Health Informatics MS - Curriculum

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is a field of study concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them. This course surveys the scope of issues and foundations of the HCI field: cognitive psychology, human factors, interaction styles, user analysis, task analysis, interaction design methods and techniques, and evaluation. This course will focus on the users and their tasks. (This class is restricted to degree-seeking graduate students or those with permission from instructor.) Lecture 3 (Fall, Spring).

This course provides a rigorous introduction to the principles of medical informatics. The focus of this course is on the study of the nature of medical information and its use in clinical practice and clinical quality improvement. Key topics include: the electronic medical record (EMR) and its impact on health care delivery, the Internet and mobile computing as sources of medical information, Health care information systems, the software development lifecycle, the importance of the informatics specialists in medicine and the various roles they can play, and government economic incentives and policy issues in healthcare such as privacy, confidentiality, including health care regulatory and accreditation issues and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Students will participate in online discussion of medical informatics. They will also investigate several topics of interest in the field and provide presentations. (This class is restricted to degree-seeking graduate students or those with permission from instructor.) Lecture 3 (Fall).

This seven-week course is an introduction to clinical practice for graduate students in Medical Informatics. It consists of the study of medical specialties including shadowing of clinicians in these areas. Students in this course will be part of a team of health care professionals in the selected specialties. They will make rounds with providers, attend key IT and HI meetings, assist with information gathering and dissemination, and observe specialty specific disease process, diagnosis, and treatment. They will observe and note clinical workflow and technology usage. They will interact with team members and assist with the acquisition of reference knowledge as appropriate. (Prerequisites: MEDI-701 or equivalent course and graduate student standing.) Clinical 1, Lecture 6 (Spring, Summer).

A study of the component approach to clinical information systems. Students will learn about the evolution of Health Information Systems, and the variety of systems offered by vendors at the present time. The importance of the Electronic Health Record (EHR), the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and Clinical Decision Support will be stressed as they become the focal points in clinical information systems. The following components will be studied in detail: patient, activity, health record, knowledge, and security components. The role of imaging management and integration will also be reviewed. (Prerequisites: MEDI-701 or equivalent course and graduate student standing.) Lecture 3 (Spring).

Informatics is about systems that store, process, analyze, and communicate information. Information begins as data – and of particular interest today is the large data sets that are evolving in many fields. Data sets are acted upon by tools can be applied to a variety of problems across many fields. This course provides an overview of issues within informatics, and common solutions. Through hands-on examples, the course demonstrates a general problem-solving approach from problem identification, algorithm selection, data cleaning, and analysis. Lecture 1 (Spring, Summer).

Information technology projects require the application of sound project management principles in order to be developed on time, on budget, and on specification. This course takes students through the nine knowledge areas of modern project management and the utilization of project management principles in both traditional and agile environments. Lecture 3 (Fall).

This team-based course provides students with the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills learned in coursework to design, develop, and implement a solution to a real problem in the medical informatics domain. Project teams also will be responsible for submitting a final project report, and for making a final presentation to project stakeholders. (Completion of first year courses) (Prerequisite: MEDI-701 and MEDI-705 and MEDI-735 and MEDI-704 and HCIN-610 and Graduate standing.) Lecture 3 (Summer).