The certificate in Healthcare Informatics has been developed to provide the knowledge and skills required to use information technology to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes and to advance in this growing field.
Coursework is designed for individuals who seek a career in healthcare informatics, who already have a bachelor’s degree but need to develop specific healthcare informatics skills, or those who want to increase their skill set and position themselves for advancement.
Students completing the certificate program will have knowledge and skills in the following areas:
Required Courses | 9 credits
This course features a high-level overview of healthcare informatics. Overviews of the following topics will be included: administrative and clinical software applications, healthcare systems acquisition, leadership skills, electronic health records, change management and organizational behavior, workflow design and reengineering, communications specific to the information systems leaders, healthcare information exchanges, and evidence-based medicine. A high-level look at the healthcare industry and recent government mandates will also be explored.
This course introduces process mapping and workflow management. The intricacies of observing, recording, analyzing, and improving processes within the healthcare setting will be discussed and analyzed. Issues arising from the development, dissemination, implementation, and use of health information technologies (information systems, monitoring systems, etc.) on individuals and organizations will be explored. The concepts of usability, learnability, likeability, ergonomic, and universal design of solutions will also be discussed in depth. Social and ethical issues will also be introduced.
Prerequisite: Take HINF-501 or HIS-501
Utilization and leveraging of healthcare data can drive improvements in our nation's entire healthcare system as well as in the medical and economic wellness of patients through sharing practical guidance and unbiased information on how to harness these healthcare data and facilitating problem-solving, solution sharing, and education through the collection and analyzing of healthcare data.
Prerequisite: Take HINF-501
Elective Courses | Minimum 3 credits (Select 1 of the following courses)
Introduces the student to the business of healthcare at both an industry and individual business level. Includes department design, management of capital and operating budgets, budget planning process, strategic planning, and concepts necessary for the preparation and interpretation of financial statements. Additionally, the vendor identification and selection process as well as contract management will be discussed as it pertains to the healthcare environment.
Prerequisite: TAKE HINF 501
In this course, evidenced-based practice (EBP) qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be analyzed within the scope of the healthcare industry. Topics include identification, interpretation, and evaluation of research information sources, research design, data collection, computer-based data analyses, and privacy and protection of human subjects. Clinical decision support (CDS) technologies, which provide tools for the healthcare providers' decision-making, will be examined and debated. Data warehouses will also be discussed as they relate to facilitating and optimizing the research methodologies.
Prerequisite: TAKE HINF-501 OR HIS-501
This course is designed to provide an understanding of specific skills required to collect and maintain electronic health data in our current technical and political environment. Examines overviews and issues specific to various types of hospital systems, methods used to interface between systems, and operational issues typical of hospital systems. The course also includes a study of controlled medical vocabularies typically used to define various types of health data as well as a survey of existing and evolving government-driven standards and regulations.
Prerequisite: Take HINF-501
This course serves as an introduction to managing healthcare information projects, including the development of the project charter and scope with emphasis on developing the competencies and skills required to successfully lead teams of technical, clinical, and professional specialists through workflow and work process redesign activities within a healthcare organization or system. Topics also include project initiating, planning and development, project management tools, budgeting, human resource management, project monitoring, and controlling and project closure. Advanced-level skills in using PM methodologies to create realistic project plans, schedule tasks and resources effectively, appropriately communicate with all stakeholders, and derive meaningful milestone deliverables to track and report progress for both simple and complex projects.
Prerequisite: Take HIS-501 or HINF-501 and HIS-550 or HINF-550
Upon completion of the certificate program, the student will be better equipped to enter or continue as a professional in the healthcare informatics field.
