Introduction to Medical Informatics, ONLINE!
COURSE SYLLABUS
WELCOME MESSAGE
Please read the Welcome message under the course Content
before or during the first week of class.
COURSE NUMBER
HSA4192/5197
COURSE TITLE
Introduction to Medical Informatics
COURSE OVERVIEW
Online course that serves as an introduction to the field of Medical
Informatics. The course covers the background, history, issues and barriers to
medical informatics and health information technology. This course is a
technical elective in the Master
of Science in Computer Science-Software Engineering program and the
Master of Public
Health program and is one of four courses that count towards a Certificate
in Medical Informatics.
COURSE COORDINATOR and FACILITATORS
Robert Hoyt MD
CONTACT INFORMATION
rhoyt@uwf.edu
School of Allied Health and
Life Sciences, University of West Florida
PREREQUISITES OR COREQUISITES
Please see the official UWF
Catalog.
Computer phobic? Think again...No prior knowledge of medical informatics is
required as a prerequisite. Students will be taught basics in the course and
will also have the opportunity to utilize online resources for additional
skill development in order to complete assignments for this course. You must
be willing to review (and re-review, when necessary!) these resources if you
want to be successful.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Please see the official UWF
Catalog.
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
This course meets the following programmatic goals for the School of Allied
Health and Life Sciences. Upon completion of this course, students will be
able to:
- Describe how the United States healthcare system could benefit from
digitized health information
- Enumerate the multiple civilian and federal stakeholders who would
benefit from a modern healthcare infrastructure
- Discuss the benefits and obstacles associated with electronic health
records
- Apply knowledge of health information exchange to discuss the need for
information sharing
- List the multiple new online medical resources and search engines that
benefit physicians and patients
- Demonstrate knowledge about data standards, privacy and security
- Describe how mobile technology is being applied in the field of medicine
- Compare and contrast various network architectures
- Discuss how evidence based medicine can positively influence practice
guidelines and disease management
- Demonstrate knowledge of how health information technology, to include
electronic health records, can influence patient safety
- Use concepts of telemedicine to improve healthcare quality and deliver
- Understand the role of digital imaging and PACS systems
- Describe how bioinformatics and public health informatics impacts
general medical informatics
- Understand how research can now be "paperless"
- Understand newer emerging technologies and their impact on the field of
medicine
Fulfillment of these goals will be assessed through examinations, a set of
assignments (with associated online discussion, quizzes, or other assessment
requirements), and completion of one or more writing assignments. For the
purposes of programmatic assessment, the following mastery levels will be
used:
Characteristics of Submitted Student Work and Assignments
| SKILL MASTERY LEVEL |
INTEGRITY/VALUES |
PROJECT MANAGEMENT |
| Exceeds Expectations (Very Good to Excellent) |
Student has a clearly defined sense of the value of medical
informatics research and related ethical issues. Student can articulate
and defend arguments with specificity. |
Student consistently demonstrates clarity of thought process, ability
to communicate well with team members, and consistently demonstrates
abilities and understanding that surpass expected average. |
| Meets Expectations (Satisfactory) |
Student demonstrates adequate awareness of the value of medical
informatics research and related ethical issues. Student can articulate
and defend arguments, but lacks some specificity. |
Student has adequate communication skills and demonstrates basic level
of understanding of project management, however, these abilities rarely
surpass expectations. |
| Below Expectations (Unsatisfactory) |
Student does not demonstrate adequate awareness of the value of
medical informatics research and related ethical issues, or student is
unable to articulate and defend arguments with any specificity. |
Student demonstrates poor communication skills with class members or
demonstrates a critical inability to grasp central concepts, execute
technologies, or think logically to synthesize appropriate
conclusions. |
TOPICS COVERED
- Overview of Medical Informatics
- Consumer Informatics
- Online Medical Resources
- Search Engines
- Evidence Based Medicine
- Clinical Practice Guidelines
- Disease Management and Registries
- Quality Improvement Strategies
- Electronic Health Records
- Practice Management Systems
- Interoperability and Health Information Exchange
- Data Standards
- Privacy and Security
- Mobile Technology
- Architectures of information Systems
- Patient Safety and Health Information Technology
- E-prescribing
- Telehealth and Telemedicine
- Picture Archiving and Communication Systems
- E-Research
- Bioinformatics
- Public Health Informatics
- Emerging Trends
Total instructional hours: 48 hours
REQUIRED TEXTS/MATERIALS
Chapters from the textbook for the course, Medical Informatics: Practical Guide for the Healthcare
Professional, Fourth Edition
will be posted free of charge in each relevant module of the course.
