Computer applications in health care and biomedicine, 10 credits

A Bachelor's degree or a professional degree equivalent to a Swedish Bachelor's degree of at least 180 credits in health care, biomedicine, medical technology, computer and systems sciences, informatics or the equivalent. Knowledge of the English language equivalent to English B at Swedish upper secondary school.

On completion of the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding
- analyse, discuss and reflect on the information needs in the health care and describe common sources of information (for example by describing the general structure of a Quality Register),
- analyse, discuss and problematize the use of information systems in the health care.

Skills and ability
- describe the structure, functionality and use of medical records system, decision support systems, telemedical applications and medical image systems.

Assessment ability and attitudes
- reflect on the integration problems between different information systems that are used in health care,
- analyse, discuss and reflect on legal/ethical aspects concerning the structure and the use of information system in health care.

- Business processes, care processes, care logistic and referral management
- The care information needs – communication – sources of information – transfer and use (basic informatics – collection processing and presentation of a patient-related data)
- Realisation of evidence based care and the connection to research.
- Operational follow up, quality assurance and Quality Register
- Information retrieval – information structures – standards (introduction to classifications and terminologies)
- Illustrative/Description of medical - clinical information systems (Documentation – decision support) – Image and signal processing – Telemedicine/eHealth
- The structure, contents and the use of the patient journal - Legal and ethical aspects
- Integration problems between different systems
- Data Security – Ethical and legal aspects

The course is divided into five separate sections / topics in which experts give lectures and demonstrations. The component parts are:
- General part
- The electronic patient record
- Medical Image Systems
- Telemedicine / eHealth
- Decision support systems

Each part has its own examination:
The general section is examined with a home exam (A-F)
The electronic patient records are examined by an individual assignment (A-F)
Medical Image System is examined with an individual assignment (A-F)
Telemedicine / E-health is examined with an individual assignment (A-F)
Decision Support systems are examined with a take-home exam (A-F)

The final grade for the course is a weighted average of grades for all course components. To pass the course you must get at least E in all parts. To get a better grade you have to get the attempted grade or higher in at least three parts and the remaining two parts cannot be more than two grades lower.

Limitation of number of occasions to write the exam
The student has the right to write the exam six times. If the student has not passed the exam after four participations he/she is encouraged to visit the study advisor.

The number of times that the student has participated in one and the same examination is regarded as an examination session. Submission of a blank examination is regarded as an examination. An examination for which the student registered but not participated in will not be counted as an examination.

After each course, there will be at least 6 occasions for examination within a 2-year period after the end of the course.

Course evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the guidelines established by the Board of Higher Education.

The course is given in English.