Courses & Requirements
Degree Requirements
To earn your Online Master of Science in Clinical Informatics & Patient-Centered Technologies, you must complete 42 to 48 credits. This includes 39 course credits, as well as a scholarly project (at least 3 credits) or a master’s thesis (9 credits). All courses are required; there are no electives.
Course Sequence
Year One (Part Time)
Autumn Quarter
NMETH 527: Introduction to Clinical Informatics
Credits: 3
This course provides an overview of the history, current efforts and future challenges in designing, developing and implementing health care information and communication technologies. We’ll examine these technologies with the goal of fulfilling the quadruple aim: enhancing the patient experience, improving population health, reducing the overall cost of care and improving the work life of health care providers.
NURS 524: Conceptual Foundations for Health Care Systems: Organizational Structure & Effectiveness
Credits: 4
This course examines broad health care delivery systems and included systems of care, as well a detailed analysis of key drivers and enablers of organizational effectiveness. The course will define and describe care systems, and you’ll study key system components. You’ll also evaluate and analyze innovations in care system design, along with enablers and barriers.
Winter Quarter
NMETH 524: Health Care Information Systems & the Electronic Health Records
Credits: 3
This course provides an overview and analysis of health care informatics issues, including patient safety and information technology, infrastructure, clinical systems, definitions and functions of EHR systems, IT leadership in health care organizations, and informatics change management, with an emphasis on key user roles evaluating EHR and workflow changes.
NURS 525: Managing Quality Improvement, Access & Utilization
Credits: 5
This course covers care system practices for managing quality improvement, access and utilization within health care systems. The course emphasizes using quality improvement and process improvement practices, with a particular focus on leadership, to manage clinical effectiveness and efficiency within care systems. This course will address impacts of these issues on health care delivery from policy, leadership and practical perspectives.
Spring Quarter
NMETH 520: Scholarly Inquiry for Clinical Informatics Practice
Credits: 4
This course prepares students to evaluate completed research for scientific adequacy and applicability to clinical informatics practice. You’ll learn how to apply conceptual, theoretical, ethical and empirical knowledge as a basis for posing clinical informatics research questions, identifying research designs, selecting sampling and data collection strategies and proposing analytic methods to answer a research question.
Summer Quarter
NMETH 530: Scholarly Proposal Development
Credits: 4
This course focuses on the application of methods of inquiry to develop a scholarly proposal through faculty-guided individual composition. You’ll select the project topic and complete the conceptual phase of proposal development to fulfill their project plan.
NSG 540: Telehealth Systems & Applications
Credits: 4
This course is designed to develop the abilities of managers, leaders and researchers of telehealth systems through exploration into systems components by introducing challenges for designers and managers of telehealth and remote health care networks. You’ll participate in activities ranging from research to implementation of system design for applications that bridge geographic distance to the development of practical applications.
Year Two (Part Time)
Autumn Quarter
NMETH 523: Project Management & Systems Analysis for Health Informatics
Credits: 3
This course focuses on the application of health information technology project management tools and techniques through group discussion and health care-related project focused assignments. You’ll select the health care-related project and apply the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) framework.
Select one:
Scholarly Project (NMETH 598: Special Projects)
You can choose to complete a scholarly project or a master's thesis. This project is a scholarly inquiry into a particular aspect of clinical informatics, which requires at least 3 credits of NMETH 598: Special Projects.
Learn more about the scholarly project.
Master’s Thesis (NMETH 700: Master’s Thesis)
You can choose to complete a scholarly project or a master's thesis. The master's thesis requires 9 credits of NMETH 700: Master’s Thesis.
Learn more about the master's thesis.
Winter Quarter
NMETH 528: Computing Fundamentals for Health Professionals
Credits: 3
This course provides a survey of applied computing concepts, including computer algorithms, operating systems, networking, databases, digital privacy and security, applied programming principles to enhance productivity, and data science opportunities and pitfalls in health care.
Select one:
Scholarly Project (NMETH 598: Special Projects)
You can choose to complete a scholarly project or a master's thesis. This project is a scholarly inquiry into a particular aspect of clinical informatics, which requires at least 3 credits of NMETH 598: Special Projects.
Learn more about the scholarly project.
Master’s Thesis (NMETH 700: Master’s Thesis)
You can choose to complete a scholarly project or a master's thesis. The master's thesis requires 9 credits of NMETH 700: Master’s Thesis.
Learn more about the master's thesis.
Spring Quarter
NMETH 526: Patient-Centered Technologies
Credits: 3
This web-based course offers an overview of current and emerging consumer-centric eHealth technologies. It emphasizes theories and principles of health, communication, information, cognitive processing and human-technology interaction. Experts from multiple disciplines and patients/consumers will lead seminar presentations and discussions on select topics. This course also addresses the ethical implications of eHealth technologies, including health disparities.
NMETH 529: Database Concepts & Application in Clinical Informatics
Credits: 3
This course provides an introduction to relational database theory and technology from a clinical informatics perspective. Content focuses on transactional database theory, architecture and implementation in a socio-technical context and analyzes database applications used in clinical environments. You’ll be introduced to knowledge bases and data warehouses.
Scholarly Project
This project is a scholarly inquiry into a particular aspect of clinical informatics, which requires at least 3 credits of NMETH 598: Special Projects. Before you begin your independent scholarly project, you’ll select a chairperson. You can choose from the pool of UW faculty in both the School of Nursing and the School of Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Informatics & Medical Education. You’ll also receive guidance from a supervisory committee.
Examples of Past Scholarly Projects
Machine Learning-Based Prediction of Outcomes in Patients With Surgically Managed Perforated Appendicitis
This project studied the feasibility of using machine learning to create a predictive model that can inform surgeons about the risk of complications from surgical management of ruptured appendicitis.
Wizard-of-Oz (WOZ) Testing on Caring of Caregivers Online (CocoBot)
This project studied how CocoBot — an online, chat-based interactive tool — can help caregivers manage common caregiver stresses and better care for themselves.
Readiness for Change Assessment for Implementation of Positive Patient Identification (PPID) With Unit Lab Specimen Collection
This study assessed three hospitals’ readiness to move to a positive patient identification workflow to improve patient safety and reduce errors in inpatient settings.
Master's Thesis
Instead of a scholarly project, you may elect to complete a thesis, which requires 9 credits of NMETH 700: Master’s Thesis. You’ll select a chairperson and will receive guidance from a supervisory committee as you complete your thesis requirements.
Example of Past Master's Thesis
Toward Lean Electronic Health Record (EHR) Usability Heuristics for Behavioral Health Providers
This thesis explored whether lean principles and practices are suitable heuristics for behavioral health providers to use when evaluating EHR usability.