| CMSC 491/691 - Clinical Informatics, Spring 2012 |
This course will provide a broad exposure to the field of Clinical Informatics. The course is designed to be applicable to students whose experience is limited to Computer and Information Sciences, as well as those whose experience is limited to the Biological Sciences. The course focuses on the expanding role of information technology for the delivery of healthcare, and provides a theoretical and practical introduction to the socio-technical issues involved in the assessment, implementation, and management of these systems. Topics covered include electronic health record systems, patient management systems, clinical decision support, clinical image processing, clinical data mining, personalized medicine, and the software engineering challenges specific to the development of these systems.
Prerequisite - CMSC 341 or BIO 303 or consent of the instructor.
Course Rationale - The traditional role of information technology in the field of healthcare has been limited to clerical and administrative tasks, with little or no support for clinical decision support or the delivery of care. Current courses in Medical or Healthcare Informatics have tended to reflect this limited perspective of clerical and administrative tasks. The advent of Clinical Informatics as a board-certified medical subspecialty is evidence of the expanding role of information and computer science in the actual delivery of care. This course provides a broad overview of these new application areas with a focus on software engineering challenges.
Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 9th Edition, Addison Wesley, 2010
Optional text. On reserve in the UMBC library. Readings based on 9th edition, but prior editions are also applicable.
Undergraduate Students
Student Responsibilities
Academic Integrity - Academic honesty is expected at all times in order to pass this course. Any incident of given or receiving aid on an exam or assignment, plagiarizing, falsifying, infringing on the rights of others to fair access, failing to report violations that are witnessed, failing to seek clarification when proper boundaries are unclear, or violating any other commonly understood principle of academic honesty may result in a grade of 'F' for the course. Refer to the UMBC site for academic integrity: http://www.umbc.edu/integrity/students.html.
Attendance - You are expected to attend all classes and be on time. If you miss a class, you are responsible for getting the notes, handouts, and any verbal information given during class from a fellow classmate or the course web site. Habitual absences or tardiness may be factored into your final grade. In addition, students who compromise the integrity of the class through talking or other disruptive behavior may be asked to leave and may have their final grades reduced accordingly.
Material - You are responsible for all material covered in class, even if it is not in the textbook. You are responsible for all material in the textbook, even if it is not covered in class. You are responsible for completing all assigned readings before they are is covered in class.
Late Work - Late work may be accepted, at the instructor's discretion, with prior permission, and with a grade penalty of 10% a day. No makeup exams will be given, except for unforseen emergencies (with documentation of the emergency provided upon request), an unavoidable conflict such as the birth of a child (with prior approval given by the instructor), or conflict with a sanctioned UMBC event (with prior approval given by the instructor).
Borderline Grades - Borderline grades will not be automatically rounded up. In other words, 89.9 is a "B". However, borderline grades may be resolved by class participation, other intangibles, and whether all requirements were completed on time. Please note that no grades will be rounded up for students who missed any assignments.
Important Dates (subject to change)
Syllabus (subject to change)
Homework
There will be a total of 5 homework assignments during the semester.
Graduate Students
Exams for graduate students will be graded on a separate curve.
Graduate students will also have to complete a research project. They will have to identify a topic relevant to the course, submit a one-page proposal based on preliminary work, write a (6 to 10 page) survey paper that summaries their topic and discusses open areas of research, and give an oral presentation.
The Research Project is described here.