Medical Informatics

Course Overview

Our society is increasingly challenged by the need to provide efficient, individualised and affordable medical care. Accordingly, if we are to keep up with medical progress and promote technological and organisational innovation, modern information technologies are urgently needed. The interface between medicine, information science and society involves any number of varied, fascinating and responsible assignments and, at the same time, calls for a large number of well-trained and qualified experts. The interdisciplinary field of Medical Informatics is multi-faceted and encompasses both methodological developments and software engineering for diagnosis and treatment. It also promotes simulation and modelling for increasingly individualised medical care and the development of new procedures in the areas of e-health and telemedicine. The evaluation of genetic data via bioinformatics is becoming increasingly more important and is now one of the core topics in the course, along with the planning and evaluation of clinical studies, data management and the evaluation of new care strategies and communication technologies in the health system. The overall aim of the course is to enable students to acquire and deepen their knowledge of the front-edge scientific methods employed in Medical Informatics and to apply those methods in solving problems arising in different areas of medicine and the health-care system. This involves making relevant and effective use of them in care, treatment and diagnosis as well as in research. Furthermore, graduates should be in a position to develop new methods and procedures for dealing with special issues and to critically assess their effectiveness and efficiency. University education and training equips successful graduates with all the skills required to take on responsible positions in research, development and management in companies, hospitals and universities. After successful completion of the course, students can embark on independent doctoral research (comparable to a PhD programme).