Open Access
Methods Inf Med 2017; 56(S 01): e39-e48
DOI: 10.3414/ME16-01-0124
Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

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
Elske Ammenwerth
1   Institute of Medical Informatics, LIMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall In Tirol, Austria
,
Petra Knaup
2   Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
,
Alfred Winter
3   Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
,
Axel W. Bauer
4   History, Philosophy, and Ethics In Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
,
Oliver J. Bott
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
6   Department of Information and Communication, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany
,
Matthias Gietzelt
2   Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
,
Birger Haarbrandt
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Werner O. Hackl
1   Institute of Medical Informatics, LIMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall In Tirol, Austria
,
Nils Hellrung
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
7   Symeda GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Gudrun Hübner-Bloder
1   Institute of Medical Informatics, LIMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall In Tirol, Austria
,
Franziska Jahn
3   Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
,
Monique W. Jaspers
8   Department of Medical Informatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
,
Ulrike Kutscha
9   Center of Information Technology and Medical Engineering, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
,
Christoph Machan
1   Institute of Medical Informatics, LIMIT - University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall In Tirol, Austria
,
Bianca Oppermann
6   Department of Information and Communication, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Hannover, Germany
,
Jochen Pilz
9   Center of Information Technology and Medical Engineering, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
,
Jonas Schwartze
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Christoph Seidel
10   Department for Information Technology and Business Development, Braunschweig Medical Center, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Jan-Eric Slot
11   IT Academic Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
12   ICT Department, Bernhoven Hospital, Uden, The Netherlands
,
Stefan Smers
13   Department for Information Technology, University Hospital of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
,
Katharina Spitalewsky
2   Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
14   Clinical Trial Center (CTCW), University Hospital of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
,
Nathalie Steckel
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
15   Department UK-IT, University Hospital of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
,
Alexander Strübing
3   Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
,
Minne van der Haak
2   Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
16   Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany
,
Reinhold Haux
5   University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Peter L. Relchertz Institute for Medical Informatics, Braunschweig, Germany
,
Willem J. ter Burg
8   Department of Medical Informatics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Correspondence to:

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Haux
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics
University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology
and Hannover Medical School
Muehlenpfordtstr. 23
38106 Braunschweig
Germany

Publication History

received: 21 October 2016

accepted: 18 February 2017

Publication Date:
31 January 2018 (online)

 

Summary

Background: Health information systems (HIS) are one of the most important areas for biomedical and health informatics. In order to professionally deal with HIS well-educated informaticians are needed. Because of these reasons, in 2001 an international course has been established: The Frank - van Swieten Lectures on Strategic Information Management of Health Information Systems.

Objectives: Reporting about the Frank - van Swieten Lectures and about our students’ feedback on this course during the last 16 years. Summarizing our lessons learned and making recommendations for such international courses on HIS.

Methods: The basic concept of the Frank -van Swieten lectures is to teach the theoretical background in local lectures, to organize practical exercises on modelling sub-information systems of the respective local HIS and finally to conduct Joint Three Days as an international meeting were the resulting models are introduced and compared.

Results: During the last 16 years, the Universities of Amsterdam, Braunschweig, Heidelberg/Heilbronn, Leipzig as well as UMIT were involved in running this course. Overall, 517 students from these universities participated. Our students’ feedback was clearly positive. The Joint Three Days of the Frank - van Swieten Lectures, where at the end of the course all students can meet, turned out to be an important component of this course. Based on the last 16 years, we recommend common teaching materials, agreement on equivalent clinical areas for the exercises, support of group building of international student groups, motivation of using a collaboration platform, ensuring quality management of the course, addressing different levels of knowledge of the students, and ensuring sufficient funding for joint activities.

Conclusions: Although associated with considerable additional efforts, we can clearly recommend establishing such international courses on HIS, such as the Frank -van Swieten Lectures.


 



Correspondence to:

Prof. Dr. Reinhold Haux
Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics
University of Braunschweig - Institute of Technology
and Hannover Medical School
Muehlenpfordtstr. 23
38106 Braunschweig
Germany