Bachelor of Applied Health Information Science (Honours)

The Bachelor of Applied Health Information Science (Honours) degree is an innovative four-year, paid co-op program that will prepare graduates for a number of in-demand careers in the health care industry. Conestoga’s graduates enable the health care system to achieve its goals of person-centred, safe, high quality and sustainable health care through data-informed problem solving. Graduates will use applied and integrated knowledge and skills from health information science, biomedical and health sciences, information technology and management sciences to positively impact the health-care system.

Focusing on health informatics and health information management, students in the BAHIS degree will experience a variety of real-life learning opportunities that will enrich the learning experience. Students will be challenged to use creativity and problem-solving skills to design, implement and evaluate a broad range of projects with community partners. Students will design health informatics and information management solutions while learning to maintain security, privacy and confidentiality.

The BAHIS degree will offer students opportunities to develop critical thinking and communication skills that will enable them to work successfully on inter-professional teams. Upon graduation from the program, students will qualify to challenge the national certification examination of the Canadian Health Information Management Association (CHIMA). Graduates will be eligible for careers in health informatics utilizing their skills in information technology (IT), healthcare and management.

What You’ll Learn

• Solve problems in healthcare by applying systems analysis, data analysis, and modelling techniques to identify opportunities for process improvements.
• Create health information management and decision support solutions by applying concepts from data management, information governance, privacy and security, and business intelligence.
• Apply knowledge of information technology and programming to collect, extract, analyze, combine, aggregate and transfer data from hospital, primary care and community environments.
• Utilize appropriate terminology and concepts while communicating ideas and interacting with inter-professional teams of clinicians, health information management professionals, technologists, business users and patients.
• Discuss improvement opportunities to health delivery in Canada by using concepts from health informatics, health information management, human factors engineering, biomedical science, information technology, and computer programming.
• Choose appropriate research methods and statistical approaches to measure the impact of healthcare solutions, process improvement and applied research programs.
• Discuss the impact of trends and challenges facing the Canadian healthcare system and its governance structure by applying principles of finance, public health, management science and public policy.
• Apply principles of healthcare governance and change management to effectively manage projects in the healthcare system.
• Develop professional work competencies, ethical practices and lifelong learning plans by engaging work placements and community projects.