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InCo-Health: New Graduate Curriculum in Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dejan Popovic and Srdjan Stankovic
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Introduction
Most countries from Eastern Europe and the Balkans are going through rapid changes aiming to restructure and develop
system components that are compatible with Western Europe and North America. Important characteristics of these
modern societies are the integrated information systems applied in the domains of education and healthcare. The
instrumental element in embracing new organisations in these domains is to prepare stakeholders that could maximise
the benefits from integrated information systems.
Objectives
The objectives of our Tempus project named 'InCo-Health' are as follows:
- to build the educational background that would allow Yugoslav and Bosnian health- care systems to meet European standards.
- to develop the education that promotes integrated health care systems.
- to ensure a firm background for the tele-education in health.
- to develop and implement tele-medical services.
The curriculum development for InCo-Health has the following outcomes:
- new courses and restructured existing courses in health technology at the faculties of engineering and medicine.
- new library facilities.
- existing laboratory facilities reinvestigated and new laboratory facilities installed.
- communication facilities installed.
- inter-laboratory network established.
- new teaching material for a project-based graduate program.
InCo-Health also aims to promote the development of a Center of Excellence in key areas of basic and applied research,
leading to the development of advanced Information Society Technologies (IST), through the following:
- achieving a higher degree of inter-disciplinary skill.
- achieving wider international cooperation.
- creating one or more successful spin-off companies based on the promotion and commercial exploitation of R&D results.
- forming strategic alliances with industry at national and international levels.
- playing a strategic role in the development of the IST at national and international levels.
The new curriculum will initially be introduced at the University that formed the Center for Multi Disciplinary Studies
(CMS) almost 30 years ago. CMS offers graduate programs in the fields of biomedical engineering, artificial intelligence,
neurosciences, new materials, etc. These programs were recently innovated and they follow closely the principles of
harmonised Europe and incorporate ECTS principles. However, the studies offered at the CMS are often not well-suited to
students who want to change their main stream of education. For example the biomedical curriculum that is offered by
the CMS is very well suited for engineers, yet it might be too complicated and unattractive to students who have a life
sciences background. Furthermore, the programs do not offer an adequate background to the emerging fields of information
and communication technologies, or details of the management needed in the new healthcare domain. Nevertheless, there
is a growing interest for knowledge in the fields of information technologies and management, among young people.
InCo-Health curriculum
In order to fill this gap, InCo-Health will offer two mandatory courses, six core courses and several electives to
allow absolutely essential flexibility to meet the needs of students. The courses are listed below:
Mandatory Courses:
- Life Sciences for engineers
- Engineering for Life Scientists
Core Courses:
- Computer Engineering for Information Systems
- Databases and Electronic Patient Journals
- Biomedical Instrumentation
- Medical Imaging
- Decision Support Systems in Medicine
- Information Technologies and Management in Health.
The Balkan partners in the InCo-Health (University of Belgrade, University of Novi Sad, University of Monte Negro,
University of Serb Sarajevo) and the EU partners from Greece (Crete), Denmark (Aalborg University), and Germany (Von
Kerckhof Klinik) are working on the selection of the electives. So far the following elective courses have been
considered:
- Medical Technology Assessment
- Stochastic Signals and Systems
- Systems and Networks
- Fundamentals of Computer Engineering
- Computer Applications
- Programming Languages and Methods
- Object Oriented Programming
- Digital Signal Processing
- Probability and Statistics
- Regulatory and Business Aspects of Communications
- Computer Communications Systems and Standards
- Computational Methods in Health
- Telematics in Health Care
- Modelling of Biomedical Systems
- Digital Image Processing
The InCo-Health partners are working on establishing the list of elective courses that are most suited for the needs of
students entering the field with degrees in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy etc.
Summary
Synergetic effects of the development in both the areas of healthcare systems and information and communication
technologies, based on an interdisciplinary approach, have provided, in developed countries, substantial advances
and spectacular results. Complex medical information systems, computer systems for medical signal and image analysis,
computer systems for automatic medical diagnosis, computer systems for real-time data acquisition and control, as well
as medical computer networks realising diverse forms of telemedicine, have been implemented and successfully applied.
Cyber-medicine has become a new discipline with tremendous influence on the society. Also, it is estimated that
15% of all medical services will involve the use tele-medicine in the year 2010.
The information and communication technologies today play an important role in the restructuring of the whole area of
Southeast Europe. Consequently, this project aims to provide an educational background dedicated to help resolve the
following two aspects:
- Development of a modern and efficient healthcare system, based on up-to-date management principles and medical technologies
- Introduction of information and communication technologies
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