Seeking to improve faculty members’ capabilities and to keep them in the loop of various public health updates, UQU College of Public Health and Health Informatics organized on Monday, 09/05/1438 A.H., correspondent to 06/02/2017 A.D., a lecture entitled: "Gradual Transformation in Health Management's Role", offered by a lecturer at the Department of Health Information, Management and Technology of UQU College of Public Health and Health Informatics Mr. Tabrez Zaman Makbul.
The lecture was attended by Dean of the College Dr. Wahib bin Dakhil Ullah Al Harby along with a number of departments’ supervisors and faculty members.
First, the lecturer defined health information as “the data related to a person's medical history, including symptoms, diagnoses, procedures, and outcomes.” As for Health information management (HIM), according to the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), it is the practice of acquiring, analyzing, and protecting digital and traditional medical information vital to providing quality patient care. It is a combination of business, science, and information technology.
Then, lecturer Tabrez explained the growing role of health information management in various fields of public health, including health information management, health information technology, public health research and data management, disease classification and population-based registries, disaster management and health electronic records. He gave an example of the electronic health records system (Spring Charts), the role of information management in information privacy, interoperability of health information systems components, and disease surveillance in public health
Finally, attendees held fruitful discussions with the lecturer on some points, including health information ownership, the permission to use it in health researches and education, the related approval of rightful owners such patients or their guardians, the difference between individual information and population-based information, rare cases information of research and educational importance, the need for further studies in personal and information privacy, as well as future challenges facing health information systems.
