University of North Texas
College of Information
The Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Health Informatics is designed for health information professionals and other librarians who want a new career in the field of health informatics. This program enhances the range of professional and technical skills and competencies of these professionals and explores more sophisticated medical informatics applications. Also, the program addresses the need of health professionals interested in exploring the management of medical knowledge from an information science perspective. It provides an opportunity to discover new approaches to information management that have been made possible by current developments in information technology, networking and telecommunications. The program builds on the nationally recognized Master's program in Medical Librarianship at the Department of Library and Information Sciences at the University of North Texas.
Graduates will have a solid grounding in information science, in the nature of medical information and in the supportive technology. The conceptual components of the program will include the design, integration, implementation, evaluating and management of health care information systems, clinical information systems, community-based information systems, telemedicine, evaluating methods in medical informatics, Internet-based medical information retrieval information resource management, among others. The program is inter-structured with the Information Systems Program of Study which provides a robust technological enhancement to the Health Informatics Program.
One of the strength of the CAS Program is the flexibility it offers for students to design a course structure according to individual career goals. The Medical Informatics Program Certificate of Advanced Studies requires a minimum of 24 graduate credit hours. There are 13 Department of Library and Information Sciences courses that are recommended for consideration by students pursuing the certificate. In addition to Department of Library and Information Sciences courses, up to 12 graduate hours may be substituted with courses taken from Houston areas informatics programs in health education institutions with the approval of the Program Advisor and the institutions involved.
The increasing role of information technology in health related fields has created a growing need for health information professionals. The new trends provide opportunities to move beyond the boundaries of the workplace, take new responsibilities and operate in a more dynamic mode within the work environment.Closely related to this is the growing need for health information professionals who form the hub of health information networks and systems, working closely with health professional teams. Career path opportunities exist in medical libraries, hospitals, nursing facilities, government agencies, corporations, clinical settings, rural medicine, telemedicine, and especially in the public health sector.
This page was last modified at 1:44PM on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
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