Medical Informatics is a subject which deals with IT departments within hospitals and clinics. The program educates a student in computing and clinical skills creating a foundation for a career in Medical Informatics. The scope of Medical Informatics can be very wide covering subjects such as clinical data maintenance and regulatory compliance such as HIPPA. Various Universities in the United States offer the program. The course has both online and campus formats and students can choose based upon their preference. Since it is a Master's course most of the students who join the program are working professionals who prefer the online format of lectures. The course is structured into various sections which have subjects related to various areas of the Medical Informatics. We shall see the structure of the program.



The Program starts with the Foundations of Leadership Course. The Leadership course will help the students to hone their leadership skills and apply them to their professional careers. The premise of the course is that leadership can be learnt and teaches students the theory and practical aspects of leadership at an individual and organization level. The format of teaching is online. The Leadership Program is followed with the American Health Care System and covers all the aspects of the US health care system. It will contain various aspects such as Federal Government's role in health care, legal and regulatory issues, re-imbursement mechanisms and profit-vs-not for profit care. This is a technology track course for students who have little clinical experience.

The next course in the program is Introduction to Clinical Thinking. The course will help students to get an understanding of the functioning of the health care system. The topics within the course include clinical settings, gathering information from clients and establishing diagnosis. Introduction to Medical Informatics follows the Clinical Thinking course. This course covers the fundamental topics of the application of Information systems in the Health Care System. Operating the technology department of a health care center is a challenge. The course in Health Care Enterprise Operations will help students to grasp the fundamentals of Information Technology in areas such as ambulatory care, clinical practice, nursing services and managing facilities and resources.

The nest course to follow is the HIT Integration, Interoperability & Standards. It is important to know that the Government has come up with legislations such as HIPPA, HL7, DICOM etc. This course will help students to understand the various aspects of health care technology standards and interoperability. In today's health care scenario, it is very important to understand and implement all these systems in a health care institution. The other courses that follow are the Decision Support Systems and Health Care, Legal, Ethical, and Social Issues, Medical Technology Acquisition and Assessment, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics and finally the Capstone Project. At the end of the program students get the final degree and they can expect to get an opportunity at one of the leading health care centers. It is important for aspirants to know that Medical Informatics is mandatory for health care institutions and hence the demand for a job will always remain. One of the better Universities from where students can pursue the course in Northwestern University.