title: [Medical informatics--contribution of the Andrija Stampar School of Public Health to Croatian medicine and health care for the transition to the 21st century].
abstract: Medical informatics began to develop in Croatia in 1966 when medicine was recognized as a field in which the use of computers is important and widespread, and will be necessary in the future. Andrija Stampar School of Public Health, Medical School in Zagreb, was a pioneer in this new field in our country. Medical informatics contents were then introduced into postgraduate education with the aim to introduce future medical/health professionals to the possibilities of using computers in their fields of work and in health care in general. At the same time, computer processing of notification sheets started, as well as disease registries development and pilot processing of primary care data. In 1970/71, medical informatics contents were introduced in education of medical students at the Medical School in Zagreb. The opening of the Zagreb University Computing Center terminal station at the Andrija Stampar School of Public Health in 1973, and later, the establishment of a computer laboratory and including equipment and networking of the Medical School's workplaces gave the students, teachers and researchers the opportunity for intensive use of new technologies. The teachers from the School helped in spreading medical informatics education to other medical schools and colleges. Medical informatics research and the national and international cooperation was a logical continuation of the professional development, and the postgraduate education in Medical Informatics was a step further in spreading of knowledge among medical and health personnel as well as among other professions working in the health field.
authors.affiliation: Skola narodnog zdravlja Andrija Stampar Medicinskog fakulteta Sveucilista u Zagrebu.
authors.forename: Duro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dezelić
authors.forename: Josipa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Jadranka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bozikov
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers / Q000266:history / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017523:Croatia; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000266:history*; D011634:Public Health / Q000266:history*