The Post - Baccalaureate Certificate in Public Health Informatics (PHIS) - An Interdisciplinary Program

The Post - Baccalaureate Certificate in Public Health Informatics (PHIS) - An Interdisciplinary Program at Bowie State University (BSU) focuses on application and use of information technology and systems for population/community health services, diseases’ prevention, and health promotions.  PHIS was approved in Spring 2023 by USM and MHEC, see Institution Program Inventory (maryland.gov).  

The PBC in PHIS program graduates uniquely differ from Information Technology (IT) specialists as they (Health Informatics Professionals), are required to have knowledge of public health, information technology and systems, and project management. Graduates from this program may work as public health informatics managers, specialists, system analysts, data analysts, consultants, or designers/developers in the different health departments at local, county, state or federal levels, health systems, hospitals, academia, insurance, pharmacy, and other organizations and industries.  

Important: PHIS can be either completed as a complementary to a graduate degree in information systems, computer science, nursing, MBA, and other BSU graduate programs, or as a separate advanced specialization training for members of the current public health workforce or IT workforce or others in the health sector. For example, the MS in Information Systems and Science (INSS) program students who want to focus on Health Informatics (PHIS) can select the track and take the PHIS courses and use them as elective courses.  

 

Admission 

The admission requirements for this program are: 

• Applicants shall possess a bachelor’s degree or higher in public health, nursing, health science, computer science, information technology and system (ITS), or other related fields from an accredited college or university with a CGPA 2.5 or higher and adhere to all other criteria in graduate admission policy set by graduate school. Applicants we have an associate degree (AA) and working experience in health or IT can apply too.  

• Depending upon the applicant’s undergraduate educational background prerequisite courses on ITS and/or health science may be assigned by admission committee or program coordinator/director as pre-requisites. 

Educational Competencies: 

It follows the core and foundational competencies set by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management (HIIM) Education (CAHIIM) as applied for public health informatics, public health competencies specified by by Council on Education for Public Health, and emerging PHIS competencies identified from recent literatures. After the completion of the program, learners/students will develop the following competencies in:  

• The underlying science of human health and disease including opportunities for promoting and protecting health across the life course. 

• Public Health Organizations, health functions, workflows and data as well as associated theories, methods, best practices relevant to the application of informatics. 

• Public Health Data Management and Analytics including basic concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection, use, and analysis 

• Public Health Data, Information and Knowledge Access, Use, Disclosure, Privacy, Security.  

• Informatics standards including classification systems, clinical vocabularies and nomenclatures and the impact on the health care continuum. 

• Effective Communication and Presentation Skills:  communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing as well as visually. 

• Leadership and Project Management Skills. 

• Teamwork and Collaboration: Ability to work in a multidisciplinary, dynamic environment as part of a collaborative and high-functioning team. 

• The socioeconomic, behavioral, biological, environmental, and other factors that impact human health and contribute to health disparities. 

The student learning outcomes 

After completion of the program students be able to: 

1. Explain core public health functions, workflows and data as well as associated theories, methods, best practices and ethical and legal issues such as privacy and security. (course: PHIS 556) 

2. Evaluate and select Health Information technology and applications for public and population health(course: PHIS 556) 

3. Apply project management principles to manage and direct public health informatics projects (course: PHIS 556) 

4. Recommend strategies and solutions that ensure confidentiality, security, and integrity related (PHIS 600) 

5. Apply informatics standards appropriately for system interoperability and data/information exchange and contribute to standards development efforts in public and population health. (PHIS 656). 

6. Perform data management and analytical support for population and public health including registries and dashboards for surveillance and health assessment functions using appropriate data management and analytic tools such as Python or R. (Course: PHIS 656, PHIS 680) 

7. Communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing using reports, technical documents and presentations. (PHIS 556, 600, PHIS 656, PHIS 680)