HEALTH INFORMATICS CERTIFICATE
Contact: hi_info@ecu.edu
Completion of the Health Informatics Certificate Program does not make a student eligible to sit for the Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA) exam.
The certificate in health informatics will equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for employment and success in the emerging field of health informatics.
The program is designed for health care workers who have no informatics training and for information technology workers who have no health care experience and may wish to seek employment in health care as health informaticians. The objective is to expand upon the student's current knowledge skills to make them more capable and well trained in the field of health informatics.
Students will acquire the knowledge and skills to work at the intersection of health care and information technology. In the case of current health care workers who have health care related degrees, exposure to certificate courses should increase their skill set for practice in an information intensive health care environment. For students with computer or information technology degrees, the certificate courses will expose them to the uniqueness and complexity of work processes in health care. Specifically, candidates who successfully complete the certificate should be able to understand how the U.S. health care system is organized, identify how health informatics improves health care effectiveness and efficiency, distinguish the roles of electronic health records, evaluation methods, e-Health, decision support and database systems as important information technologies for supporting health care decision making.
The Health Informatics Certificate is available to all students holding a baccalaureate degree. The certificate requires successful completion of 15 s.h. from the following COHE courses: HIMA 5060, COHE 6410, COHE 6420, COHE 6430, COHE 6440, COHE 6450. Students who have not previously passed a graduate health care systems course must first complete COHE 6000 before taking any other course. HIMA 5060 is a co-requisite and should be taken before or concurrently with COHE 6410, 6420, 6430, 6440, or 6450. All courses are available online. Certificate students may transfer credits to other graduate programs but acceptance into the certificate program does not guarantee acceptance into other programs and non-degree students can only apply 9 s.h. toward a graduate degree. The admission process is operated by the ECU Graduate School (http://www.ecu.edu/gradschool/).
HIMA: Health Information Management
HIMA 5060. Health Informatics (3) P: Consent of instructor. Informatics in health care delivery systems with focus on the clinical, public health, and consumer aspects.
COHE: Community Health
COHE 6000. Health Care Systems and Problems (3) P: Consent of instructor. Advanced study of contemporary health care problems. Evolution, philosophy, and present and future trends of our health care system. Emphasis on health policy and practices of community health service institutions and agencies.
COHE 6410. Electronic Health Records (3) P/C: HIMA 5060 or consent of instructor. Principles of and approaches to EHR technology.
COHE 6420. Evaluation Methods in Health Informatics (3) P/C: HIMA 5060 or consent of instructor. Design, data collection, analysis and reporting of health informatics applications.
COHE 6430. Database Systems in Health Care (3) P/C: HIMA 5060 or consent of instructor. Relational database theory and applications in health care.
COHE 6440. E-Health Care Information Systems (3) P/C:HIMA 5060 or consent of instructor. Systematic analysis of electronic technologies in health care.
COHE 6450. Decision Support in Health Care (3) P/C: HIMA 5060 or consent of instructor. Theories and applications of decision science in health care.
