INFO 287-10
Seminar in Information Science
Topic: Health Informatics for Information Professionals
Fall 2018 Syllabus

Dr. H. Frank Cervone
E-mail 

E-mail policy: In general, I try to respond to e-mail and review discussion board posts either in the morning before 8:30 am CST and in the evening after 8:00 pm CST. In most cases, e-mail received after 10:00 PM CST will be responded to the next day. On Saturday and Sunday, my response times will likely be somewhat more unpredictable. If I am going to be unavailable for an extended period of time, I will provide advance notice.
Other contact information: You can contact me quickest through e-mail. If you send a message through Canvas, please realize that there is an inherent delay in Canvas message delivery, so your message may not be scheduled for delivery until several hours after you actually send the message. 
Office location: Chicago, Online
Office Hours: By appointment, send me an e-mail to schedule a discussion

Canvas Information: Courses will be available beginning August 21st at 6 am PDT unless you are taking an intensive or a one-unit or two-unit class that starts on a different day. In that case, the class will open on the first day that the class meets. 

You will be enrolled into the Canvas site automatically.

Course Description

Informatics is the intersection of information management and information system engineering as a means for providing actionable information for professional practice. This course explores issues in health care informatics from the perspective of the information professional. In the course, we will investigate critical issues information professionals need to know related to health data and standards, electronic medical records (EMR) and other healthcare information, data management concerns in the health care environment and the role of the information professional in these areas. 

Course Requirements

Assignments 

• Discussions
  Most weeks you will participate in discussion threads related to that week’s topics. Participation is demonstrated through prompt and thoughtful contribution to the discussions. Both your individual contributions to the discussion topics and your responses to your colleagues’ postings are important. As part of the graduate education experience is to help you learn how to present information from an evidence-based perspective, it is a basic expectation that responses will include evidence and references to support your statements. Supports CLO #1, #2, #3, #4
• Quizzes and exams
  As informatics is a field that is driven by continuous demonstration of on-going development through certification, in some weeks quizzes will be given to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of key course topics as well as provide you with experience in the certification testing environment. In other weeks, activities commonly performed in informatics work will be used to help demonstrate key components from the week’s course material. Supports CLO #1, #2, #3, #4
• Final Presentation
  The final presentation will demonstrate your knowledge of the course content. You will develop a presentation to your organization that discusses one of the major topic areas discussed in the course. Based on course content and your own research into the area, in 10-12 slides, excluding title and reference list, your presentation should demonstrate the following:
• The ability to discuss a health informatics issue or topic area succinctly and in language a non-expert will understand,
• An overview of the issue/topic area, its context, and significance,
• Discuss the specifics your colleagues need to know about this area to provide services or products for your information organization’s clientele, and
• A list of additional resources your colleagues could consult for more information. Supports CLO #1, #3, #4, #5

Course Calendar 

The calendar of topics is subject to change with fair notice. However, in no case, will the due date of an assignment be moved up.

Grading

There are three major types of assignments in this course:

Policies on assignment submissions

1. Assignments are due by midnight Pacific Time on the date listed in the course site. 
2. Other than discussion contributions, work submitted late is subject to a 10% penalty in the first 24 hours and 20% in the second 24 hours. No credit will be awarded for submissions made 48 hours after the due date.
3. The only exception for late work is a medical issue or death in the family. However, all arrangements for late submission must be made at least one day before the due date
4. All discussion contributions (both initial posts and follow-ups) are due by the stated date and time. No late submissions for discussions will be accepted.

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Course Workload Expectations

Success in this course is based on the expectation that students will spend, for each unit of credit, a minimum of forty-five hours over the length of the course (normally 3 hours per unit per week with 1 of the hours used for lecture) for instruction or preparation/studying or course related activities including but not limited to internships, labs, clinical practica. Other course structures will have equivalent workload expectations as described in the syllabus.

Instructional time may include but is not limited to:
Working on posted modules or lessons prepared by the instructor; discussion forum interactions with the instructor and/or other students; making presentations and getting feedback from the instructor; attending office hours or other synchronous sessions with the instructor.

Student time outside of class:
In any seven-day period, a student is expected to be academically engaged through submitting an academic assignment; taking an exam or an interactive tutorial, or computer-assisted instruction; building websites, blogs, databases, social media presentations; attending a study group;contributing to an academic online discussion; writing papers; reading articles; conducting research; engaging in small group work.

Course Prerequisites

INFO 287 has no prequisite requirements.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Integrate research, clinical data, and theory to improve solutions that address patient outcomes.
2. Demonstrate the ability to use major medical resources and registries.
3. Evaluate the issues of privacy and security in terms of social, ethical and policy decisions in health informatics practice.
4. Identify current health informatics application challenges and opportunities and determine possible solutions.
5. Discuss the discipline of health informatics and the role of clinical health care applications in supporting the health care system.

Core Competencies (Program Learning Outcomes)

INFO 287 supports the following core competencies:

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Textbooks

Required Textbooks:

• Hersh, W., & Hoyt, R. (2018) Health informatics: Practical guide (7th ed.). Informatics Education. Available through Amazon: 1387642413

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Grading Scale

The standard SJSU School of Information Grading Scale is utilized for all iSchool courses:

In order to provide consistent guidelines for assessment for graduate level work in the School, these terms are applied to letter grades:

• C represents Adequate work; a grade of "C" counts for credit for the course;
• B represents Good work; a grade of "B" clearly meets the standards for graduate level work or undergraduate (for BS-ISDA);
  For core courses in the MLIS program (not MARA, Informatics, BS-ISDA) — INFO 200, INFO 202, INFO 204 — the iSchool requires that students earn a B in the course. If the grade is less than B (B- or lower) after the first attempt you will be placed on administrative probation. You must repeat the class if you wish to stay in the program. If - on the second attempt - you do not pass the class with a grade of B or better (not B- but B) you will be disqualified.
  
• A represents Exceptional work; a grade of "A" will be assigned for outstanding work only.

Graduate Students are advised that it is their responsibility to maintain a 3.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). Undergraduates must maintain a 2.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

University Policies

Per University Policy S16-9, university-wide policy information relevant to all courses, such as academic integrity, accommodations, etc. will be available on Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs' Syllabus Information web page at: https://www.sjsu.edu/curriculum/courses/syllabus-info.php. Make sure to visit this page, review and be familiar with these university policies and resources.

In order to request an accommodation in a class please contact the Accessible Education Center and register via the MyAEC portal.

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