Development and Evaluation of a New Security and Privacy Track in a Health Informatics Graduate Program: Multidisciplinary Collaboration in Education

BACKGROUND: The widespread application of technologies such as electronic health record systems, mobile health apps, and telemedicine platforms, has made it easy for health care providers to collect relevant data and deliver health care regimens. While efficacious, these new technologies also pose serious security and privacy challenges. OBJECTIVE: The training program described here aims at preparing well-informed health information security and privacy professionals with enhanced course materials and various approaches. METHODS: A new educational track has been built within a health informatics graduate program. Several existing graduate courses have been enhanced with new security and privacy modules. New labs and seminars have been created, and students are being encouraged to participate in research projects and obtain real-world experience from industry partners. Students in this track receive both theoretical education and hands-on practice. Evaluations have been performed on this new track by conducting multiple surveys on a sample of students. RESULTS: We have succeeded in creating a new security track and developing a pertinent curriculum. The newly created security materials have been implemented in multiple courses. Our evaluation indicated that students (N=72) believed that receiving security and privacy training was important for health professionals, the provided security contents were interesting, and having the enhanced security and privacy training in this program was beneficial for their future career. CONCLUSIONS: The security and privacy education for health information professionals in this new security track has been significantly enhanced.