Twin Cities campus

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Twin Cities Campus

Public Health Informatics M.P.H.

School of Public Health - Adm
School of Public Health
Link to a list of faculty for this program.
Contact Information
School of Public Health, MMC 819, A395 Mayo Memorial Building, 420 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (612-626-3500 OR 1-800-774-8636; fax: 612-624-4498)
  • Program Type: Master's
  • Requirements for this program are current for Fall 2017
  • Length of program in credits: 43
  • This program does not require summer semesters for timely completion.
  • Courses are available both on campus and in a hybrid format where students attend classes remotely using WebEx or similar technology.
  • Degree: Master of Public Health
Along with the program-specific requirements listed below, please read the General Information section of this website for requirements that apply to all major fields.
Information is key to effective public health administration. Surveillance systems provide information on infectious disease tracking, disease clusters, food-borne outbreaks, and injuries. Environmental monitoring systems provide information on health risks such as toxic chemicals or airborne pollutants. Registries contain information on vital statistics such as birth, death, and immunization. E-Public Health integrates information from electronic health records to use in improving population health. Students pursuing the MPH in Public Health Informatics (MPH-PHI) learn how to manage public health information systems, including vital statistics systems, online analytical processing tools, immunization registries, population health surveillance, community health information networks, and more. The MPH-PHI is offered both in-person and fully online. This program will prepare you to: • Understand the significance of the various public health information systems and how to leverage these systems to improve health of the public • Conceive, design, develop, implement, and use IT by applying informatics skills to population health • Manage information systems within an organization or network of organizations • Create state-of-the-art solutions at the intersection of informatics and global public health
Accreditation
This program is accredited by CEPH (Council on Education for Public Health)
Program Delivery
  • via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
  • partially online (between 50% to 80% of instruction is online)
Prerequisites for Admission
The preferred undergraduate GPA for admittance to the program is 3.00.
Other requirements to be completed before admission:
All application materials are submitted directly to SOPHAS: • Statement of purpose and objectives: Provide an essay describing your past education, experience, and current professional career objectives. You are encouraged to comment on any or all of the following: plans you have to use your education and training; the needs and/or challenges you perceive as important in your field of study; and any personal qualities, characteristics, and skills you believe will enable you to be successful in your chosen field of study. • Resume or CV • Official post-secondary transcripts from all US institutions attended (must be sent directly from the institutions to SOPHAS). This includes previous study at the University of Minnesota. • Three letters of recommendation from persons qualified to assess your academic work; clinical, public health, or professional experiences; or leadership potential in public health.
Applicants must submit their test score(s) from the following:
  • GRE
    • General Test - Verbal Reasoning: 150
    • General Test - Quantitative Reasoning: 150
    • General Test - Analytical Writing: 3.5
International applicants must submit score(s) from one of the following tests:
  • TOEFL
    • Internet Based - Total Score: 100
    • Paper Based - Total Score: 600
  • IELTS
    • Total Score: 7.0
The preferred English language test is Test of English as Foreign Language.
Key to test abbreviations (GRE, TOEFL, IELTS).
For an online application or for more information about graduate education admissions, see the General Information section of this website.
Program Requirements
Plan C: Plan C requires 43 major credits and up to credits outside the major. There is no final exam. A capstone project is required.
Capstone Project: The purpose of the master's project is to enable students to demonstrate: familiarity with the tools of research and scholarship in the field of public health informatics; the ability to work independently; the ability to plan and carry out a systematic investigation related to a public health issue; and the ability to effectively present, in written and oral form, the results of their investigation.
This program may be completed with a minor.
Use of 4xxx courses towards program requirements is not permitted.
A minimum GPA of 3.00 is required for students to remain in good standing.
Required Coursework
M.P.H. Core Coursework
Students must satisfy competency requirements in the six core areas of public health - administration, behavioral science, biostatistics, environmental health, epidemiology, and ethics. Take 15 credits of MPH core courses from the following list:
Administration
PUBH 6751 - Principles of Management in Health Services Organizations (2.0 cr)
Behavioral Science
PUBH 6020 - Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science (2.0 cr)
Biostatistics
PUBH 6450 - Biostatistics I (4.0 cr)
Environmental Health
PUBH 6101 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
or PUBH 6102 - Issues in Environmental Health (2.0 cr)
Ethics
PUBH 6741 - Ethics in Public Health: Professional Practice and Policy (1.0 cr)
or PUBH 6742 - Ethics in Public Health: Research and Policy (1.0 cr)
Epidemiology
PUBH 6320 - Fundamentals of Epidemiology (3.0 cr)
or PUBH 6341 - Epidemiologic Methods I (3.0 cr)
Public Health Informatics Core Coursework
Take 21 credits of PHI core courses from the following list:
HINF 5430 - Foundations of Health Informatics I (3.0 cr)
PUBH 6806 - Principles of Public Health Research (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6876 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6877 - Public Health Systems Analysis and Design - Practicum (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6880 - Introduction to Public Health Informatics (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6881 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6878 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6879 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6813 - Managing Electronic Health Information (2.0 cr)
PUBH 6814 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
Elective Credits
Take at least 7 elective credits from the following list. Other graduate-level courses, including courses from outside the School of Public Health, can be taken with prior approval of the program director. Students are strongly encouraged to take PUBH 6805, as most PHI-related work is related to projects.
