A Descriptive Analysis of National Library of Medicine-funded Medical Informatics Training Programs and the Career Choices of Their Graduates

The initial 13 National Library of Medicine-supported medical informatics training programs and their graduates were studied to determine the program objectives, trainee selection factors, and curriculum components of the programs and the backgrounds and career choices of the trainees. All 13 programs and over 60% of the available population of trainees were studied. The analysis indicated that 1 ) the major objective was to train individuals in the applications of computer and information science to medicine; 2) the most frequent selection factor was the MD degree; 3) course work in computer science and a research project were the most common curriculum components; 4) 52% of the graduates selected academic careers; and 5) personal reasons most frequently influenced career choices. There is now a baseline of data that can be used in future studies. Key words: medical informatics; computers; National Library of Medicine; career choices. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:33- 37)