Health Informatics and Medical Informatics in Türkiye – Education, Research, Services and Human Resources

As part of the Türkiye Klinikleri TV Digital Health Program, we discussed the field of "Medical Informatics" with Prof. Dr. Hakan Gülkesen. In this episode, we addressed the human resources, education, research, and application dimensions of medical informatics with a holistic approach. We also emphasized the interaction between research, education, and service.

The interview, the video address of which is provided at the end of the article, generally includes the following:

Conceptual Framework of Health Informatics and Medical Informatics

• Medical informatics is a multidisciplinary field focused on the generation, management, analysis, and use of biomedical data in decision-making processes.
• The goal is not just to produce technology, but to improve human health; economic benefit alone should not be a sufficient objective.
• The field is divided into sub-specialties such as clinical informatics, bioinformatics, public health informatics, imaging informatics, and nursing informatics.
• “The concepts of "health informatics," "medical informatics," and "biomedical informatics" largely overlap.

Historical Development

• 1970s: The introduction of computers into medicine.
• 1980s: The beginning of medical informatics research.
• 1990s: Health information systems, hospital information systems
• 2000s: Electronic health records, e-health
• 2010s: Data science, artificial intelligence, analytics
• 2020s: Digital health ecosystem, interoperability, security, governance, secondary data usage

Implementation and Infrastructure in Türkiye

Strengths:

• National digital health infrastructures such as e-Nabız, e-Prescription, and MHRS.
• Common hospital information systems
• The technical infrastructure is relatively strong.

Areas for improvement:

• Data quality and data governance
• Secondary use of health data
• Strategic integrity and organizational coordination
• Skilled workforce
• Data evaluation centers in hospitals and clear job descriptions.

“The "trash in, trash out" principle is highlighted as a critical issue, especially for artificial intelligence and decision support systems.

Education and Human Resources Problem

• Türkiye has master's and doctoral programs in medical informatics; however, their number and capacity are insufficient.
• Structural problems within departments (particularly the necessary combination of biostatistics and medical informatics) have limited the development of the field.
• Many qualified doctoral graduates cannot find suitable positions in academia or the healthcare system.
  • He went abroad,
  • They have branched out into different fields,
  • This has been a loss for the Turkish system.
• In the US and Europe:
  • Hospital IT departments are headed by specialists with doctorates.,
  • Competency-based career frameworks and micro-competencies are being implemented.
• In Türkiye, however, roles such as data manager, data architect, and clinical computer specialist are not clearly defined.

 Assessment and Maturity Models

• According to assessments by the World Health Organization, the OECD, and other international organizations:
  • Türkiye has a strong infrastructure.,
  • However, the areas of workforce, governance, data-drivenness, and continuous improvement are insufficient.
• There is a significant digital divide among hospitals.

Key Outcomes and Recommendations

• Strategic integrity must be ensured at the national level.
• For health informatics:
  • Clear job descriptions,
  • Competency-based career paths,
  • Micro-certification and continuing education models should be developed.
• Data specialists and medical and health informatics professionals should take active roles in hospitals and universities.
• The secondary use of health data should be supported within an ethical and safety framework.
• Otherwise, there is a risk of "missing the train in digital health.".

Overall Conclusion

Türkiye has significant potential and a strong technical infrastructure in digital health. However, for this potential to be transformed into real value... leadership, governance, skilled workforce, data quality, and strategic coordination. Structural steps must be taken in these areas. The speech underlines that the problem is not primarily technical, but rather governance and human resources-related.

It is emphasized that the research results and skilled human resources produced in our country are utilized globally; the path should be opened for the high potential in Türkiye to be transformed into tangible products for both our country and the world, and human resources should be given strategic importance in this process.

Prof. Dr. Diler Aslan

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4907-9445

February 3, 2026

Access the interview video:

Health Informatics, Medical Informatics: Education, Research, Services and Human Resources (Aslan D, Gülkesen H.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLmi9PbGy1Y