[arunk]

Hi Friends,

I know most of you out here are techies. So this is to you. How do you suggest an absolute non techie should go about studying programming basics, java, data algorithms etc? The student in question is me, a medic, now moving on to specialise in e health. I have admission offers from few universities in US and Canada, funded oppurtunities but am bit worried about studying these things up. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! Happy motoring btw.

[bblost]

I don't think you will be programming w.r.t to your profile as a e-medic.

Instead you will be using specialized software that will be doing it for you.

In layman terms, you don't need to learn html to use IE.
Similarly you will be learning some software packages. Like MS Word is used for creating document, you will learn some application like that which will add value to your job.

[aargee]

You should probably consider certifying yourself with HL7

[Samurai]

Is there a "Surgery for Dummies"?

But "programming for dummies" doesn't kill anybody, so it exists. However, you don't need to learn programming. Familiarity with HL7 standards & EMR packages will be more than sufficient. I actually design/develop products for health industry in US/Canada. So I deal with IT staff in hospitals who basically configure and manage the their hardware/software infrastructure. Even they don't use any general programming language, not even html. They know how to configure/manage all the software products provided by the vendors, and they are well familiar with HL7 standards. The EMR packages differ from hospital to hospital. No point trying to learn them all. Your best bet would be to become familiar with HL7 standards. That alone will put you on familiar grounds where ever you go in the e-health industry.

[arunk]

Thanks Sumarai, for the comment as well as deleting the duplicate thread, I was wondering how to do it!
I am starting my masters in E health this September at Mcmaster. I need to do some programming I guess, they have prescribed those courses for me. I do use EMR quite regularly as part of my clinical job right now. I guess I will take your advice of HL7 .
Programming too can kill, although not in the literal sense!

[ottocycle]

Books like "thinking in c", "thinking in c++, "thinking in java" will help you a lot.

[Rotorhead]

Originally Posted by arunk

Thanks Sumarai, for the comment as well as deleting the duplicate thread, I was wondering how to do it!
I am starting my masters in E health this September at Mcmaster. I need to do some programming I guess, they have prescribed those courses for me. I do use EMR quite regularly as part of my clinical job right now. I guess I will take your advice of HL7 .
Programming too can kill, although not in the literal sense!

well arun it depends on what kind of language that you are expected to know. Are you looking at complex programs , or simple web based applications or tool based programming. Unless you can pinpoint the language its going to be very difficult to guide you on this regard. For simple web page designs etc html and asp or basic java is sufficient, but if you are looking at programming using OOPS or any other such complex subjects then its a different ball game all together. There are a whole lot of other things that are associated with the language you chose such as compilers, IDEs, debugging tools, services required (for example understanding of installation of webservices ).. etc etc.