2], right panel, Q20). The area of concentration computer-aided diagnosis and therapy systems was chosen by six participants, and the area of concentration bioinformatics has not been chosen yet. A total of 13 participants selected courses that allowed them to complete two areas of concentration (46%). Out of the 28 participants 27 (96%) had at least some notion at the beginning of their study of which areas they wanted to study and all of them pursued this notion (Q21, Q22). All participants rated the thematic bundling of the area of concentration as just right (Q24).

Assessment of Specific Courses

Students rated gains in personal learning from the practical training biomedical informatics generally as high ([Fig. 5], left panel, Q25–Q29).

Fig. 5 Learning gains of participants in certain aspects due to the practical training biomedical informatics (left panel) (Q25–Q29), n = 28, and the research project (right panel) (Q31, Q32), n = 10. MI, medical informatics.

Of the 28 participants 10 did a research project to earn 12 credits (36%). Seven of them utilized this experience as a foundation for pursuing a master's or doctoral thesis (70%). Three of the participants were influenced by the research project to consider a career path in research (30%). All participants enhanced their scientific expertise through the research project ([Fig. 5], right panel, Q31, Q32).

Overall Satisfaction

Of the 28 participants, 7 (25%) expressed partial satisfaction with the selection of topics offered to them during their studies. The remaining participants indicated satisfaction or high satisfaction ([Fig. 6], Q35).

Fig. 6 Satisfaction with the selection of topics in the program (Q35), n = 28.

Discussion

Just as technological advancement and knowledge in medicine are growing rapidly, medical informatics as a discipline is constantly evolving, with different topics emerging frequently. The frequent changes make it difficult to adapt a medical informatics curriculum to emerging topics.[18] [19] Therefore, we developed the 8th revision of the Heidelberg/Heilbronn master's curriculum in medical informatics carefully with more flexibility to add new electives and to allow electives to be assigned to areas of concentration, in which students can qualify. The notion of areas of concentration fulfills the requirements formulated by Sapci and Sapci that health informatics programs should consider specialized tracks that include specific skills to meet the diverse needs of healthcare and industry.[13] However, our decision against specialized tracks with fixed courses resulted in the ability to offer a wider range of electives to students by assigning courses to one or more areas of concentration.

Our survey showed that the participants appreciated the flexibility offered by the elective courses and the opportunity to build an area of concentration. This aspect of our program influenced their decision to enroll in our master's program in medical informatics and generated satisfaction with the program until graduation and beyond. However, we learned that the wide range of options can be confusing and challenging and may require additional counseling of students.

A curriculum with a large catalog of courses like ours requires more effort in terms of semester planning. Since several subjects may run in parallel, choices can be difficult. Over time, we developed a scheduling strategy that ensures that courses belonging to the same area of concentration can be taken without conflict. Students who combine courses from different areas of concentration must make sure that the courses can be taken without conflict.

The option of introduction/alignment courses was not very important to students and those who chose alignment courses reported only partial benefits. In contrast to these student perceptions, some of our lecturers reported that it would have been helpful for their classes if more students had chosen introduction/alignment courses.

The participants were very satisfied with the selection of topics offered in the program and the thematic bundling of topics into areas of concentration. The area of concentration bioinformatics was not attractive for students. One reason may be that bioinformatics is a field for which dedicated programs with bachelor's and master's degrees are offered competing with our efforts. Further, significant differences in the culture of the two disciplines, clinical informatics and bioinformatics,[15] [20] [21] seem to make it difficult to integrate them in one educational solution.[15] [22]

We were pleased with the overall satisfaction of the participants with the design of the master's program. This is particularly noteworthy as some students started during the coronavirus pandemic, and most of the courses could only be offered virtually in the early semesters. We had anticipated that virtual courses would have caused some dissatisfaction.

Limitations

We cannot rule out the possibility that our study sample was biased and that only students and alumni in the target group who were satisfied with their studies responded. Since the response rate of 53% is high, there is however a good chance that the respondents were representative. As the survey was anonymous, participants could not expect any disadvantage from negative feedback. Despite the high response rate our survey was still limited due to the low number of graduates and advanced students for this revised curriculum. In addition, our survey did not reach students who may have rejected our program because our curricular concept seemed too flexible or confusing.

