COACH Report on State of Health Informatics Education in Canada

COACH, Canada’s Health Informatics Association (www.coachorg.com), has announced the publication of the first-ever Canadian report on the “state of the nation” of health informatics (HI) education. Titled Health Informatics Education in Canada: Landscape of an Emerging Academic Discipline, it represents a collaborative effort between most of Canada’s health informatics programs and COACH. See http://www.coachorg.com/en/publications/HI_Education_Report.asp?_mid_=22845 for the full news release and link to the freely downloadable publication. The report highlights the need for continued collaboration between the schools, as well as the need  for collaboration between academic institutions and COACH and the HI industry more broadly.

This new 53-page document shows the wide variety of health informatics programs at different levels, from diploma to PhD, the scope of program elements and differences in programs, and begins to describe potential influences on HI professional development and identify. Among key elements, the report suggests that there are opportunities for schools to better…