A New Bachelor’s Degree Program in Health Information Management in United Arab Emirates: Curriculum Content Based on New Development Approaches

UAE government is in the process of moving from manual management systems in the health sector to electronic medical record and health information management systems.  All hospitals, clinics, doctor’ offices, pharmacies and health insurance companies are in transition period. Such a transition creates a huge demand for graduates in the field of HIM. To fill this need, The Emirates College of Technology (ECT) in Abu Dhabi developed a new 4-year program in health applied Sciences major in Health Information Management (HIM).  The curriculum was developed by a thorough needs assessment of UAE health sector considering the recommendations of the American Health Information Association (AHIMA) and (AHIMA) foundation, which assist in the adoption and refinement of a global Health Information Management (HIM) curriculum. International benchmarking suggests that our program as a whole is comparable. The comparability of the program structure, course contents, and level of credit will meet the highest standards for academic quality in any health institutions. We designed 4 years comprehensive HIM bachelor’s program curriculum by taking the local context and stakeholder needs as primary priority. We commenced the program in September 2015. In conclusion, the program demonstrates that the curriculum meets the course contents as required by CAHIIM accredits baccalaureate degree programs in health information management. The HIM course contents are in accordance with the standards of the international requirements for accreditations (AHIMA). The program meets a true need in the UAE healthcare industry.