Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Studying Health Informatics Technology in Canada

Along with the increasing medical needs of an aging population comes a strong need of keeping an electronic medical record of patients, which can be accessed and utilized whenever required. The recording and maintenance of health information serves numerous facets of clients' health, including medical history, continued care and emergency response.

Health informatics although is not a new term but it has become an important function of healthcare facilities only a few years ago. However, nowadays most healthcare organizations maintain electronic records of their patients. This has resulted in significant increase in demand for professionals who are well-versed in medical technology and can help organizations design, develop, modify, test and work on software for healthcare facilities.

The career prospects are bright in this field and a continuous increase in demand for health informatics professionals is anticipated in the coming years as well. Therefore, it's a good time to consider building a career in this field. A health informatics program can help interested candidates in gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to get into the world of work and build rewarding careers.

Studying Health Informatics

As health informatics is a specialized field and combines healthcare, computer science and information technology, aspiring health informaticians need to undergo a formal and specific education that covers all three major aspects.

Many Canadian colleges offer post-secondary health informatics courses. Unfortunately, not all are accredited. Therefore, students must conduct a thorough research before applying with any college. A program is worth considering if it
  • Is CTAB accredited
  • Includes software development projects
  • Is delivered using leading-edge technology
  • Is taught by experienced faculty members with strong experience in this field
  • Provides project-based learning
  • Offers hands-on tools, algorithms and health informatics methods
  • Offers good placement opportunities upon course completion
Centennial College's three-year post-secondary program in health informatics technology meets all the above mentioned requirements. The program is not only CTAB accredited but also enjoys the joint accreditation by the CIPS (Canadian Information Processing Society) and the CCTT (Canadian Council of Technician and Technologies).

Program Content

The health informatics course covers a wide range of subjects, including software engineering fundamentals, database concepts, functions and number systems, software programming, software engineering methodologies, operating systems, web interface design, web app development, object oriented software engineering, network technologies, wireless programming, data warehouse, mining, security and privacy policies and telehealth, systems integration and computer techniques in medical imaging.

The emphasis is on enabling students to analyze and model data, develop healthcare databases and apply different computer medical-imaging techniques. The course incorporates two software development projects which allow students to utilize all technical, systems and business skills gained during the program.

Applying with Centennial College

Interested students can apply for health informatics courses by submitting a completed application form along with a copy of secondary school diploma certificate and scores of English Grade 12 C or University or equivalent and Mathematics Grade 12 C or University or equivalent.

The program graduates can work as business/systems analysts, systems implementation specialists, database developers, health data analysts and software developers in a variety of environments - clinical, educational and research.

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