Conclusion

Medical informatics is a broad discipline. The workforce needs to reflect this as demands of experts exists in a wide variety of fields,[19] such as health IT units,[23] clinical research informatics, decision support, and deep neural network training for clinical use. This diversity makes it difficult to characterize the workforce, training needs, and requirements.[4] [24] The recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) aid considerably to systematize these needs.[19] Graduates of different programs around the world have encountered good job opportunities.[7] [25] [26]

Offering a high flexibility to our students has motivated them to join our program and led to a high satisfaction. This was made possible by designing the curriculum in a way that (1) courses can be assigned to areas of concentration, and (2) each course has a scope of 3 credits or a multiple of this, so that courses can easily add up to 15 credit modules. The curriculum design results in a large catalog of courses from which students can choose a wide range of topics. However, this variety can also be a challenge. Therefore, we must look at how we can better support students to understand the options and to facilitate their selection process. For further development we need to consider whether it is necessary to offer introduction/alignment courses and whether the area of concentration bioinformatics makes sense in the context of a medical informatics curriculum.

Despite the inspiring results of the survey, we cannot conclude yet that our program leads to good outcomes and a solid foundation for the professional careers. This will require a more detailed survey, when more students have graduated and have had careers in their profession. When a relevant number of graduates who are further along in their professional careers exist, we can evaluate their satisfaction with the content and design of the medical informatics master's program in relation to their professional activities. We will continue to closely monitor emerging topics to adequately educate the future medical informatics workforce. Our novel concept will make it easy to adapt the course catalog to the new demands.

Clinical Relevance Statement

Digital health is increasingly finding its way into medical care. To successfully develop methods and tools that can be used in clinical routine, it is necessary to train medical informatics specialists who understand healthcare processes and the needs of clinical practitioners.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. When implementing master's program in medical informatics, what should be offered to students to make the program attractive?

   • High flexibility of elective course

   • The same fixed sequence of courses for each student

   • Narrow program that clearly specializes in one field of medical informatics

   • High number of compulsory courses

   Correct Answer: The correct answer is option a. Our survey revealed that a lot of students chose our program because of the high flexibility offered by the catalog of elective courses.

2. What can be offered in a master's program in medical informatics to students that do not have a bachelor's degree in medical informatics, but in another field?

   • Alignment courses

   • More compulsory courses

   • Specialized tracks

   • Practical training

   Correct Answer: The correct answer is option a. Alignment courses is the correct answer because it offers courses from a bachelor's degree program that can be selected by students to build a common foundation with students who have a bachelor's degree in medical informatics.

Conflict of Interest

None declared.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the use of DeepL Write as a tool to assist with English-language editing. The authors accept full responsibility for the final content and writing of the paper. The authors would like to acknowledge Chris Lehmann for his assistance with the linguistic revision of the manuscript.

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

The survey among students and graduates was performed in compliance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.

Ethical Approval

The survey was presented to the ethics committee of Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. It was implemented with the online survey tool SoSci (SoSci Survey GmbH, Munich, Germany).

