eHealth & Biomedical Informatics Systems

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

200 hours

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For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Objectives, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and the Disability Liaison Unit: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Aims

ICT is an important component to ensuring quality, safety, access and efficiency in healthcare. This subject introduces current approaches and future directions in eHealth and the use of ICT in healthcare generally as well as key concepts and tools from the underlying discipline of health informatics.

Indicative Content

Topics include electronic health records (EHRs); hospital and primary care and public health information systems; supporting clinical decision-making for health professionals through ICT; eHealth in the community for preventive healthcare and for patient and carer support; regulatory influences on eHealth including management and governance, privacy, security, and confidentiality; the role of data standards, vocabularies, and nomenclatures in eHealth; research and development in eHealth.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

On completion of this subject the student is expected to:

1. Critically analyse approaches to eHealth in contemporary healthcare in Australia and internationally
2. Use established evaluation frameworks to review the use of new and emerging applications of ICT in healthcare
3. Demonstrate understanding of complex legal, ethical and standardisation problems and solutions in managing health data
4. Apply recognised health informatics competency frameworks and career matrices to assess individual and organisational development needs.

1. One 10 item open book test of informatics foundation knowledge either in biomedicine or in computing and information science (30%) of approximately 1000 words,undertaken in the area of least overlap with the student’s previous studies due two weeks after the last class, requiring 40-45 hours of work per student. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) 3 and 4 are addressed in this assignment.
2. Critical appraisal of assigned readings (30%), comprising of one class presentation of approximately 5 minutes duration and one written report of approximately 1000 words due in week 4, requiring 40-45 hours of work per student. ILOs 1 and 3 are addressed in the critical appraisal.
3. Project report (40%), comprising of: one class presentation of 10 minutes duration due in week 4 and one final written report of approximately 2000 words due two weeks after the last class, requiring approximately 50 hours of work. Group projects are optional; 1000 additional words and 5 additional minutes of class presentation are required for each extra person, i.e. 2 people = 3000 words +15 minute presentation; 3 people = 4000 words + 20 minute presentation, etc. Each group member commits approximately 55-60 hours of work and receives the same mark. ILOs 2 to 4 are addressed in the project report.

None. Readings will provided online.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:

• Clear thinking
• Improved reading
• Enhanced ability to work in a team of people, and
• Presentation skills

Learning and Teaching Methods
This subject is offered in intensive mode, with 9 hours of class each week over a four week period, including lectures and small group activities.

Opportunities are provided for online interaction during class using students’ personal internet-connected devices. Subject documents and class records are handled using LMS Blackboard.

Indicative Key Learning Resources
This subject has no textbook. Students have access to lecture audio and slides in the LMS, as well as electronic full-text of recommended readings, including current journal articles, government documents and industry reports. 2012 examples of recommended readings are:

Bernstam, E., Smith, J. and Johnson, T. 2010 What is biomedical informatics?

Black, A., Car, J., Pagliari, C., Anandan, C., Creswell, K. et al. 2011 The impact of ehealth on the quality and safety of health care: a systematic overview

Kuhn K. A., Knoll A., Mewes H. W. et al. 2008 Informatics and medicine: from molecules to populations

Payton, F., Pare, G., LeRouge, C. and Reddy, M. 2011 Health care IT: process, people, patients and interdisciplinary considerations

Careers/Industry Links
This subject is important in the field of ehealth and biomedical informatics, i.e. work that concerns the acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information in, about and for human health, and the design and management of related solutions to advance the understanding and practice of healthcare. This subject is offered jointly by the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and also uses expert guest speakers from industry and government.