Take 7 or more credit(s) from the following:
· PUBH 6805 - Introduction to Project Management for Health Professionals (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6705 {Inactive} (3.0 cr)
· PUBH 6025 {Inactive} (2.0 cr)
· PUBH 6727 - Health Leadership and Effecting Change (2.0 cr)
· NURS 7108 - Population Health Informatics (2.0 cr)
· HINF 5431 - Foundations of Health Informatics II (3.0 cr)
· HINF 5520 - Informatics Methods for Health Care Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Safety (2.0 cr)
· HINF 5540 - Interprofessional Health Informatics (2.0 cr)
· NURS 5116 - Consumer Health Informatics (2.0 cr)
Program Sub-plans
A sub-plan is not required for this program.
Students may complete the program with more than one sub-plan.
Health Disparities Interdisciplinary Concentration Area
The Health Disparities Interdisciplinary Concentration (HDIC) addresses the unequal burden of health risks, morbidity, and mortality experienced by minority cultural and social groups in the US, as well as unequal quality of and access to health care. Achieving optimum health for all segments of society is a central goal of Healthy People 2020, and a concern in Minnesota as well. Despite Minnesota's ranking as one of the nation's healthiest states, Minnesota has some of the largest gaps among cultural and social groups in health indicators. SPH graduate students must complete a formal program plan if they want the HDIC to appear on their transcripts. For more information, contact Carol Francis, interdisciplinary concentrations coordinator, at franc004@umn.edu or 612-624-6952.
Public Health Policy Interdisciplinary Concentration Area
The School of Public Health's Public Health Policy Interdisciplinary Concentration (PHPIC) focuses on promoting the health of populations and groups through public and organizational policy. PHPIC is open to students pursuing an MPH, includes coursework that explores the way in which federal, state, local, and institutional entities affect the financing, structure, and delivery of public health and medical care. PHPIC coursework provides a better understanding of the health care system as a whole and prevention policy. The challenging curriculum helps MPH majors hone practical skills that are highly sought after in the public health and policy arenas. Students who pursue the concentration can choose courses that emphasize: • Understanding community dynamics • Developing advocacy skills for public health • Analyzing legal and policy structures • Evaluating and implementing policies and programs • Influencing community health • Motivating and educating stakeholders and decision-makers • Using policy as prevention strategy Eliminating health disparities through policy SPH graduate students must complete a formal program plan if they want the PHPIC to appear on their transcripts. For more information, contact Carol Francis, interdisciplinary concentrations coordinator, at franc004@umn.edu or 612-624-6952.
 
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PUBH 6751 - Principles of Management in Health Services Organizations
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Understanding of and improvement in the competencies of managers in organizations, particularly as applied to health services and public health organizations. prereq: [Public hlth MPH or MHA or certificate] student or [environmental health MS or PhD] student or dentistry MS student or instr consent
PUBH 6020 - Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science
Credits: 2.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Three major approaches to social sciences in public health: psychosocial, community approaches, economic and policy interventions. Covers theories of behavior change, program and policy development, community engagement, and policy implementation and advocacy. Not open to students in Community Health Promotion or Public Health Nutrition MPH programs.
PUBH 6450 - Biostatistics I
Credits: 4.0 [max 4.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
This course will cover the fundamental concepts of exploratory data analysis and statistical inference for univariate and bivariate data, including: ? study design and sampling methods, ? descriptive and graphical summaries, ? random variables and their distributions, ? interval estimation, ? hypothesis testing, ? relevant nonparametric methods, ? simple regression/correlation, and ? introduction to multiple regression. There will be a focus on analyzing data using statistical programming software and on communicating the results in short reports. Health science examples from the research literature will be used throughout the course. prereq: [College-level algebra, health sciences grad student] or instr consent
PUBH 6102 - Issues in Environmental Health
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Current issues, principles, and methods of environmental/occupational health practice. prereq: Public health [MPH or MHA or certificate] student or health journalism MA major or nursing MS student or instr consent
PUBH 6741 - Ethics in Public Health: Professional Practice and Policy
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to ethical issues in public health practice/policy. Ethical analysis, recognizing/analyzing moral issues. prereq: Public health [MPH or MHA or certificate] student or environmental health [MS or PhD] major or instr consent
PUBH 6742 - Ethics in Public Health: Research and Policy
Credits: 1.0 [max 1.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Introduction to ethical issues in public health research/policy. Ethical analysis. Recognizing/analyzing moral issues.
PUBH 6320 - Fundamentals of Epidemiology
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
This course provides an understanding of basic methods and tools used by epidemiologists to study the health of populations.
