Degree Offered
MS, Certificate
https://www.graduate.umaryland.edu/ClinicalInformatics/
Program Description
The 34-credit M.S. in Clinical Informatics was created for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses, pharmacists, other healthcare professionals, biologists, and computer scientists who are committed to improving the quality of care provided to patients by analyzing information collected by healthcare organizations. The M.S. in Clinical Informatics is organized around two 12-credit graduate certificates in Clinical Informatics and Data Science, along with hands-on practicums and conferences.
The program is a joint effort between the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). The core faculty are physicians from the School of Medicine who are board certified in Clinical Informatics, assisted by other faculty with training in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, and Epidemiology.
Our curriculum focuses on biomedical data, clinical processes, and computational systems, which students will apply to the practice of medicine, in order to enhance health outcomes, improve patient care, and strengthen the clinician-patient relationship. The program also covers the latest data science tools, machine learning techniques, and methods for big data processing. Coursework will also address leadership, professionalism, ethics, governance, bias, equity, and social determinants of health.
The degree is designed for completion within 3 years academic years, but students are allowed up to 5 years to complete the program. Participants can start the program in the fall semester.
PBC Program Description:
The 12-credit graduate certificate Clinical Informatics is created for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, other healthcare professionals, biologists, and other scientists committed to improving the quality of care provided to patients by analyzing information collected by healthcare organizations.
Learning Outcomes
By the completion of the M.S. in Clinical Informatics, students will develop core competencies in four key areas: foundations and theory, clinical decision making and care process improvement, health information systems, and leadership and change management, as defined by the American Medical Informatics Association.
Graduates will walk away with the following competencies, and more:
• Describe the key concepts of Clinical Informatics, Nursing Informatics, Pharmacy Informatics, and Clinical Research Informatics.
• Analyze key concepts, models, and theories of informatics
• Analyze quality improvement efforts regarding safety, effectiveness, efficiency, patient-centeredness, timeliness, and equity.
• Understand the nature and cognitive aspects of human decision making.
• Understand evidence-based medicine, evidence sources, evidence grading, implementation of guidelines, and information retrieval and analysis
• Build effective of interdisciplinary leadership teams and communication strategies.
• Critically evaluate health information systems applications by type of functionality, setting where systems are used, telehealth capabilities, and relationship to the electronic health record.
• Understand computer systems, including programming, control structures, data structures, software development methods, computing architectures, networking, security, data management, data manipulation, and data sharing.
• Analyze approaches to human factors engineering.
Program Admission
Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, scientists, and researchers trained in informatics will be uniquely equipped to direct optimal implementation of health information technology for clinical care delivery and continuous quality improvement. The MS in Clinical Informaticsis designed for professionals who are committed to improving our national health agenda.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Transcripts
Upload your transcripts as a supplemental item to the online application.
You must submit transcripts from each college/university attended, including coursework in progress at time of application. Unofficial copies may be provided for the application review process.
If you are offered admission, you must then provide official transcripts from each college/university from which a degree was earned. The transcript must be provided to the Graduate School directly from the prior, degree-granting institution in a sealed envelope in order for that document to be considered official. Alternatively, it may be provided to the Graduate School electronically by way of a secure, encrypted platform. Each transcript should bear the signature of the registrar and the seal of the granting institution.
Transcripts (US only) may be obtained from/provided by one of the following secure, encrypted transcript services:
https://www.parchment.com/
https://studentclearinghouse.org/transcriptservices/fast/
Send encrypted, electronic transcripts from your issuing institution to: gradapply@umaryland.edu
If provided by mail, send official transcripts in sealed envelopes to:
ATTN: Admissions
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Graduate School
620 West Lexington Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-1508
Essay and Resume
Essay
Your essay must beuploaded as a supplemental item to the online application. The statement should be between 300- to 500-words and should address your academic and/or professional career goals and objectives in pursuing graduate study.
CV or Resume
A Curriculum Vitae (CV) or resume is required by most graduate programs. Your CV or resume must be uploaded as part of the online application.
Residency Specific
English Language Proficiency (International Applicants Only)
The Graduate School accepts the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) as a measure of English proficiency. Minimum, required scores are 80 on the Internet-based TOEFL, and 7.0 on the IELTS. Scores must be sent directly from ETS (for TOEFL, use institution code #5848) or the IELTS agency to the Graduate School.
Application for in-state status classification
Maryland residents only. If you wish to be considered for in-state residency status for admission and tuition purposes you must complete an Application for In-State Classification and submit it to the campus classification officer within the Office of the Registrar.
