Summary
Objective The purpose of this paper is to describe the Health Informatics Master Program at
King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Methods We have reviewed health informatics master programs worldwide with more emphasis
on the recommendations of the International Medical Informatics Association on education
in health informatics, research, and faculty/trainee participation at KSAU-HS.
Results An applied health informatics master program has been designed where graduates will
be able to deploy information and communication technology in support of health systems’
processes. This is due to the fact that most of health organizations are driven by
information and communication technology. The program embodies the features of effective
applied health informatics master programs recommended by the International Medical
Informatics Association on education in health informatics and delineated as curricula
integrating three areas of knowledge and skills: 1) Methodology and technology for
the processing of data, information and knowledge in medicine and healthcare, 2) Medicine,
health and biosciences, and 3) Informatics/ computer science, mathematics and biometry.
Conclusions The health informatics master program (MHI) immerses students in the multidisciplinary
field of health informatics education. Graduates of the MHI program will be wellprepared
informaticians for leadership positions, able to meet the increasing demands in the
field of health informatics to manage, plan, develop, and provide expert consultations
to the healthcare sectors.
Keywords
Health Informatics - Health information management Education - Health Information
Systems - and Health Studies
