In today’s environment, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and healthcare administrators can’t afford to ignore the growing importance of informatics in their daily work. Unfortunately, many have a less-than-adequate understanding of informatics principles.

The major obstacle? Finding the time and money to pursue a degree in information technology.

To meet the needs of these busy professionals, Healthcare Information Management & Systems Society (HIMSS) has teamed with UConn’s Center for Healthcare and Insurance Studies and the Center for Continuing Studies to provide the new online Healthcare Information Technology Program.

Launching in October 2002, this online certificate program requires enrollees to complete five university-level courses. Students begin by taking one of two core courses, “Overview of Healthcare Delivery Systems” and “Information Technology and Healthcare IT Infrastructure,” providing a foundation for the rest of the program. Students then proceed to choose elective courses in topics such as systems development, emerging technologies, e-strategy, and others.

Lasting approximately five weeks, each course will require at least three hours of online activity each week and will include assignments and discussion time with classmates. Courses will also be offered on a stand-alone basis, but students completing all five will receive a Certificate in Healthcare Information Technology.

Jeffrey Kramer, Ph.D., assistant professor of finance and director of the Center for Healthcare and Insurance Studies at the University of Connecticut, oversees curriculum development for the program. He explained that rather than steering students toward a lengthy, full four-year degree, it was his intention to help develop a program that provides similar material in a shorter period of time and at a reasonable price.

As an online service, Kramer also believes the program will provide greater accessibility and flexibility.

“The advantage of online learning is that students get personal attention and feedback from professors,” Kramer said. “In addition, they can access the courses anytime they like, even at midnight if it suits their schedules.”

Indeed, all of the program’s courses are instructor led, providing important interaction opportunities between students and faculty. The courses are developed and taught by University of Connecticut professors and senior members of HIMSS. Development teams ensure that each course has depth and thoroughness, as well as relevance to the world of healthcare. An advisory board of industry leaders provides overall guidance to the program.

Ken Clarke, CIO at Central Maine Healthcare and chair of the HIMSS Education Committee, sees this program as an important step for HIMSS.

“We are very aware of the importance of university-level education to the healthcare field,” Clarke said. “This program will not only benefit students individually by helping them advance, it will benefit healthcare generally if more workers have a strong grounding in information technology.”

For more information about the Healthcare IT program, visit www.continuingstudies.uconn.edu/onlinecourses/healthcare.html or contact Martha McKerley at Professional Studies at martha.mckerley@uconn.edu.

Reprinted with permission from Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. This article originally appeared in HIMSS News, volume 13, number 8.