Module Directory

Health Informatics can bring improvements in health and social care practice and patient/client safety. It is multidisciplinary and combines clinical and social care practice expertise and biomedicine with Information Technology (IT), epidemiology, health and social care policies, computing science, mathematics and statistics.

The module is suitable for registered health and care professionals who want to improve their understanding of digital health and care practice and to learn the skills to manage health and social care systems, analyse routine data from their own professional practice and be able to develop and evaluate digital health and care interventions.

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to the use of information and digital technology in health and social care organisations in order to improve outcomes for patients/clients;


• To provide students with an understanding of how large data sets can be used to improve health and social care, health policy and strategy;


• To provide students with an understanding of the inter-operability of health and social care data in the UK;


• To provide students with an understanding of the regulatory framework for data governance, privacy and confidentiality (including data sharing, storage and curation);


• To provide students with an understanding of common research methods for routinely collected data and related core principles of epidemiology;


• To introduce students to the core principles of data analysis to inform decision-making in health care;


• To introduce students to Clinical Decision Support systems, eHealth and mHealth interventions;


• To provide students with an understanding of developing medical apps, digital interventions and working with industry and developers;


• To provide students with an understanding of the features of a learning health and social care system.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Appraise and critically justify the legislation, regulatory guidance and national and local protocols relating to the security, confidentiality and appropriate sharing of patient/client information;


2. Understand the basis and application of the different clinical coding systems in use and their limitations, and the importance of high-quality coded clinical data in communication and ensuring patient safety;


3. Critically apply information governance and security guidelines to information collection and use in healthcare systems;


4. Identify the range, purposes, benefits, and potential risks of sharing, integrating and aggregating clinical and epidemiological data and information;


5. Plan the design and creation of new and linked databases;


6. Demonstrate advanced understanding of different approaches to the interrogation of large data sets using epidemiological, biostatistical and/or Artificial Intelligence techniques;


7. Present and interpret the findings from these analyses and critically evaluate research studies which utilise large data sets to evaluate health and care practices;


8. Critically evaluate current literature on health and care informatics.

This module content aligns with the core competencies from the Faculty of Clinical Informatics as adopted by NHS England.

Digital skills – health informatics competency standards, frameworks and tools for healthcare professionals.

1. How using data can improve health care: health policy and strategy;


2. The inter-operability of health and social care data in the UK (systems and standards);


3. The Electronic Health record and Coding systems;


4. The regulatory framework for data governance, privacy and confidentiality;


5. Common research methods and epidemiological considerations for routinely collected data;


6. The core principles of data analysis to inform decision-making;


7. Clinical Decision Support systems, eHealth and mHealth interventions;


8. Developing medical apps, digital interventions and working with industry and developers;


9. The process of procurement of digital health and social care products in the UK;


10. The features of a learning health and social care system.

This module will be delivered via:

• One 3-hour seminar per week x 8 and
• One 1-hour lecture per week x 10

This module content will be delivered during 10 one-hour lectures and 8 three-hour seminars. The lecture content will cover health informatics, epidemiology and biostatistics with a range of skills and experiences and will be accompanied by a reading list which includes seminal health and care informatics literature.

The seminars will be conducted as round-table discussions and lab-based sessions and students will be encouraged to apply the learning content and share their own health and care informatics experience. Self-directed learning will be scaffolded using Moodle activities.

Students are expected to undertake the reading before classes and be prepared to engage in discussion.

Students are expected to prepare and deliver one ten-minute presentation towards the end of the module.