Medical Informatics

Overview

Medical informatics programs prepare people to apply information science to medicine. This program is sometimes called health informatics.

These programs include topics such as:

Computer science
Information technology
Database management
Medical terminology
Electronic medical records
Research methodology

Schools

Many community colleges offer associate degree programs in medical informatics. An associate degree program usually takes two years of full-time study to complete. An associate degree prepares students to work as an assistant in medical informatics.

Many colleges and universities offer bachelor's degree programs in medical informatics. A bachelor's degree usually takes about four years of full-time study.

Many universities offer graduate degrees in medical informatics. A master's degree typically requires two years of study beyond a bachelor's degree. Doctoral (PhD) degree programs usually require two or more years of study beyond the master's degree.

See schools that offer this program.

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Program Admission

You can prepare for this program by taking courses in high school that prepare you for college. This typically includes four years of English, three years of math, three years of social studies, and two years of science. Some colleges also require two years of a second language.

Below is a list of high school courses that will help prepare you for this program of study:

Anatomy and Physiology
Applied Math
Calculus
Community Health
Computer and Information Sciences Work Experience
Computer Science and Programming
Computer Technology
Computing Systems
General Computer Applications
Health Education
Healthcare Occupations
Healthcare Sciences Work Experience
Medical and Clerical Assisting
Medical Lab Technology
Network Technology
Organization Studies
Safety and First Aid
Technical Writing

Graduate Admissions

Admission to graduate programs is competitive. You need a bachelor's degree, good grades, and good test scores.

Your bachelor's degree should be in either a health care related field such as biology or in an information science field such as a computer science. Either way, you should supplement the course work for your major with courses in the other field.

You should show strong technical skills. This means that you should show familiarity with computer programming, calculus, statistics, and testing hypotheses.

In addition, many programs require you to have a professional degree in a health-related area such as medicine or nursing, or in an information technology field such as library science.

The tests that you need good scores on may include:

Graduate Record Exam (GRE) General
Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT)
Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)

Programs also require letters of recommendation and in many cases, a personal interview.

Typical Course Work

Program Courses

The program typically includes courses in the following subjects:

Advanced Software Engineering
Biochemistry
Biostatistics and Biostatistical Methods
Computer Applications in Healthcare and Biomedicine
Database Structures and Processing
Design of Medical Experiments
Epidemiology
Ethics in Medical Informatics
Evaluation Methods in Biomedical Informatics
Health Information Systems Architecture
Health Policy and Management
Information Management
Machine Learning
Methods in Biomedical Informatics
Molecular Biology
Quantitative Models for Medical Decision Making
Representation and Coding of Medical Data
User Interfaces in Medicine

Course work varies among programs and degree types.

Graduate Program Courses

If you're in a program that leads to a master's or doctoral degree, the curriculum typically includes:

Thesis or research project (both master's and doctoral degrees)
Dissertation and dissertation defense (doctoral degree)

Things to Know

Medical informatics is based on an up-to-date understanding of both health care and information science issues. Because of this, research is a primary part of this program of study.