Bachelor of Science in Health Informatics

General Information

“Health care today is characterized by more to know, more to manage, more to watch, more to do, and more people involved in doing it. Our current methods of organizing and delivering care are unable to meet the expectations of patients and their families because the science and technologies involved in health care - the knowledge, skills, care interventions, devices and drugs - have advanced more rapidly than our ability to deliver them safely, effectively, and efficiently”
(Institute of Medicine's (IOM) report "Crossing the Quality Chasm:A New Health System for the 21st Century").

Would you like to

• make a difference to the lives of patients/clients and the health care professionals who treat them;
• be involved in interpreting and managing health care information;
• liaise with health care professionals to identify their computing needs;
• develop information systems to support patient records, scheduling, billing and performance improvement;
• develop computer systems to support patient monitoring, medical decision-making, medical image processing and medical diagnostics;
• apply data mining techniques to discover how different types of patients respond best to different treatments;

If so, this course is for you. Health informatics covers a broad spectrum of applications such as patient records, signal analysis, image processing, medical decision support systems in the areas of patient care, health education, research and administration. However, it is not solely a technical discipline but focuses on the relationship between the technology and its use in real world settings. Solutions are designed in context, taking into account the social, cultural and organisational settings in which computing and information technology will be used for health care. The primary aim of this programme is to provide students with knowledge spanning the disciplines within Health Informatics, which would enable graduates to analyse systems and processes, and build careers which depend on extensive knowledge of these disciplines. This programme will provide a sufficient blend of knowledge so that graduates from this course can analyse current activities and processes within health care delivery systems, and identify where improvements can be made in terms of restructuring or the provision of new or additional supports. Graduates will also be equipped to either implement or oversee the implementation of new or extended systems, all the while being mindful of the standards and regulations governing systems in this domain.

Course Structure

Your programme of study will be a unique blend of the following topics:

• Analysis of health care delivery systems
• Anatomy and physiology
• Ethical and legal issues
• Medical imaging
• Software development
• Web infrastructure
• Project management in health care
• Database management systems
• Human computer interaction
• Medical decision support systems
• Intelligent systems

Programme Structure

Entry Requirements

Applicants are required to hold at the time of enrolment the established Leaving Certificate (or an approved equivalent) with at least Grade C3 in two higher level subjects and grade D3 in four ordinary or higher level subjects (including Mathematics; Irish or another language; and English).

In addition, applicants are required to hold at least a grade B2 in the Leaving Certificate Ordinary Level Mathematics, or approved equivalent. (Grade D2 in Higher Level Mathematics also suffices).

A Special Mathematics Examination will be offered at UL following the Leaving Certificate results for those students who did not achieve the Mathematics requirement.

Career Prospects

Since health informatics covers a broad spectrum of applications in the areas of patient care, health education, research and administration, there are many opportunities for health informatics professionals to work in different settings within:

• Health/medical software companies
• Government and non-governmental agencies
• Consultancy companies
• Education and research
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Hospitals and other health care organisations
• Public health organisations.

Graduates will be qualified for employment in a variety of roles including the development, deployment and management of health information systems; the analysis and management of health care data, information and knowledge using appropriate information and communication technology; and the formulation, planning and implementation of health care IT strategy. Opportunities also exist for graduates to participate in health informatics consultancy, education and research.