Establishing a Graduate Certificate in Health Informatics: Need Assessment and Competency-Based Framework

BACKGROUND: Health Informatics is an indispensable science in light of the massive reform healthcare has undertaken recently. OBJECTIVE: Health Informatics is an indispensable science in light of the massive reform healthcare has undertaken recently. METHODS: This descriptive multiphase study used a questionnaire to assess the need and applied a competency-based postgraduate curriculum to collect the required competencies as well as their proficiency levels. RESULTS: Eighty percent of the respondents agreed that the current training should be advanced. 73.7% of the respondents agreed that this certificate would improve the level of knowledge, and it would impact on the delivery of healthcare positively (78.9%). For the required competencies, 10 competencies scored 1.75 and above, 22 scored between 1.5 and 1.75 and 22 scored below 1.50. The expert panel came to an agreement that the competencies with 1.5 and above should be included. DISCUSSION: The findings emphasize the need to establish PG diploma in comply with previous studies that unveiled the need to provide education and training in Health Informatics. Only the required competencies were included as the program is one-year long. The selected competencies were validated and presented by the panel. CONCLUSION: A PG diploma in Health Informatics is a key element in the evolution of healthcare services, therefore, a competency-based framework was provided and validated by experts.