The demand for those with the skill set needed to work in health informatics technology is growing. Careers in this area combine information technology, health care and management. As such, the training one obtains should encompass all of these areas.
Centennial College’s advanced diploma Health Informatics program (officially known as Health Informatics Technology) offers students three years of training in the above-mentioned areas. As a result, graduates have the ability to design, develop, modify and test software for healthcare applications. That means they are fully eligible to apply for entry-level positions in areas such as clinical, research and educational at institutions such as Ontario health networks, Ontario hospitals and the government. In these areas, grads find work in a range of roles that include: software developers, health data analysts, database developers, systems implementation specialists, and business/systems analysts.
Centennial College’s Health Informatics courses take a proactive approach to teaching students the skills they need. Therefore, many offer interactive elements that include leading-edge technology geared to industry standards and project-based learning. One significant way in which students gain hands-on experience is via two software development projects in the field of health informatics. These real world business applications require students to utilize all the technical, systems and business skills gained during their studies.
Students also use tools, algorithms and health informatics methods that are common to hospitals, schools, healthcare agencies and public health departments. Faculty members who have diverse business experience and academic credentials deliver all courses. These faculty members make themselves available to students during and after class time to offer advice, help with course work and for networking purposes.
Because the college wants to ensure that graduates are able to comfortably analyze and model data, develop healthcare databases and apply different computer medical-imaging techniques, there is an emphasis on object-oriented software design methodologies, user-oriented interface design, structure of healthcare information systems, telehealth, data security and privacy in healthcare systems. An additional focus on technologies such as 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 rounds out the training.
Specific courses offered in this program include: Software Engineering Fundamentals, Functions and Number Systems, Web Interface Design, Advanced Business Communications, JAVA Programming, Linear Algebra and Statistics, Telehealth, IT Project Management, Data Security and Privacy Policies in HCIS and more.
It is worth noting that qualified college or university graduates with a background in software gain direct admission into semester three of this three-year program and receive their Health Informatics Technology advanced diploma in four semesters.
The Health Informatics Technology program is fully accredited by the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) and the Canadian Council of Technician and Technologies (CCTT).