In the Department of Telehealth & Informatics, students learn how digital technologies extend healthcare to patients across barriers of distance, mobility, and availability. Through study of telehealth practice, digital health and patient care, clinical informatics, and e-health management, students gain an understanding of remote consultation and monitoring, electronic health records, decision-support systems, health information standards, and the privacy, security, and regulatory responsibilities that govern health information. Students also learn the research methods used to evaluate these systems and the educational and communication practices that help diverse patients and professionals use them well.
Through study of telehealth and informatics, Christian believers are prepared to serve in the mission of God in telehealth service delivery, clinical and health informatics, patient and professional education, and the participatory management of e-health services. Building on principles of access, usability, health literacy, and digital inclusion, missional service may extend to bringing care to those far from a clinician, designing tools for the patients most easily left out, or helping health teams and communities plan and evaluate e-health services together.
As an evangelical missional university, telehealth and informatics studies build on several faith commitments: that every person bears the image of God, that healthcare is an expression of neighbor love and a tangible form of embodied gospel witness, and that the compassion of Christ moves toward those who cannot come to him (Matthew 9:35–36). This means that students in the Department of Telehealth & Informatics study technology with professional rigor and with a commitment that it serve persons and not replace the presence they need. The study is framed within a theological discussion of healing, shalom, and compassion care extended, and the Christian’s role in the mission of God