PUBH 6341 - Epidemiologic Methods I
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Course Equivalencies: PubH 6320PubH /6341
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Introduction to epidemiologic concepts and methods: (1) Study design (randomized trials and observational studies); (2) Measures of exposure-disease association; (3) Casual inference and bias; (4) Confounding and effect modification.
HINF 5430 - Foundations of Health Informatics I
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
An introductory survey of health informatics, focusing on foundational concepts. Topics covered include: conceptualizations of data, information, and knowledge; current terminologies, coding, and classification systems for medical information; ethics, privacy, and security; systems analysis, process and data modeling; human-computer interaction and data visualization. Lectures, readings, and exercises highlight the intersections of these topics with electronic health record systems and other health information technology. prereq: Junior, senior, grad student, professional student, or instr consent
PUBH 6806 - Principles of Public Health Research
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall & Spring
Evaluation of public health research literature and planning for independent research projects. Formulation of research question, research design, sampling techniques, use of research concepts, and data analysis. Data collection techniques, including questionnaires, interviews, and data analysis. prereq: Pub hlth or grad or professional school student or instr consent
PUBH 6877 - Public Health Systems Analysis and Design - Practicum
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: OPT No Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
Hands-on group project to practice skills of design, development, and implementation of public health information systems. Project teams employ site visits, interviews, surveys, and other data collection methods to gather system requirement specifications. Experience full system development lifecycle, including problem definition, feasibility analysis, logical modeling, and system architecture implementation. prereq: Grad or professional student or instr consent, [completion of or concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in 6876]
PUBH 6880 - Introduction to Public Health Informatics
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall
Information is key to effective public health administration. Surveillance systems provide information on infectious disease tracking, disease clusters, food-borne outbreaks, and injuries. Environmental monitoring systems provide information on health risks such as toxic chemicals or airborne pollutants. Registries contain information on vital statistics such as birth, death, and immunization. e-Public Health integrates information from electronic health records to use in improving population health. Introduction to Public Health Informatics describes these public health information systems and key issues in managing this information effectively, such as data standards, common functions, decision support, meaningful use, health information exchange, privacy and security. prereq: School of Public Health student or graduate student
PUBH 6813 - Managing Electronic Health Information
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: OPT No Aud
Typically offered: Every Spring
Managing health information is a central function of health care organizations. Information is used for managing population health, profiling providers, and measuring quality. This course describes relational data theory, normalization, and Structured Query Language (SQL) will be used to create and query databases. Students will be introduced to the basic programming skills necessary to manage data in research projects. Programming aspects of the course will use SQL procedure in the SAS language. prereq: Admission to a University of Minnesota Masters program or Permission of instructor.
PUBH 6805 - Introduction to Project Management for Health Professionals
Credits: 2.0 [max 4.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Core concepts/skills for managing projects effectively, making sure they are completed on time, within budget, meeting performance objectives. prereq: Matriculation in master's program in School of Public Health, or instr consent
PUBH 6727 - Health Leadership and Effecting Change
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Analysis of leadership models and competencies, particularly as applied to organizational change. Applications to individual self-development and to health care organizations. prereq: Public hlth MPH or MHA or certificate student or [health services research, policy/admin] MS student or instr consent
NURS 7108 - Population Health Informatics
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Fall
Standards, interoperability, and integration of information systems for population health are examined. Population health use cases are analyzed for potential benefits, legal, ethical, and practical issues related to the development of population health information systems. prereq: [5115 or [HINF 5430, HINF 5431]] or instr consent
HINF 5431 - Foundations of Health Informatics II
Credits: 3.0 [max 3.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
An introductory survey of health informatics, focusing on applications of informatics concepts and technologies. Topics covered include: health informatics research, literature, and evaluation; precision medicine; decision models; computerized decision support systems; data mining, natural language processing, social media, rule-based system, and other emerging technologies for supporting 'Big Data' applications; security for health care information handling. Lectures, readings, and exercises highlight the intersections of these topics with current information technology for clinical care and research. prereq: Junior, senior, grad student, professional student, or instr consent
HINF 5520 - Informatics Methods for Health Care Quality, Outcomes, and Patient Safety
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Typically offered: Every Spring
Application/operation of clinical information systems, electronic health records, decision support/application in health care system. Use of clinical information systems/association with health care delivery, payment, quality, outcomes. prereq: Junior or senior or grad student or professional student or instr consent
HINF 5540 - Interprofessional Health Informatics
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: A-F only
Typically offered: Every Spring
Informatics applications in various healthcare professions. Clinical specialties. Informatics tools to improve healthcare services/outcomes through lectures/presentations.
NURS 5116 - Consumer Health Informatics
Credits: 2.0 [max 2.0]
Grading Basis: OPT No Aud
Typically offered: Every Fall
This course examines issues from the consumer?s perspective in the acquisition, understanding, or use of health information. Mobile health, telehealth, sensor technology, and internet sources for improving health are examined. The impact on consumer-provider communication and relationships as well as ethical and legal issues are explored. prereq: Grad student or instr consent