EHSDI Training Course
E-Health: Software Development and Implementation (EHSDI) was a training course developed by Partners in Health and implemented for 3 years in Rwanda. For the first two years it was run in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and in the final year with the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). The goal of the course was to produce local software developers with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop electronic medical record software, specifically to develop modules for OpenMRS. The course was 9 months long (the first year was 11 months) and a total of 34 students graduated from it.
Stages
The course is divided into two stages - a training stage and a production stage. The training stage is the longer of the two (7 months), and it is designed to cover all of the required technologies for OpenMRS development, as well as give the students a foundation in medical informatics. The production stage (2 months) is when the students develop production quality modules for OpenMRS according to the requirements of the Ministry of Health and other partners.
Levels
The training stage is divided into two levels (1 and 2). Level 1 consists of IT foundations, basic Java programming and web design. It lasts approximately 2 months, and is equivalent to the probation period of many employers. Weak students, or those who do comply with the requirements of the program are asked to leave after probation period. Level 2 (5 months) consists of advanced and enterprise level Java programming, as well as specific OpenMRS implementation and development.
Units
The units generally consist of several weeks of teaching, followed by a project and a written exam. The medical informatics unit however, is dispersed throughout the year, and generally consists of one or two lectures per week.
| EH101 | Foundations | 2 | Computer architecture and maintenance, OpenOffice and presentation skills | EH101 Foundations.zip |
| EH102 | Basic Java Programming | 4 | Language syntax, algorithms and object-orient programming | EH102 Basic Java.zip |
| EH103 | Web Design | 4 | Building standards compliant web pages using XHTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery | EH103 Web Design.zip |
| EH201 | Advanced Java Programming | 5 | Design patterns, regular expressions, multi-threading and JUnit testing | EH201 Advanced Java.zip |
| EH202 | OpenMRS Implementation | 4 | Linux administration, Tomcat, MySQL, infrastructure issues and staff training | EH202 OpenMRS Implementation.zip |
| EH203 | Enterprise Java Programming | 6 | J2EE application development using JSP, JSTL, JDBC and Hibernate | EH203 Enterprise Java.zip |
| EH204 | OpenMRS Development | 4 | OpenMRS module development using Spring and the OpenMRS API | EH204 OpenMRS Development.zip |
| EH301 | Medical Informatics | - | Medical data and coding, EMR systems, decision support systems, and pharmacy systems | EH301 Medical Informatics.zip |
Examinations
The materials for examinations and student projects are downloadable in a separate file here.