IMIA Accreditation of Biomedical and Health Informatics Education: Current State and Future Directions

Objectives: The educational activities initiated by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) have had global impacts and influenced national societies and local academic programs in the field of Biomedical and Health Informatics (BMHI). After the successful publication and dissemination of its educational recommendations, IMIA launched an accreditation procedure for educational programs in BMHI. The accreditation procedure was pilot tested by several BMHI academic programs in different countries and continents to obtain a global perspective. Methods: This paper presents an overview of IMIA quality assurance and accreditation procedures along with feedback on issues and problems which emerged during the pilot. Results: It appears that IMIA quality assurance and procedures worked quite well in different countries of Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. These first experiences provided adequate information for adapting, modifying, and optimizing the procedures and finally for the planning of future activities. Conclusions: IMIA accreditation framework comprises a single set of standards that apply at various levels to both academic and professional BMHI programs. The pilot phase confirmed the robustness and generalizability of quality assurance standards and associated procedures on which IMIA accreditation is based at an international level.