Capture the Latest Technology in Health Care Sector with Health Informatics Program

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    Oct 23, 2013
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Capture the Latest Technology in Health Care Sector with Health Informatics Program Photo by Jason White

Centennial College's Health Informatics program enjoys a strong focus that prepares students for the combination of computer science and health care they will experience in their positions as software developers, health data analysts, database developers, systems implementation specialists and business/systems analysts. While the field offers a range of careers, those who graduate from the Health Informatics program concern themselves with the resources, devices and methods that optimize the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine as applied to areas such as public health, clinical care, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy and biomedical research. Graduates of the Informatics Technology program are able to analyze and model data, develop healthcare databases and apply different computer medical-imaging techniques.

To get students fully trained for the field in three years, Health Informatics courses focus on object-oriented software design methodologies, user-oriented interface design, structure of healthcare information systems, telehealth, data security and privacy in healthcare systems. Specific technologies covered by Health Informatics courses include: C#, Java, J2EE, Oracle, MS-SQL Server, Unix/ Linux, Microsoft's .NET, HTML/ XML, Rational/ WebSphere, Data warehousing and Data mining, and BI tools in healthcare systems and more.

While the program consists of 36 Health Informatics courses, here are the Top 5 most vital topics covered within the Health Informatics program.

Structure of HCIS: This Health Informatics course sees students explore the administrative and technical environment of health care informatics as well as the techniques of data capture and storage employed in this profession.

Tools, Algorithms & Methods for HCIS:  Health Informatics program students explore contemporary health informatics tools, algorithms and methods. Coursework emphasizes the use of HL7 as a standard for exchanging information between medical applications, and the use of BI tools, such as Crystal Reports and SAS, for analyzing and manipulating health care data.

Data Warehousing and Data Mining in HCIS: Data warehousing techniques allow organizations to extract data from disparate data sources and transform it into actionable information. This course covers basic data warehousing and data mining concepts and tools that can be used to create and manage data warehousing and data mining systems.

Data Security and Privacy Policies in HCIS: This Health Informatics program course introduces students to the issues of storing and transmitting patient information safely. As such, they learn the different technologies available for encryption and signing of electronic transmissions.

Computer Techniques in Medical Imaging: First, this course explains core concepts related to digital images manipulation in the medical field and then it follows up with examples processed in a freely available software package.

It is also worth noting that the Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologists has deemed the Health Informatics program as meeting the national technology accreditation requirements established by the organization. As such, the Canadian Technology Accreditation Board has accredited it with national status. The Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists also recognizes the Health Informatics program as having met all the academic requirements for certification in the Technologist category.

Health Informatics program applicants must possess at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. Students must also possess compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent; and Math 11M or U, or 12C or U, or skills assessment, or equivalent.

Author's Profile

Jason, as the author of this piece, focuses on the courses offered in Centennial College's Health Informatics program


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