IMIA Representative 
Dr. Mira Hercigonja-Szekeres

 

 

 

IMIA NI Representative: Alexandar Adenovic

HDMI Website : Current Board members : Upcoming events & Meetings

Croatian Society for Medical Informatics (CroSMI)

Founded in 1989, the Croatian Society for Medical Informatics (http://www.hdmi.hr) is a non-profit organization concerned with the scientific field of Biomedical and Health informatics, which comprises the theory and practice of information science and technology within health care and health care science. The basic objectivities of the CroSMI are as follows:
(1) to advance dissemination of information in the field of MI in Croatia,
(2) to promote high standards in the application of work in this field,
(3) to promote research and development in this field,
(4) to encourage high standards in education in this field,
(5) to advance international cooperation in this field.

Since 1993 the CroSMI has organized professional and scientific meetings with international contributions. The meetings named “Medical Informatics” have been held biannually and presented papers are published in the proceedings.

The CroSMI hosted two EFMI Special Topic Conferences: „Medical Informatics in Enlarged Europe“ (Brijuni 2007) and “Decision Support Systems and Education – Help and Support in Healthcare” (Zagreb 2018).

The Society initiated the establishment of the national Technical Committee 215 for standardization in medical informatics at the Croatian Institute for Standardization (http://www.hzn.hr) which follows work of CEN TC251 and ISO TC215 and assists in the health care information system development in the Republic of Croatia.

CroSMI members are active members of the Committee for e-Health of the Croatian Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS). It issued the Declaration on e-Health, organized a debate among the members of both organizations, and finally published it (in Croatian) at the CAMS’s website. The settings of this Declaration entered into the “National Health Care Strategy” issued by the Croatian Ministry of Health. Also, it became a basis for development of the strategic document on e-Health in Croatia. The positive impact of the Declaration has encouraged members of the Committee for e-Health to compile a similar document relating to the electronic health record – Guidelines for the Advancement of Electronic Health Records. The Guidelines describe the direction of action in building a system of electronic health records that will meet the needs of all stakeholders in health care, support health professionals and enable continuous quality improvement at all levels and in all segments of health care. The guidelines were published (in Croatian) in the journal Acta Medica Croatica (AMC). The Declaration and the Guidelines are both also published in the Society bulletin (in English) and are available on the CroSMI Website.

The CroSMI initiated establishment of the EFMI Working Group “Information and Decision Support in Biomedicine and Health Care” (IDeS). More information about objectives, activities and publications of WG IDeS can be found on WG IDeS Website.

Activities of the CroSMI also include participation in creating and delivering Biomedical and Health informatics curriculum in Croatian medical schools. As a part of those activities a MI textbook was published which is officially recognized as a university textbook in all medical schools in Croatia.

There are three working groups in CroSMI:

  • Working Group on the Secondary Use of Biomedical and Health Data (SEKA)
  • Working Group for Evaluation and Development of Education in Biomedical and Health Informatics and Employment Opportunities for Experts in the Croatian Health System (ELVIS)
  • Working Group for Information and Cyber Security (IKS).

The project activities of the CroSMI include participation in the project “Thematic network on quality and certification of EHR systems” (EHR-QTN) with Euro Rec Institute as the coordinator of the project, and “Curriculum Development for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Specialist Study in Medical Informatics (MEDINFO)” project which was included into the Croatian Qualifications Framework of the Multiannual Operational Program “Human Resource Development” as a grant within the External Actions of the European Union, and was performed in collaboration with the Croatian Chamber of Economy and the Ericsson Nicola Tesla Company in Zagreb.

IMIA Recommendation on Health and Medical Informatics Education and IMIA Code of Ethics were translated into Croatian language and published on CroSMI web site.

The comprehensive history of the CroSMI can be found in an article “30 years of the Croatian Society for Medical Informatics” (in Croatian) published in CroSMI bulletin, and more details about the role and activities of the CroSMI in medical informatics field in Croatia in an article “Medical Informatics in Croatia – a Historical Survey” published in Acta Informatica Medica.