The Science of Biomedical Computing

This is a remarkab'y exciting time to be involved professionally in the field of medical informatics. The underlying scientific principles are beginning to be identified and defined, educators are increasingly acknowledging the importance of thc field for physicians of the present and future, and the tec mology itself is growing at rates that make the future of the field both unbounded and impossible to predict. One has the sense that what was once a field for pioneers is now reaching the stage of established settlements, with a history, traditions, and a feel of permanence. It is therefore appropriate that, at the beginning of ddiberations designed to achieve significant educational goals for the field, we might start by considering the discipline itself and the characteristics that hnve tended to separate it from other traditional academic and research medical specialties. I would like to begin by assuming that certain basic points are well accepted and need not be defended here: first that medical informatics holds both realized and potential importance for the science anc practice of medicine, and second, that there is a need for all medical practitioners to be familiar both with information handling technology and with the underlying principles that make the field relevant, regardless of whether computers are involved.