Continuing education in health informatics in the UK: the need for learning materials

The case for education in health informatics for all practitioners as well as information specialists has been well recognized [1]. Changes are occurring in the undergraduate medical curriculum in the UK. This can be seen by the general moves towards computer-based teaching in higher education and the recommendations for the new medical undergraduate curriculum by the General Medical Council (GMC). A survey of undergraduate students has shown that there is an increasing level of computer literacy [2]. We need, therefore, to concentrate on postgraduate education. In the UK, postgraduate and continuing education is organized under the auspices of Regional Postgraduate Deans, Regional Advisors in General Practice, and the educational initiatives of the Professional Royal Colleges. Educational guidelines for information management for undergraduates have been described [3] and these guidelines apply to practitioners as well. The main problems in postgraduate education are the scale of the task, the staff, facilities, and teaching materials available. Basic computer literacy will enable practitioners to make use of computers in their own environment and access the "information superhighway" via the Internet. When this becomes a reality, there will be a need for suitable teaching materials to be made available. The accessibility of these materials raises questions about credit for authorship and the production of flexible packages that can be used by different individuals with their own needs in mind. We have a number of educational materials, at different stages of development, that are described here in the hope that we may collaborate in the exchange of teaching materials.