Medical informatics training programme to support the Romanian health care management information system

The Health Management Information System (HMIS) project initiated by the Romanian Ministry of Health as a component of the healthcare reform is aiming to ensure the technical, functional and operative support for: (i) a better overview of the population health status, of the medical care needs and of the Health System performances; (ii) the improvement of the resource allocation and consumption; and (iii) reform support. This system is supposed to assure a better information flow from the lower to the upper levels of the healthcare network by help of a modern IT support. In the first development stage the system is planned to link the Ministry of Health with the 41 District Health Authorities (DHAs) and with more than 200 pilot health units. The implementation of such a large system raises serious problems of acceptability and a thorough training programme for both technical staff and end users must be considered in order to face this challenge.