First health informatics symposium set for Sept. 26

East Carolina University will hold the first Informatics in Health Care Symposium from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26 in the East Carolina Heart Institute at ECU, 115 Heart Drive, Greenville.

The event is sponsored by the Department of Health Services and Information Management in the College of Allied Health Sciences.

Health informatics is a discipline at the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. It deals with the resources, devices, and methods required for the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and medicine. Besides computers, workers use clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems.

The symposium aims to create conversation about informatics in all aspects of health and health care, to showcase the development and use of health information technologies on campus and in the community, and to foster interdisciplinary collaborations in research and development that focus on bringing meaningful and timely information to clinicians and consumers.

The symposium also celebrates the beginning of the new master’s degree in health informatics and information management recently approved by the UNC Board of Governors to start in fall 2013. Information on the new degree program will be presented at the symposium and can be found at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/hsim/hiim.cfm.

Anyone with interest in health informatics, health information technology, or health information management is invited to the symposium and to learn more about the new degree program at ECU.

Registration is free online at http://www.ecu.edu/cs-dhs/hsim/hiim.cfm or contact Dr. Susie Harris at harrissus@ecu.edu.