This eBook/textbook is available in paperback and as an e-book from the UWF
bookstore or from www.lulu.com
SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY UTILIZED BY STUDENTS
- You will access the instructional content for this course through the UWF
eLearning Management System (eLearning). You can access eLearning
directly by using this URL: http://elearning.uwf.edu/
- Students are required to complete this course utilizing the equivalent
of a cable-speed modem. Completing the course modules via a telephone
dial-up connection will not be possible, due to the significant download times
for larger audio-visual content.
- Microsoft Office 2007may be used for some activities. Students have
access to Microsoft Office 2007 via eDesktop. See the Using eDesktop
content
- Students will need to use the FireFox web browserfor course
activities within eLearning. There are too many issues with Internet Explorer
and eLearning at this time. Internet Explorer 8.0 is NOT supported.The
latest FireFox can be downloaded from the following website: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
- Notepad or similar text editor is suggested for gathering your
discussion posts. There are issues with the formatting if you copy/paste from
Word into the body of your discussion post. It is best to wait until your text
is in the discussion body before you format.
- eDesktop may be required for some course assignments. See the
Using eDesktop content page for more information if this applies.
- Elluminate may be used for some course presentations. See the
Using Elluminate content page for more information if this applies.
- Required Browser Plugins:You may need to upgrade your Browser
software with the following free plugins to take full advantage of all the
media elements in this Web-based course. However, you may already have these
plugins installed on your computer. If so, there is no need to download and
install them again.
Remember, if these programs are already installed on your computer,
you do not need to download and install them again.
- Technical Assistance: If you have any technical problems, contact
the ITS help desk at (850) 474-2075 or via email helpdesk@uwf.edu first.
REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY
GRADING/EVALUATION
Fulfillment of the programmatic goals described above will be assessed as
follows:
- 30% Quizzes (with lowest score dropped)
- These quizzes may include multiple choice, true-false, etc.
- 30% Point Paper (with alternate guidelines for undergraduates vs.
graduate students)
- Your point paper emphasizes the critical thinking component to the
course. Links to tutorials developed by the UWF Library to help you
prepare your paper and include professional referencing within your paper
will be provided. The UWF resource page should also be useful for creating
your point paper http://uwf.edu/sahls/medicalinformatics
- 40% Course Participation (activities will vary each semester)
- To emphasize the importance and significance of developing your
ability to communicate scientific information effectively, participation
in selected online forum discussions will be graded using a Discussion
Forum Grading Rubric(available under Content in eLearning). Please
note that instructors can tell how many times students entered discussion
posts and how much time they spent in each module, so there is an audit
trail of your participation.
Calculation of Final Grade: Due to the distance learning nature of
this course, all requirements must be completed within the time scheduled,
unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor. Your final
grade will be weighted based upon the percentages indicated above. On-line
facilities will be provided so students can monitor their own progress. The
final grade will be on a 10-point scale, roughly: A range = 90-100, B range =
80-89, etc., with plus/minus grades as appropriate.
Compliance with UWF Policies on Satisfactory Progress: If you have a
question regarding the UWF policies for assignment of grades of 'W' or 'I',
please visit the UWF Withdrawal Policy or the UWF Incomplete Grade Policy.
CLASS MEETINGS
- This course assumes a workweek with the schedule indicated on the
Course Schedule link under Important Course Information. Using this
schedule, each week, you would log into the course site and click on the Content link located under the eLearning banner for
assignments related to that week. You should also look ahead to see scheduling
dates for any tests, assignments or forum participation sessions. Online exams
should be taken during the time frames indicated. Similarly, assignments
should be posted or uploaded during the times indicated. More information on
testing procedures and assignments will be available as these dates approach
in the semester.
- All deadlines are 11:59pm CST unless otherwise indicated on the Course
Schedule.
CLASS COMMUNICATION
- Discussion Postings: Unless a problem is personal in nature, it is
easier and faster for instructors to respond to a posting in the Muddiest Points Discussion Forum, so a response
can be composed that helps everyone. Instructors cannot reply to every
discussion posting in other forums, but will read every posting and always
offer constructive responses when necessary. Always check the Announcements Forum and FAQs page for
information that will be helpful to everyone.
