Course Description

Program Description Personal health information about Canadians is being collected, recorded, reviewed, and transmitted every day. Informed decisions affecting health services can only be achieved with the best information available. The role of health information management goes beyond managing health records to managing the information contained in those records. Using computer skills and knowledge of healthcare fundamentals, critical medical information is translated from patient health records into data following national data standards. The health information management professional then interprets the data to provide comprehensive quality information for patient care, resource allocation, statistics, research, planning and education. The Health Information Management program is two years in length and is divided into three semesters for each year. The fall and winter semesters for year one and two involve classroom instruction, some of which is in a computer lab at SAIT working with industry-specific software. The spring semester for year one involves a six-week unpaid practicum placement at a small to medium sized healthcare facility. During the spring semester of year two, students will complete an eight-week unpaid practicum at a large healthcare facility or organization.

Intake