Health - Telemedicine and E-health - master

The "Health" stream of this Master's program focuses on the implementation and use of telemedicine and e-health systems in complex health organizations.

Key questions to be explored in the Master's program are:

• How to create sustainable systems and services?
• How to spread these systems and services across dispersed health organizations?
• The interplay between technology and health organizations.

The Master's program has an empirical foundation. The Master's Thesis requires students to collect data by interviews or participated observations of daily health practices, preferably from the students' own professional background and experience. Students may concentrate on the e-health systems they use in real-life situations, for instance, electronic patient records (EPRs), nursing plans, laboratory systems, surgery planning modules and other kinds of telemedicine systems.

The Master's program in Telemedicine and E-health has internationally recognized research partners such as the Norwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine (NST), Tromsø Telemedicine Laboratory (TTL), as well as Norwegian vendors of health-based systems, such as DIPS ASA, Well Diagnoistics AS, Clinsoft (Partus), Siemnes medical, Profdoc AS and Visma unique AS.

For each programme at the University of Tromsø there are set targets for knowledge, analytical understanding, skills and competences that a student should have reached by the end of studies.

Learning outcomes for "Health" stream of the program are:

• Share first-hand experience regarding some telemedical applications;
• Identify potential gains, challenges and barriers related to the implementation of telemedicine and e-health in clinical practice through scientific-founded empirical work;
• Critically appraise scientific work on telemedicine and e-health;
• Design, carry through and write up a study relating to a topic within the field of telemedicine and e-health.

Admission to the Master's program in Telemedicine and E-health requires a Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Health-related professional studies (e.g. Medicine, Nursing, Physiotheraphy, Radiography, Pharmacy).

Proficiency in English:
Students are expected to fulfill the English entrance requirements for Master's applications stated by the University.

Application Deadlines:
The application deadline for Quota applicants and other international self-financing applicants: December 1st.
The application deadline for Norwegian and other Nordic applicants: April 15th.

Teaching and assessment methods are described in the course plan for each course.

Teaching:
Teaching methods consist of a combination of regular and compact lectures, where students should attend physically on campus, and net-based lectures, exercises and assignments.  

Assessment:
Various assessment forms are used including group presentations, project reports and short essays.
The Norwegian grading system is applied: A-E (pass), with F as fail.

The Master's program in Telemedicine and E-health qualifies its graduates for jobs such as Project Managers and other administrative positions in Healthcare organizations. It enables its graduates to:

• Promote and introduce telemedicine and e-health services and programs;
• Participate in the development of telemedicine and e-health products and services;
• Apply telemedicine and e-health services in professional healthcare.