Jae Presentation Notes

Christine Hudak

Background

• Professor of Health Informatics of Kent State University
• "Health informatics is the application of technology tools and information systems in a health care setting or context"
• Health Informatics is a mixture of both Health Informatics Technology and Health Informatics Management.
• "Can’t make much money in either, so you need to have both"

Health Informatics Degree

• First Class admitted in Fall 2011 with one student
• One FT faculty/coordinator and 5 PT adjuncts
• Certificate & MS in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management
• Board of Trustees just approved MS in Health Informatics to replace MS in IAKM
• Currently transferring Certificate program to Master’s, with identical courses.
• Courses predetermined by accrediting body, Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information management Education (CAHIIM)
• Electives determined by current trends, such as User Experience Design, Computer Security, Project Management, etc. and change over time.
• Culminating experience as internship, project, or thesis for Ph.D, quantitative/qualitative research
  • Example: Student in National Health Service in Britain
  • Example: Zimbabwe
  • Example: Student adapted software for genomics
    • Started a whole new line for company
• Options selected with advisor based on student’s goals
• Internship locations at Akron, Blue Chip Consulting, Cleveland Clinic, Northern Ohio Chapter of HIMSS, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center

Job Prospects

• American Medical Informatics Association: Need >50,000 health IT workers in next five to seven years.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts: employment opportunities to increase by 22%
  • Creating new category for Health Informatics because of its new importance in the modern era

To ask any further questions:

• Email: ude.tnek|3kaduhc#ude.tnek|3kaduhc
• Twitter: @informatics1
• Skype: christine.hudak

Reason why students come:

• Underwater basket weavers: No degree. Don’t want to get sick or see blood but want to work in hospital.
• Mid-level professionals: Want to move forward on the hierarchy
• Established professionals: CIOs who need credentials.

Question 1: Women in Computer Science

• "Chicks in IT" is a group for female empowerment
• Cultural and institutional disparities going away
• "Women are more empathetic so we need more"

Question 2: Culminating Experience

• Focus on getting a new experience
  • Example: New experience in managerial position
• Paid internships are fine

Question 3: Dynamic change in the different statuses of students (CIO vs sociology major)

• There is no hierarchy
• Discussion groups set to be "equal" without clear categories between groups

Question 4: Qualifications for Program

• 3.00 GPA in Undergraduate
• 2.75 ~ 3.00 GPA: Provisional acceptance
• 2.5 ~ 2.75 GPA: Decision on Ms. Hudak
• 2.0 ~ 2.5: Decision on Ms. Hudak but recommended to take GREs

Question 5: Salary graduating from Health Informatics

• All 42 graduates making 6 figures
• Starting at 80,000 at Cleveland
• Vendors pay slightly higher than hospitals

Question 6: How much are coders needed in managerial positions

• A lot, especially in data science
  • Not many people who can normalize data between hospitals

Question 7: How hard is the work-life balance for getting certificate or masters?

• Relatively easy to balance because asynchronous times
  • 3 AM office hours on Skype
• Number of hours for class predicted and given to students in advance
• Don't have to finish in 2 years if you don't want to

Question 8: Difference between certificate and masters

• Certificate has no final project or culminating experience
• Differences between bachelor's, certificate, and master's seen not in day-to-day roles but seen in managerial roles
• Certificates are given more entry-level roles