New e-Health Tracks in Engineering Education of the Politecnico di Milano.

In Italian universities, most curricula have recently been deeply innovated. Out of the historical and usual five-year-based degrees to be taken after the five-year-based Secondary School / High School the University system moved into a 3+2 year university framework. Engineering curricula were changed too. Such a wide reform forced the redesign of many courses, even entire course tracks. In some cases it also facilitated the re-design of Doctoral (Ph.D.) programs. The introduction of some one-year based and subject-focused programs, to be taken right after a specifically considered degree, was facilitated as well. At the Engineering Faculties of the Politecnico di Milano, as far as it concerns Medical Informatics and Telemedicine, curricular courses and course tracks, as well as a couple of one-year subject-oriented programs have been widely re-organized. We describe the entire new educational offer. The aim of the educational offer remains to enable students to acquire technical skills, and to use them for becoming Medical Information and Communication Technology experts. Often the student involvement in research is the practical pass for obtaining such result. In doing so students understand better what a positive technological return for the users is. Running research programs relate to the Visible Human Dataset and Digital Anatomy, to textual and image Data Integration, to Health Information System and eHealth, and to Bioinformatics. Some prototypes, developed at the Laboratory of Medical Informatics and Telemedicine, are briefly mentioned. 1 The innovations of the Italian university system The need for the continuous revision of academic programs comes from the evolution of humanity and scientific knowledge, the progressive development of new technology, and the disciplinary fields involved in Human Knowledge. In the last year a substantial transformation of the Italian academic system has been started. The traditional five-year-based degree course, which for many years represented the only possible path for secondary school graduates who wanted a professional education, has been renewed in terms of organization, subjects and purposes, to meet the new demands of a greatly changed society and technicaleconomic system. The recent project to reform the Italian university system has introduced some significant innovations in the organization of academic study programs. The 3+2 (+3) year system has been introduced corresponding to three stages of career progression (Fig. 1, right side), which are the 3-yearbased Bachelor Degree (“Laurea”), the 3+2-year-based Master Degree (“Laurea Specialistica”) and the 3year-based Doctoral Degree, i.e. Ph.D. program, (“Dottorato di Ricerca”). Architecture, Industrial Design and Engineering, which are the kinds of faculty present at Politecnico di Milano, have been re-organized in that way [1]. The Biomedical Engineering programs, where the knowledge on Health and Medical Informatics and Telemedicine is delivered, are briefly described in following paragraphs. Then, we described the one-year-based course for a Health Informatics (Maintenance) Technician, which is devoted to Secondary School/High School IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2005: Ubiquitous Health Care Systems. Haux R, Kulikowski C, editors. Stuttgart: Schattauer; 2004. p. 199-205. For personal or educational use only. No other uses without permission. All rights reserved. Downloaded from imia.schattauer.de on 2018-02-23 | IP: 115.113.232.2 200 Research and Education IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2005 graduates, and the one-year-based Specialization Course on Telemedicine and Telehealth (Fig. 1, left side). 1.1 The ECTS Credit System The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits measure the student workload that is required to pass the examinations, and includes class attendance, class work, laboratory work and individual study [2]. Each course is assigned a number of credits, which the student obtains when he passes the final examination. However, the evaluation is based on a grade score of 30. One credit corresponds to a workload of about 25 hours and the yearly workload corresponds to about 60 credits. It will also be possible to obtain credits for activities other than training courses, such as theses, projects, apprenticeships, foreign languages, basic computing skills, training in communication and public relations, and group work. Ways of monitoring and evaluating such activities will be established. 1.2 The 3-year-based Bachelor Degree (“Laurea” Degree) The Bachelor Degree is obtained after a 3-year course of study and aims to provide a solid foundation in the core scientific subjects as well as more specialized, professional training. During the third year, the student is expected to acquire work experience by participating in a company internship. The biomedical engineering graduate integrates an engineering preparation with a knowledge of medical and biological applications and can operate in the following fields: management of devices and systems in the hospital; development and production of medical devices and systems; technical and commercial assistance to biomedical products; and technical consulting in the biomedical field. After 2 years of common track, it is possible to follow an applied track or an introductory track to a Master Degree (Fig. 1) [3]. Once a student obtains the Bachelor Degree, he/she can either directly enter the job market or continue his/her studies and obtain the Master Degree. 1.3 The 3+2-year-based Master Degree (“Laurea Specialistica” Degree) The Master Degree is awarded after two more years of study and aims to provide rigorous, advanced training in more highly specialized areas. The Master in biomedical engineering develops an advanced preparation by choosing a specific course track: Biochemistry and Biomaterials, Biofluidynamics and Artificial Organs, Medical Images, Biomechanical Design, Biomedical Signal and Data Processing, Health Care Management, Biomedical Informatics and Telemedicine, Neural Engineering, Tissue Engineering and Biotechnologies, Movement Engineering and Ergonomics, Biomedical Technologies and Biosensors. A biomedical engineer can operate in R&D and industrial design, technical and commercial support to biomedical products, clinical engineering and consulting [3]. Programs continue to be 5-year-based courses in order to comply with EU regulations and be officially recognized. 1.4 The 3-year-based Doctoral Degree – Ph.D. (“Dottorato di Ricerca” Degree) The PhD is awarded after three additional years of study (180 ECTS credits) and aims to develop the professional competence to carry out high level research in manufacturing and service companies, public bodies and universities. Doctoral Program in Bioengineering prepares graduate students for high standard scientific and industrial research. This educational goal is achieved through three different areas: basic general preparation (introductory courses), basic research preparation (main courses), special purpose research preparation (elective courses and training on specific themes) and a final dissertation on original themes of high standard in the international scientific framework. Stages in qualified research institutes in Italy and abroad are part of student preparation as well. The public presentation and discussion of the dissertation end the Program. 1.5 The One-year-based Course of Health Informatics (Maintenance) Technician A post Secondary School / High School program to become a Health Informatics Maintenance Technician is offered with support of the Lombardia Region Council and founded by the European Union. Some Secondary Schools / High Schools, Universities, and Public Healthcare Providers are involved in this educational project. The course is one-yearbased and takes 1,200 hours of didactic and practice activities. The objective is to prepare high level ICT Technicians devoted to the Health environment. At the end of the course, acquired specific skills are: the ability to interact with users of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) instruments such as clinicians, nursing personnel and medical technicians; to support providers during installation of medical instrumentation; to help in designing and developing software programs to query and manage Hospital and Administrative Information Systems; to contribute in defining the workflow among hospital units; to manage maintenance of services and guarantee privacy and security of clinical and administrative data. 1.6 The program of Specialization Course on Telemedicine and Telehealth (One-year post “Laurea Specialistica” Degree) The “Telemedicine and Telehealth Specialization Course” provides professionals highly demanded by the For personal or educational use only. No other uses without permission. All rights reserved. Downloaded from imia.schattauer.de on 2018-02-23 | IP: 115.113.232.2 Research and Education 201 IMIA Yearbook of Medical Informatics 2005 Fig. 1. The educational offer in Biomedical Informatics and Telemedicine at the Politecnico di Milano. (Credits are according to ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System). Specialization Course on