title: Medical informatics and problem-based learning in conjunction.
abstract: At Dalhousie, we integrated medical informatics as a horizontal theme in the problem-based learning undergraduate medical education curriculum. The rationales for these initiatives can be addressed along the following dimensions: political, philosophical, psychological, educational, and professional practice. Student attitudes towards computers are changing, and incoming students are increasingly computer-literate. Of those Med I students surveyed at the end of the 1993-94 academic year, 94% felt that computers were moderately important or essential to medical education; 86% of Med II students surveyed were of the same opinion. The education of future physicians can be enhanced when medical informatics is introduced into a curriculum in conjunction with the problem-based learning approach.
authors.affiliation: Medical Education Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4H7.
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Paterson
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kaufman
mesh_terms: D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003197:Computer Literacy; D003200:Computer User Training / Q000379:methods*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D003479:Curriculum; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*; D009674:Nova Scotia; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D013337:Students, Medical