Editorial: The role of a clinically based computer department of instruction in a school of medicine

✍ Scribed by William S. Yamamoto

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 777 KB
• Volume: 24
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0010-4809
• DOI: 10.1016/0010-4809(91)90022-o

✦ Synopsis

The etolution of activities and educational directions of a denartment of instruction in medical computer technology in a school of medicine are reviewed. During the 18 years covered, the society at large has undergone marked change in availability and use of computation in every aspect of medical care. It is argued that a department of instruction should be clinical and develop revenue sources based on patient care, perform technical services for the institution with a decentralized structure, and perform both health services and scientific research. Distinction should be drawn between utilization of computing in medical specialties, library function, and instruction in computer science. The last is the proper arena for the academic content of instruction and is best labelled as the philosophical basis of medical knowledge, in particular, its epistemology. Contemporary pressures for teaching introductory computer skills are probably temporary.