The course aims to provide the basic elements of Medical Informatics as a discipline. Medical Informatics can be seen as the "logic" of healthcare, or as the rational study of the entire process of patient care. Students will then learn the basic elements of healthcare organization in Italy and abroad and the problems related to the representation of medical information. The course will develop along two lines: the study of issues related to the exchange of data and information in health care information systems and finally on learning Python, and XML. At the end of the course the student will have acquired the basic skills necessary to understand what are the tasks and activities of information systems in health care
Course Prerequisites
Basic informatics and programming skills
Teaching Methods
Lectures (hours/year in lecture theatre): 30 Practical class (hours/year in lecture theatre): 0 Practicals / Workshops (hours/year in lecture theatre): 50
Assessment Methods
The exam consists of two parts: A written test with exercises and open-ended questions. Discussion of a software project or (alternatively) a practical test with Python exercises.
Texts
Slides and notes available on elearning.unipv.it
Contents
Elements of health care organization The organization of health care in Italy The reimbursement of hospital services The DRG system Indicators of efficiency and effectiveness Representing information Coding Systems: ICD9, ICD9-CM, ICD10, ATC, LOINC Terminology: SNOMED meta-thesaurus: UMLS Standards: HL7 Information systems and computer networks in healthcare The structure and key elements of health information systems UML diagrams, use case, activity and sequence Computer Networks The ISO / OSI model Ethernet, TCP / IP Internet and the HTTP protocol Security and privacy: elements of legislation Digital signature and HTTPS Python language, data and Control structures Functions Reading and writing files, Pandas and Numpy packages, Development of graphical user interfaces Writing and Reading XML documents XML Introduction to XML and Markup Languages in Documents well formed Introduction to DTD Valid documents Using XML editor XML Parsers XML Schemas Practical Activities with Python Students will work in groups to program a Python application with a graphical interface for the management of hospital data. The available files are samples of real hospitals data.
