Development of a health data specialist program at the community/technical school level

The basis of this project is whether graduates of a two-year associate in applied science degree from a technical/community college possess needed workplace skills. St. Cloud Technical and Community College (SCTCC) is an academic institution located in central Minnesota. The college's vision is that SCTCC is the college of choice for quality career, technical, and transferable education, focused on highly-skilled employment and life-long learning opportunities. SCTCC's mission is that it prepares students for life-long learning by providing career, technical, and transferable education (Vision and Mission). A stumbling block seemed to be in place for graduates of the Health Information Technology (HIT) program—they did not meet qualifications to work with electronic health records. The career website of a major employer in the area listed numerous jobs for application analysts; however, the requirements for these positions included computer programming and other skills beyond what was offered in SCTCC's HIT program.;SCTCC's dean of business and information technology and instructors in the Computer Programming and Health Information Technology programs worked together to develop a new two-year degree of Health Data Specialist. This degree combines courses from the Computer Programming and the HIT areas. Project steps included Advisory Board discussions and research into comparable programs in Health Informatics or Health Data programs regionally and nationally. Surveys were also sent to healthcare industry personnel and former graduates of SCTCC's HIT program. An important underpinning process was the completion of MNSCU's application for new program which was approved in December 2011. The new Health Data Specialist program is available to students who begin their studies at SCTCC in Fall 2012.