title: Big Data: Are Biomedical and Health Informatics Training Programs Ready? Contribution of the IMIA Working Group for Health and Medical Informatics Education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The growing volume and diversity of health and biomedical data indicate that the era of Big Data has arrived for healthcare. This has many implications for informatics, not only in terms of implementing and evaluating information systems, but also for the work and training of informatics researchers and professionals. This article addresses the question: What do biomedical and health informaticians working in analytics and Big Data need to know?
  
  
  METHODS
  We hypothesize a set of skills that we hope will be discussed among academic and other informaticians.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The set of skills includes: Programming - especially with data-oriented tools, such as SQL and statistical programming languages; Statistics - working knowledge to apply tools and techniques; Domain knowledge - depending on one's area of work, bioscience or health care; and Communication - being able to understand needs of people and organizations, and articulate results back to them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Biomedical and health informatics educational programs must introduce concepts of analytics, Big Data, and the underlying skills to use and apply them into their curricula. The development of new coursework should focus on those who will become experts, with training aiming to provide skills in "deep analytical talent" as well as those who need knowledge to support such individuals.
authors.affiliation: Dra. Paula Otero, Department of Health Informatics, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Peron 4190, (1199) Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos, Argentina, E-mail: paula.otero@hiba.org.ar.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Otero
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hersh
authors.forename: A U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Jai Ganesh
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D066264:Datasets as Topic; D048088:Informatics / Q000193:education; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000193:education*; D012984:Software
keywords: Data interpretation; databases as topic; education; individualized medicine; medical informatics; patient participation; statistical