• References

• 1 Dickhaus H. A comparative summary of six health/medical informatics programs. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33 (03) 254-257 , discussion 282–284
• 2 Hasman A, Mantas J, Zarubina T. An abridged history of medical informatics education in Europe. Acta Inform Med 2014; 22 (01) 25-36
• 3 Huang QR. Competencies for graduate curricula in health, medical and biomedical informatics: a framework. Health Informatics J 2007; 13 (02) 89-103
• 4 Costa PD, Almeida J, Araujo SM. et al. Biomedical and health informatics teaching in Portugal: current status. Heliyon 2023; 9 (03) e14163
• 5 Mantas J. Biomedical and health informatics education—the IMIA years. Yearb Med Inform 2016; 1 (Suppl 1): S92-S102
• 6 Frey W, Haux R, Leiner F, Leven FJ. Medical informatics Heidelberg/Heilbronn: graduates' experiences and job situation. An inquiry among graduates having completed the curriculum of medical informatics at the University of Heidelberg/School of Technology Heilbronn. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33 (03) 290-298
• 7 Knaup P, Frey W, Haux R, Leven FJ. Medical informatics specialists: what are their job profiles? Results of a study on the first 1024 medical informatics graduates of the Universities of Heidelberg and Heilbronn. Methods Inf Med 2003; 42 (05) 578-587
• 8 Haux R, Leven FJ. Twenty years medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: evolution of a specialized curriculum for medical informatics. Methods Inf Med 1994; 33 (03) 285-289
• 9 Leven FJ, Haux R. Twenty five years of medical informatics education at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: discussion of a specialized curriculum for medical informatics. Yearb Med Inform 2000; [phone]
• 10 Leven FJ, Knaup P, Schmidt D, Wetter T. Medical informatics at Heidelberg/Heilbronn: status-evaluation-new challenges in a specialised curriculum for medical informatics after thirty years of evolution. Int J Med Inform 2004; 73 (02) 117-125
• 11 Knaup P, Haag M, Leven FJ, Dickhaus H. Challenges in the evolution of the medical informatics program at Heidelberg/Heilbronn (Germany). Methods Inf Med 2009; 48 (01) 66-75
• 12 Greene AC, Giffin KA, Greene CS, Moore JH. Adapting bioinformatics curricula for big data. Brief Bioinform 2016; 17 (01) 43-50
• 13 Sapci AH, Sapci HA. Teaching hands-on informatics skills to future health informaticians: a competency framework proposal and analysis of health care informatics curricula. JMIR Med Inform 2020; 8 (01) e15748
• 14 Nkwanyana A, Mathews V, Zachary I, Bhayani V. Skills and competencies in health data analytics for health professionals: a scoping review protocol. BMJ Open 2023; 13 (11) e070596
• 15 van Mulligen EM, Cases M, Hettne K. et al. Training multidisciplinary biomedical informatics students: three years of experience. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2008; 15 (02) 246-254
• 16 Ammenwerth E, Knaup P, Winter A. et al. On teaching international courses on health information systems. Lessons learned during 16 years of Frank - van Swieten Lectures on Strategic Information Management in Health Information Systems. Methods Inf Med 2017; 56 (S 01): e39-e48
• 17 Winter A, Ammenwerth E, Haux R, Marschollek M, Steiner B, Jahn F. Health Information Systems. Springer International Publishing; 2023
• 18 Altman RB, Klein TE. Biomedical informatics training at Stanford in the 21st century. J Biomed Inform 2007; 40 (01) 55-58
• 19 Bichel-Findlay J, Koch S, Mantas J. et al. Recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) on education in biomedical and health informatics: second revision. Int J Med Inform 2023; 170: 104908
• 20 Maojo V, Kulikowski CA. Bioinformatics and medical informatics: collaborations on the road to genomic medicine?. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2003; 10 (06) 515-522
• 21 Martin-Sanchez F, Iakovidis I, Nørager S. et al. Synergy between medical informatics and bioinformatics: facilitating genomic medicine for future health care. J Biomed Inform 2004; 37 (01) 30-42
• 22 Johnson SB, Friedman RA. Bridging the gap between biological and clinical informatics in a graduate training program. J Biomed Inform 2007; 40 (01) 59-66
• 23 Hersh W. Who are the informaticians? What we know and should know. J Am Med Inform Assoc 2006; 13 (02) 166-170
• 24 Hersh W. Health and biomedical informatics: opportunities and challenges for a twenty-first century profession and its education. Yearb Med Inform 2008; 157-164
• 25 Ammenwerth E, Hackl WO. Job profiles of biomedical informatics graduates. Results of a graduate survey. Methods Inf Med 2015; 54 (04) 372-375
• 26 Macedo AA, Ruiz EES, Baranauskas JA. A survey of the job profiles of biomedical informatics graduates. Methods Inf Med 2016; 55 (05) 473-477

Publication History

Received: 18 March 2024

Accepted: 30 September 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
25 November 2024

Article published online:
09 April 2025