A Question for 6th Years!

Appidae

Hey guys,

There's a new course in the University of Limerick this year called Health Informatics. I'm working with the university to find out about how 6th years make their CAO choices, and what they think about the course itself.

This is where you all come in:

When making your choices on your CAO what do you take into account?
Do you contact people already in the course?
Do you read up on the course or visit the university?
Are there any online/traditional resources that help you make you decision?
Do you pick a course that you think might be the most fun/least work?


Health Informatics = Health + Technology + People + Information

The Health Informatics course at the University of Limerick offers students the chance to get involved in a rapidly growing, exciting new industry.

Health Informatic graduates will be at the forefront of healthcare technoloy, the course fuses the latest in science and computing with healthcare practices.

Health Informaticts students will learn how to design, develop and manage medical information systems, which are hugely important for healthcare institutions. They will also work closely with patients, seeking the best ways in which to help them.

Course Points: 335


What do you guys think of Health Informatics?


Thanks!

MedMan101

sounds good but what career could you get? where would you work and all that?

Appidae

MedMan101 wrote: »

sounds good but what career could you get? where would you work and all that?

Career prospects for Health Informatics' graduates are huge, as both the healthcare and IT industries are set to experience substantial growth:

http://careeradvice.loadzajobs.ie/industry-insight/the-six-top-growth-industries-in-ireland-today-4363

Possible careers for health informatics graduates would be:

• Health Care Project Manager
• Health Systems Developer
• Health/Clinical Information Manager
• Health/Clinical Information Analyst
• Clinical Information Systems Specialist
• Health Information Security Manager
• Human Factors Specialist
• Health Care Webmaster
• Health Care IT Strategist
• Health Systems Trainer
• Quality Improvement Coordinator
• Systems Administrator
• Academic/Researcher

The Health Informatics course covers a wide range of subjects and so this widens your options. You could work in any number of places like:

• Hospitals
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Medical equipment/product production companies
• Public Health Organisations
• Government and Non-Government agencies requiring health documentation
• Consultancy Companies
• Academic/Research Institutions

How are you choosing your college course MedMan101?

Grindylow

I just picked UL because I fell in love with it when I went there..

All my CAO is UL, Law, Law and Accounting, Business..

MedMan101

Appidae wrote: »

How are you choosing your college course MedMan101?

Power, Sex, Money.....

brownlad

MedMan101 wrote: »

Power, Sex, Money.....

its like dr.cox off scrubs lol.....

Bbbbolger

As far as picking CAO courses goes I've always kind of wanted to do Medicine so I knew that would be top of the list. I went to two open days to see what the campuses were like. That had a big effect on deciding which would be my number one and number two. The rest were decided based on travel constraints. Galway ended up being my last Med choice because its simply the furthest away. Would make travelling home a chore and a costly one at that.

After that I looked for courses that would act as "back doors" to my prefered course. What I looked at in particular were the "subjects taught" sections on each courses Qualifax page. I wanted to pick courses that I would be interested in and be willing to work in. Thats why I ended up putting down Physio and some Sports Science courses. I love sport and exercise so they seemed like the natural choices for me.

Appidae

Thanks for the feedback guys, what are your views on what you've read so far about the Health Informatics course?

Appidae

Just going to give this thread a little bump. The CAO Change of Mind application is open for another few months, until July. Might benefit students who are only recently learning about Health Informatics.



The University of Limerick are the only college in Ireland offering Health Informatics at an undergraduate level.

We're really curious to see what students think about the course!

http://www.csis.ul.ie/course/LM023/

Grindylow

@appidae

My friend has a course in DIT on her CAO, Clinical Management. She's looking into being an ECG technician or something of the likes.. Is the course in UL the same, or is it different? Thanks.

Appidae

Noel2k9 wrote: »

@appidae

My friend has a course in DIT on her CAO, Clinical Management. She's looking into being an ECG technician or something of the likes.. Is the course in UL the same, or is it different? Thanks.

I can only offer information on what Health Informatics is but I can tell you for certain that the courses are not the same, as UL is the only third level institution in Ireland offer Health Informatics at an undergrad level.

While they may be similar insofar as they both focus on the back-end systems and structure of the healthcare industry, they also appear to differ considerably.

I would imagine that the Clinical Management course focuses on the practical running and administration of healthcare facilities like hospitals, while the Health Informatics course incorporates many different subjects like business, healthcare, technology and patient care.