Health Informatics

Health informaticians are unique in their profession in that their work is about applying information technology to a domain of unequaled complexity. Healthcare is a very complex work environment where difficult decisions are commonplace and the potential for decision errors is high. As a health informatics professional, you will be helping professionals make better decisions and reduce errors in patient care through the use of information technology. Upon graduation, you will be able to work in primary care environments, hospitals, for the government as well as for information technology companies with a focus on healthcare applications, pharmaceutical companies, consulting companies, and many other healthcare organizations.

Recent estimates for the job market indicate current demands of thousands of health informatics specialists needed in Canada. The transition to electronic health records in many countries makes this a global demand.  As a health informatics professional, you will be able to work anywhere in Canada or any country in the world without having to deal with either certification or licensing. If you decide to continue your education after earning your degree in Health Informatics, you will be able to choose a Masters program in Health Informatics as well as in a variety of other fields.

Please check the following Web sites for the type of jobs you will be able to apply for with a degree in Health Informatics: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), or search for “health informatics” on Monster.com and Monster.ca.

What is unique about the Health Informatics education at Conestoga College?

1. We are the only college-based Health Informatics program in Canada, which offers a Bachelor of Applied Health Science Degree in Health Informatics.
2. Our students have opportunities for paid or non-paid co-op placements during their period of study.
3. Our program combines theory and practice.  Throughout the program you will apply your knowledge and skills in the workplace.

If you have any questions about the program or would like to schedule a meeting, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your interest in the Health Monitoring Station (HMS) and the Health Informatics degree program at Conestoga College. If you used the health monitoring station before and have a barcode with you, go here to enter it and review the measurements. If you still wonder what Health Informatics is and learn more about the Health Monitoring Station, you came to the right page.

The Health Monitoring Station (HMS) (also demonstrated in the video below) is a prototype built by Dr. Stefan Pantazi, professor in the Health Informatics degree program at Conestoga College, in order to illustrate some of the principles and applications of Health Informatics. Currently, the HMS prototype is a combination of common, inexpensive hardware (a blood pressure monitor, a Wii fit balance board, a XBox 360 Kinect sensor and a barcode scanner) and a custom software application that links them in a coherent ensemble, meant to demonstrate four steps which are commonly found in Health Informatics applications:

·Step 1: Measure, observe and gather data about something that is relevant to one’s health,

·Step 2: Make records of the data, observations and measurements  (e.g., in a database),

·Step 3: Gain new knowledge and information by analyzing the data records and by interpreting results,

·Step 4: Make good decisions using the information.

As you will see in the demo, the application makes use of speech synthesis technology to enable user-friendly interaction and guidance in using the system.  

Currently, the prototype is capable only of measuring health parameters (step 1) such as weight (using the wii fit board), height (using the Kinect sensor), blood pressure and heart rate (using the digital blood pressure device). However, the measurements can be done as often as needed and every value is being stored as a database record (step 2). After data accumulates, one could proceed to analyze the collection of records (step 3) in order to enable or support good decisions (step 4) related to one’s health.

We hope that the HMS project demo has opened your appetite to learning more about the field of Health Informatics. Projects such as the HMS are means to enable a kind of applied learning that is very much along the lines of personal experimentation, do-it-yourself (DIY) and "maker movement". If using information technology in healthcare is something that intrigues or makes you curious, please take some time to learn about our educational offerings in the area of Health Informatics. Should you have any question, feel free to contact us or visit us at the college. We are looking forward to hearing from you.