Business and healthcare professionals with a Bachelor’s degree are drawn to the healthcare informatics field since informatics is now considered one of the core competencies needed by all clinicians. At the same time, the field has evolved into a specialty area within nursing, pharmacy, medical imaging, biotech, medicine, plus informatics has many applications in other clinical fields.
To meet the ongoing needs in the expanding informatics field, the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston is offering an online course from January 12, 2009 to April 28, 2009 that will examine healthcare informatics from an interdisciplinary perspective and prepare students for the national informatics exam. The MGH Institute of Health Professions an interdisciplinary graduate school is an affiliate of the Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the Partners HealthCare System.
This course is set up as a survey course to provide students from all clinical fields an overview of the healthcare informatics field. Specifically, online students will learn all about the history of healthcare informatics, concepts, theories, and applications within the healthcare industry, the information system life cycle, human factor issues in healthcare informatics, enabling information systems technologies, knowledge management principles, and professional practice trends and issues.
The students will be able to go out into the real informatics world and find jobs with companies within all segments of the healthcare industry from healthcare providers such as Partners Healthcare, insurance companies, perhaps with vendors that market software applications to the industry, and or work for many other individuals and organizations involved in evidenced-based practices. The salary range can span from $50,000 to over $100,000 based on an individual’s qualifications and expertise.
This course is the first of the six course sequence. The faculty is now researching the possibility of offering a CAGS in Applied Healthcare Informatics. They are further exploring the potential of offering a graduate degree in this area as well.
For more information on the course or other courses, or to download a registration form, go to www.mghihp.edu/admissions/nondegree.
