NSU’s New Program Review Committee approved the Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics program, an undergraduate program commencing in Fall 2021 that is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (KPCOM) and the NSU College of Computing and Engineering (CCE).
According to Stephen Bronsburg, associate professor of biomedical informatics, the field of health informatics discusses the world of healthcare today, how it operates and how it changes. With the technological perspective, it involves understanding how technology can be used to merge the two fields together and help create solutions and new technological advancements.
“This focused program covers a niche and a need in the world today. I can turn to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. The field is looking for individuals that have that background in health informatics. That experience is practical,” said Bronsburg.
As a collaborative effort to establish this program, the deans of both colleges, Elaine Wallace of KPCOM and Meline Kevorkian of the CCE, along with other collaborators, worked to ensure that the needs of the field were met through the curriculum that it would provide to students.
“Technology is advancing exponentially, and because of that, universities that are progressive in their thinking need to offer such programs that address the needs [of the current climate]. We want programs that are up to date and teach students the skills needed for the industry. This [undergraduate] program is beyond teaching material to students. It’s about gathering, cleaning and analyzing [health information technology] data and coming up with novel solutions based on research,” said Arif M. Rana, chair of the health informatics department and director of the biomedical informatics graduate degree program at KPCOM.
For students involved in the program, they can expect to accrue a combined knowledge of technology and the health field from both colleges. These students will also gain an understanding of the history of healthcare, the current discussions and challenges in the field and the technological applications that could potentially be used.
As part of this program, students have the opportunity to participate in various academic tracks integrated within the program such as a 4-4, a four-year bachelor’s degree with a four-year continuation in the D.O. program or a 4-3, an accelerated 4-4 track with a combined fourth year undergraduate and graduate program instruction. Students in this program also complete an internship.
According to Rana, the life experience acquired from an internship will help put things into perspective with the real-life applications of what the students have learned. By having early exposure to the field, students will have the ability to look at data critically and learn ways to pull that data to create meaningful results.
“It truly is a foundation for students who have an interest in almost any area in healthcare and technology. I hope students take away the uniqueness of this career path and the opportunities that are available for them as it moves forward. [Healthcare and technology] won’t be the same as it was three years ago because of the involvedness, practicality and the usefulness of having a background with health informatics,” said Bronsburg.
For students interested in learning more about this program or who have questions about the field, they are encouraged to email healthinformatics@nova.edu for further information.
