At the intersection of effective healthcare and the digital age, those with health informatics degrees in Alabama make sure that confidentiality is protected and that the security of healthcare records and other information is maintained at all times. Degrees in this field emphasize the importance not only of security and encryption, but also the effective creation and maintenance of patient database, records archives, and a whole slew of other electronic information sources that are increasingly being used by nurses and doctors to provide more effective, more efficient, and more affordable health services across the country and around the world. These highly technical degrees require intensive coursework and an analytic mind. The numerous degree programs in the field offered at Alabama universities each challenge students to think in new ways, solve problems with ease, and engage in proactive or preventative techniques that ensure the efficiency and security of information.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Graduate School
Students who decide to study health informatics at the UAB Birmingham get two doses of prestige that will surely help them after graduation. These first of these major merits is Birmingham’s nationwide reputation as a center for innovation and intensive education. The second is UAB Health System’s reputation as one of the largest and most academically challenging academic health systems anywhere in the United States. Within the graduate-level informatics program, professors encourage participation in campus research and off-campus internships while teaching highly intensive courses in database administration, information security, policy enforcement, HIPAA compliance, and federal regulations governing the creation, storage, and sharing of information within health systems. Students therefore graduate with a well-rounded degree that equips them for work within private health systems, centers of academic research, and public service positions that focus on new policy developments.
M.S. in Health Informatics (M.S.H.I.)
The Master’s of Science in Health Informatics at UAB is designed to be an extremely comprehensive, graduate-level program. For this reason, students can expect to understand informatics from both a public-sector and private-sector perspective. All graduate students start off with courses that focus on the regulations governing health information systems development and the design process for implementation of new informatics schemes. Then, through both a required program core and several elective courses, graduate students in this program at UAB will learn how information systems are designed and utilized in different professional settings. From clinical setups to nursing departments and government agencies, they’ll learn the unique steps required to design, maintain, and secure patient documents or disease records using both current and emerging technologies or platforms. Combined with a practicum course and on-campus research, this program is among the best in the country for aspiring health information managers and informatics professionals.
Contact
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Graduate School
LHL G03
1720 2nd Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294
Phone: (205) 934-8227
Email: gradschool@uab.edu
Website
University of Phoenix
College of Health Sciences and Nursing
The University of Phoenix has emerged in recent decades as one of the leading providers of distance education in numerous fields, including the health professions. The university’s College of Health Sciences and Nursing is well regarded in many areas of the country, including throughout Alabama. Professors who teach courses in this school are almost all doctoral-level faculty who have achieved a significant degree of on-the-job experience in health administration, information systems maintenance, and delivering care to patients in Alabama and nationwide. Intensive online learning environments substitute effectively for classroom discussions, giving students the chance to collaborate and meet with professors via email, videoconferencing, and screen sharing.
B.S. in Health Administration with a concentration in Health Information Systems
For students working toward the completion of a four-year degree, the B.S. in health administration at the University of Phoenix is an excellent choice. When combined with the available concentration in health information systems, this degree teaches undergraduates how to be effective managers of both information and people in a healthcare setting. Courses focus on the basics of federal regulations like HIPAA and electronic records rules. Database administration is placed front and center within the informatics concentration, as are things like information security, the importance of patient confidentiality, and deployment of information systems in different healthcare settings that range from the public sector to individual hospital departments and smaller clinics.
Contact
University of Phoenix
College of Health Sciences and Nursing
100 Corporate Pkwy #250
Birmingham, AL 35242
Phone: (205) 747-1001
Website
University of South Alabama
School of Computing
The University of South Alabama is the largest and only public institution along Alabama’s Gulf Coast, and that gives it a great deal of both regional and statewide prestige in terms of both undergraduate and graduate-level degree programs. The School of Computing at USA is dedicated to providing students with hands-on experiences and the decision-making skills required to effectively work within an organization or lead its staff in some type of management capacity. The school’s faculty members all hold doctoral degrees, and virtually all of them have some sort of real-world experience that adds additional value to their instruction in both undergraduate and graduate courses.
B.S. in Nursing Informatics
The nursing profession is becoming increasingly important in both hospital and family clinic settings, with nurses taking on increasing responsibility in order to make the operation more efficient and bring down the overall cost of patient treatment as required by the Affordable Care Act. Students who seek a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing Informatics will learn how they can make a nurse’s job easier through effective information storage and retrieval. Students in this program will learn how the nursing profession differs from other parts of healthcare in terms of its need for information and uses of it in everyday practice. Students will also learn about effective database and system deployment and maintenance, security, privacy, and compliance with state and federal regulations.
Bachelor’s in Health Informatics
At the undergraduate level, health informatics is introduced as a concept that applies to various professions, departments, and agencies within the vast healthcare industry. Those who enroll in this program will take introductory coursework in HIPAA laws and federal regulations, information systems deployment and security, and the structure of healthcare organizations. They’ll pursue elective coursework that demonstrates how to deploy, secure, and maintain information systems within different parts of the healthcare industry. From government agencies to large hospitals and beyond, these skills will make it easier to identify how to deploy certain applications, secure databases and employee portals, and effectively provide access to key patient data points.
Contact
University of South Alabama
School of Computing
150 Jaguar Dr.
Shelby Hall, Suite 2101
Mobile, AL 36688
Phone: (251) 460-6390
Email: yasinsac@southalabama.edu
Website
Those with a fondness of high-tech analysis and ongoing implementation of new information systems can benefit from the many degree programs mentioned above. The fast-growing informatics field absolutely demands skilled users and designers of tomorrow’s technology, and each of the health informatics degrees in Alabama mentioned here focus on a unique aspect of the profession that will guide new graduates toward long-term success in this area.
For more information on obtaining your Health Informatics degree, please see 20 Most Affordable Master’s in Health Informatics Degree Programs.
Follow
