Health informatics curriculum development for teaching and learning

Abstract

Health Informatics is an emerging interdisciplinary subject of Health Sciences and Information Systems, which aimed to cater for both the educational and professional needs within the Health and Informatics fields. Even though there has been increasing interest in health informatics discipline, challenges continue to exist, particularly in developing countries such as Namibia. One of the main challenges in the discipline is shortage of skilled personnel, which is primarily caused by institutions of higher learning not producing enough graduates in the discipline. This results from the fact that many of the institutions do not offer or have curriculum for the course. Thus, this research examines how health informatics curriculum is developed at institutions of higher learning, to offer insight on the influencing factors. The qualitative methods and interpretive approach were employed in the research. This is an applied research that was carried out at the Namibia University of Science and Technology. The data was analysed by following the interpretive approach. Based on the analysis, a process-oriented approach is proposed. The approach identifies key stakeholders, and how different parties can contribute to a successful health informatics curriculum at institutions of higher learning. The framework may be of interest to health practitioners and academia in the area of health informatics.