If you have problems with or questions about the application process, please contact us at 410.706.7131 or gradapply@umaryland.edu
Degree Requirements
Clinical Informatics PBC Coursework (12 Credits)
Foundations in Clinical and Health Informatics (3 Credits)
This course will cover the fundamentals of informatics as it applies to healthcare and research. The course focuses on the expanding role of information technology for the delivery of healthcare, and provides a theoretical and practical introduction to the assessment, implementation, and management of these systems. The course underscores the application of these systems to the practice of medicine, in order to enhance health outcomes, improve patient care, and strengthen the clinician-patient relationship. Topics will emphasize the clinical informatics board-certification core content, which include fundamentals of clinical and biomedical informatics, clinical decision making and process improvement, health information systems, equity and social determinants of health, and management.
Clinical Information Systems (3 credits)
This course will cover advanced concepts of informatics as it applies to healthcare and research, with a focus on critical thinking skills. The course is the second of a two-part series of courses in Clinical Informatics. The focus of the course will be on the software engineering and socio-technical challenges specific to the design, development, validation, and implementation of these systems. Topics will include clinical software engineering, continuous process improvement, decision support systems, bioinformatics, public health informatics, telehealth, clinical imaging systems, personalized medicine, and health informatics literature.
Computer Literacy and Programming for Healthcare Personnel (3 Credits)
This course will provide an introductory overview of computer science and programming for students who are not working in technology-based professions. This course is meant for beginners, with no prior experience in computer programming, and is meant to introduce healthcare professionals to the fundamentals of computer programming and information systems. Topics include fundamental programming concepts, fundamental data structures, scripting languages, web-based systems, algorithm design, database design, human factors, and software lifecycles.
Decision Support Systems in Healthcare (3 credits)
This course will give students an overview of information systems and decision systems used in health organizations. The course will examine the design, development, and implementation of decision support systems, focusing on how they fit into clinical workflows across various healthcare settings. Students will examine the analytical foundations of these systems, identify areas that might benefit from these systems, and gain an understanding in the challenges surrounding their implementation. Topics include decision support, evidence-based care, process improvement, privacy and security, unintended bias, database analysis and design, and data and information flow.
UMBC Data Science PBC Coursework (12 Credits)
Intro to Data Science (3 credits)
The goal of this class is to give students an introduction to and hands on experience with all phases of the data science process using real data and modern tools. Topics that will be covered include data formats, loading, and cleaning; data storage in relational and non-relational stores; data analysis using supervised and unsupervised learning using Python; data visualization; and scaling up for Big Data.
Intro to Data Analysis and Machine Learning (3 credits)
This course provides a broad introduction to the practical side of machine-learning and data analysis. Topics covered include decision trees, logistic regression, linear discriminant analysis, linear and nonlinear regression, basic functions, support vector machines, neural networks, ensemble methods, evaluation methodologies, experiment design, and Bayesian networks.
Platforms for Big Data Processing (3 credits)
The goal of this course is to introduce methods, technologies, and computing platforms for performing data analysis at scale. Topics include the theory and techniques for data acquisition, cleansing, aggregation, management of large heterogeneous data collections, processing, information and knowledge extraction. Students are introduced to map-reduce, streaming, and external memory algorithms and their implementations using Hadoop and its eco-system (HBase, Hive, Pig and Spark). Students will gain practical experience in analyzing large existing databases.
Data Management (3 credits)
This course is specifically designed to support the range of complex data challenges data practitioners face today from optimizing relational database systems to managing big data. Students will get an overview of relational database management systems, SQL programming, and emerging big data technologies. Advanced topics include parallel and GPU computing using expert driven course materials and hands on labs from Nvidia.
Practical Coursework (10 Credits)
Clinical Informatics Conference (1 Credit)
This course will give students the opportunity to discuss and learn about important issues in the use of information technology to improve patient care. The conference meets monthly each semester, with students required to enroll for a minimum of 4 semesters to complete the M.S. in Clinical Informatics. Activities in the conference include grand rounds, journal club, and board review activities. Student can join the conference in-person or online.
Clinical Informatics Practicum (3 Credits)
This course will give students the ability to demonstrate the knowledge and skills that have been acquired, with a focus on data collection, project management, and presentation skills. Students will be embedded in an informatics setting within the University of Maryland Medical System, work with interdisciplinary teams to address significant informatics challenges in both clinical and academic settings. As an alternative to embedding students on-site at the University of Maryland, distance-learning students can work online to develop a proposal and perform independent work under the supervision of an advisor.
Advanced Clinical Informatics Practicum (3 Credits)
This course will give advancing students the ability to demonstrate substantive application of the knowledge and skills that have been acquired, with a focus on performing independent research. Students will be embedded in an informatics setting within the University of Maryland Medical System or an academic setting within the University of Maryland. As an alternative to embedding students on-site at the University of Maryland, distance-learning students can work online to develop a proposal and perform independent work under the supervision of an advisor.