The above-proposed ways of coding MI occupation confirm that MI professionals
belong to the category of the healthcare workforce. At the same time, it is quite obvious
that MI professionals should also possess technical competency of using information
and communication technologies for medical purposes. Therefore, MI as a specialty in
the system of higher education has a dual nature and combines features of medicine-
related professions, on the one hand, and computer science and information and
communication technologies, on the other one.
Consequently, MI educational programs are aimed at professional training of MI
competent workforce. However, one should not forget that ‘a MI professional’ is a
generalized concept that encompasses a large number of positions. For example, the
healthcare industry often requires electronic medical records keepers. Their
professional duties consist in inputting patients’ medical data (symptoms, previous
diseases, diagnoses, treatment, etc.) electronically into a specially developed program
within the medical information system of a medical facility [10]. On the other hand,
chief medical information officers are MI professionals responsible for the creation and
management of medical information systems. They support the provision of high-
quality medical care and ensure efficient flow of medical information within the system
[6]. Additionally, it is worth stressing that the same position within the MI occupation
may be called in various ways, or the same position may differ in functional
responsibilities.
This fact may be explained by multidisciplinary nature of MI as a specialty in the
system of higher education. Since MI as a scientific field is located at the intersection
of many knowledge domains, MI professional training should provide a wide range of
competencies within these knowledge domains. In this regard, a MI professional needs
to develop a variety of professional skills with background knowledge in medical
terminology, informatics, coding principles of medical data and information, medical
decision support systems, image processing technologies, architecture of medical
information systems, creating and installing software, social and organizational aspects
of the healthcare system functioning, ethical and legal issues of dealing with medical
information, electronic health records, etc.
In summary, nowadays MI education as a pedagogical phenomenon is developing
rapidly under the influence of information and communication technologies. It
occupies a prominent place in the system of higher education as it provides training of
MI competent staff that is the driving force of the healthcare informatization in the
modern information society. MI as an academic discipline provides the development
of MI competency by medical students as future users of medical information
technologies. MI as a specialty in the system of higher education provides the training
of MI professionals as developers and implementers of MI projects into the healthcare
system.
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