Medical Informatics and Electrical Safety for Health Sciences Curricula: Fifteen Years of Teaching

Healthcare is including biomedical technology at a growing grade in its daily practice. This implies that healthcare professionals are in constant contact with BME, concepts and experience the need for electronic and computer security. Therefore, healthcare professionals need to understand and properly use specific terms and concepts to communicate effectively with each other and with other professionals, such as biomedical engineers to understand the information and results generated by biomedical instruments. Training and continuous updating are fundamental to ensure that healthcare professionals can effectively and safely use biomedical technology for the benefit of their patients. The Facultad de Medicina of Universidad de la República, in Uruguay, understanding this need, has been offering courses on Electrical and Informatics Safety in collaboration with the Núcleo de Ingeniería Biomédica since 2008, included in the curricula of Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology, and Pneumocardiology degrees programs. Over the last 15 years, 1370 students have been trained, which correspond to an average of 72% of initial inscriptions. The analysis of records shows that electrical and informatics safety management can be included in the education of medical students and health-related bachelor’s degrees. This training is essential in an increasingly digitized and technological world. Such background will allow them to effectively take part in interdisciplinary communication and will help to make the most out of the opportunities offered by the medicine of the future.