Physicians and Medicine in the Twenty-first Century
Medical Informatics
Access to medical information by computer is constantly increasing. To facilitate the orderly acquisition of such data, the field of medical informatics, the application of information technology to medicine, has emerged. Medical Informatics is a new developing discipline that is geared to play a role in the critical realm of decision support. This involves helping physicians obtain the essential data that enables them to make medical decisions. Other areas impacted by this new field are medical education, electronic medical records, natural language processing, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence. Physicians may be involved in this field on a full- or part-time basis.
Prerequisites for entering the area of Medical Informatics are a strong interest in computers, an ability to collaborate with others, a strong sense of curiosity, and a desire to experiment and teach. Fellowships are available through the National Library of Medicine, Biomedical Information Support Branch, Extramural Program, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894 (web site: http://www.N/m.nih.gov./).
The University of Missouri — Columbia School of Medicine has established a department of health management and informatics. It will offer graduate degrees in health informatics and health administration.
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