Within the next decade, the study and application of healthcare informatics will become fundamental to the practice of medicine, nursing and all aspects of healthcare delivery.
This is according to Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minster of Education and Chancellor of UAE University (UAEU) in his inaugural address at the Second Middle East Conference on Healthcare Informatics.
The two-day event, organised by UAEU, saw the formation of the Middle East Association of Healthcare Informatics (MEAHI).
This association will function as an autonomous Middle East chapter of the International Medical Informatics Association, a US-based organisation.
"There is a strong and clear need for education and extensive research in the nascent field of healthcare informatics in the Middle East," said Dr Iain Ledingham, Professor Emeritus of Medical Education at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
"The formation of the association will be instrumental in addressing this need in a collective and professional way."
The conference featured presentations on various topics such as IT in healthcare informatics in developing nations and implementing healthcare information systems: the Dubai experience.
More than 18 scientists, doctors and professionals from the Middle East, US, Australia and the UK attended the conference.
Khalid Ghandour, UAE representative to the faculty of health informatics at the Royal College of Surgeons, said, "In the past the concentration was only on IT. Now we have new fields linked to it that produce specialists in medicine and technology."
A post-conference research workshop was held at the British University in Dubai. It discussed research opportunities in the region, with a focus on healthcare informatics.
Study health sciences
Many universities in the country have acknowledged the growing need of the healthcare industry.
Higher Colleges of Technology
The health sciences programmes, offered at certificate, diploma, higher diploma and bachelor levels, prepare students for work in the health industry.
Programmes are designed to meet the academic and industry standards and enable the student to become competent at entry level positions.
For more information: www.hct.ac.ae
United Arab Emirates University
Programmes include anatomy, biochemistry, community medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, medical education, medical microbiology, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, pathology, pharmacology, physiology, psychiatry, radiology and surgery.
For more information: www.uaeu.ac.ae
Dubai Medical College for Girls
The programme is divided into two phases - the pre-clinical phase and the clinical phase.
Basic medical science subjects cover anatomy, embryology, histology, biochemistry, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, parasitology, community medicine, and professional ethics.
In the clinical phase, students are taught in teaching hospitals, primary health care centres and clinics of the Department of Health and Medical Services, Dubai.
For more information: www.dmcg.edu
University of Sharjah
The College of Health Sciences has been developed in collaboration with McMaster University, Canada, and is accepting students for programmes in nursing, health services administration, physiotherapy and environmental health. In addition, the university offers a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS).
For more information: www.sharjah.ac.ae
Gulf Medical College in Ajman
The college offers MBBS and Bachelor's of Physiotherapy (BPT) degrees.
The college has departments of anatomy, biochemistry, pathology, forensic medicine, toxicology, physiology, pharmacology, microbiology, community medicine, internal medicine, surgery, anaesthesiology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, dermatology, emergency, radiology and obstetrics and gynaecology.
For more information: www.gmcajman.com