- Outstanding Issue Quiz: If a problem is related to a graded item or
is personal in nature, post an attempt to this special UNGRADED quiz (click
the Quizzeslink located under the eLearning
banner). Use of this quiz has increased efficiency and tracking of issues on a
student/course basis and is the preferred method of grade-related and private
communication. Answers to your submission will also be in the Outstanding
Issues quiz area.
EXPECTATIONS FOR ACADEMIC CONDUCT/PLAGIARISM POLICY
- Academic Conduct Policy [Web]
- Plagiarism Policy [PDF]
- Student Handbook [PDF]
- It is the philosophy of The University of West Florida that academic
dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be
tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be
disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures.
Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. Scholastic
dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the
submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole
or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any
act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit
such acts.
- In addition, any behavior that interferes with the conduct of a class is
classified as disruptive behavior and will not be tolerated. Although not
exhaustive, examples of disruptive behavior would include: inappropriate,
unprofessional, or threatening online postings or e-mails, etc.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
- This course is reviewed during the semester and in an ongoing basis for
quality by assessment personnel within the School of Allied Health and Life
Sciences (SAHLS) to meet national standards established by the Southern
Association of Colleges and Schools, the Council on Education for Public
Health, and/or to address quality enhancement initiatives of SAHLS. Student feedback
is also vital to this process. When reviewing our programs, our accrediting
partners expect to see 100% participation in the State-of-Florida mandated
SUSSAI (State University System Student Assessment of Instruction)
evaluations. Thus, at the end of the semester, we need to hear from the folks
that enjoyed the class and from the folks that have suggestions for
improvement (ok, and from the folks that want to fill out the survey as
quickly as possible with no comments to share!). BUT, we do need to hear from
each and every student in this class, and we value your input.
- When SUSSAI evaluations are ready for you to complete, you will see a News
posting in the course. Please take a few minutes to complete this anonymous,
brief web-based evaluation on this course, using the link at the top of the
page under "Attention Students: Online Student Assessment of Instruction
Evaluations Now Available". If you need assistance or encounter any
problems, please contact the Helpdesk at (850) 474-2075 or helpdesk@uwf.edu or Connie Works at (850)
474-3080 or cworks@uwf.edu.
- Please be assured that all evaluations that are completed online are of a
confidential matter. Your name, student number, and e-mail address will not be
revealed to your instructor, department, or college. Only one evaluation per
course per student can be submitted. Please do not delay completing the
evaluation when the time approaches. Due to the significance of this
information, instructors will not be able to pre-release grades in eLearning
if we are not close to the 100% participation goal before finals week. Thank
you!
ONLINE TEST TAKING GUIDELINES
- Please do not begin any timed, online exam in the course that may overlap
with the eLearning maintenance window. The eLearning maintenance window runs
3:00-6:00 am CST (Central Standard Time) each day. If you initiate an exam
that overlaps with this time and experience any technical errors, your
recorded score is likely to be close to 0 for such an attempt. There are no
exceptions to this policy.
- If you experience any other technical problems or errors during any timed
exam that does not overlap with the eLearning maintenance window, you are
required to notify the Helpdesk immediately at helpdesk@uwf.eduor (850) 474-2075. Failure
to contact the HelpDesk to report the problem will result in a grade of 0
automatically being assigned. If you are unable to get immediate assistance
from the HelpDesk during the exam, but have documented the problem in an email
or voice mail, you may attempt to restart the exam using the same browser, or
attempt to re-enter the exam with another browser. If you are still unable to
restart the exam and continue with saving, please note that for your final
submitted score to be recorded, you MUST still prove that you documented the
original technical problem with the HelpDesk via helpdesk@uwf.edu or (850) 474-2075. Failure
to do so will result in an automatic grade of 0 being assigned.
ASSISTANCE
- The Student Disability Resource Center(SDRC) at the University of
West Florida supports an inclusive learning environment for all students. If
there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that hinder your
full participation, such as time limited exams, inaccessible web content, or
the use of non-captioned videos and podcasts, please notify the instructor or
the SDRC as soon as possible. You may contact the SDRC office by e-mail at sdrc@uwf.edu or by phone at
(850) 474-2387. Appropriate academic accommodations will be determined
based on the documented needs of the individual.
- Every effort will be made to accommodate the special needs of disabled
students. Please inform the instructor privately during the first week of
class to indicate your particular needs. All such accommodations are
officially arranged through the Office for Disabled Student Services and a
letter from this office must accompany your request.
- Students must contact SDRC every semester to obtain academic
accommodations based on the documented needs of the individual and the courses
taken that semester.
