Postgraduate Course: Data security and protection in health and social care (HEIN11047)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The course aims to highlight the critical aspects of secure processing and use of data and how they relate to health, social and care services. The course will introduce students to the legislation regarding data security and provide essential training on collecting, processing and storing sensitive service user data, and good data security practice within health, social and care service organisations. |
| Course description |
Data security is concerned with protecting analogue and digital information systems and personal data from threats that may compromise integrity, availability, or confidentiality. The effective delivery of health, social, and care services requires collecting, processing, and exchanging sensitive service user data. Therefore, the health, social and care services sector is subject to stricter guidelines on the collection, processing, and storage of individuals' data than other sectors. Safeguarding this information's security is a significant legal responsibility for health, social, and care service organisations and individual health, social, and care service professionals. Recent incidents of personal data loss and breaches of confidential healthcare information reinforced the requirement for all health, social, and care service professionals to be aware of their responsibilities under the law in safeguarding sensitive service user data. Therefore, it is essential for practitioners working in health, social, and care services to understand their responsibilities regarding data security fully.
Course outline
The course will introduce data security principles and examine their application in the health, social and care services sector. In later weeks, the course will focus on regulatory requirements and data security best practices. Finally, the course will explore data security risk and attacks and data security from a global perspective.
Experts in the field will explore the practical aspects of data security with students, including threats and vulnerabilities. Students will analyse real-world examples from the health and social care sector to get a better understanding of data security fundamentals, data security standards, threats, risk assessment, and data security technologies.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Flexible |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 5,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 1,
Online Activities 35,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 5,
Formative Assessment Hours 5,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
46 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 % |
| Feedback |
Feedback is information provided to the students about their learning relative to learning outcomes. Feedback is also important to identify areas for improvement. For example, course feedback surveys will be an integral component of course development. The two main types of feedback are formative and summative. Formative feedback involves feedback given during an assessment, while summative feedback is provided after an assessment has been completed.
Formative feedback will be provided throughout the course, for example, during live question and answer sessions, quizzes, and discussion boards. A formative task will also be offered before the student submitting their summative assessed course work. All assignments will be marked, and feedback is provided within fifteen working days (where possible).
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of data legislation, data protection principles, data security regulatory requirements, and data privacy issues and how data governance facilitates this in the health, social and care services sector.
- Apply logical, analytical and problem-solving skills to recognise the need to protect against systems and data security threats and understand the consequences of not protecting data within the health, social and services sector.
- Demonstrate the ability to communicate and consult effectively about data security and best practice with peers and a range of audiences in the wider health, social, and care services sector.
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Reading List
Books:
P.B. Robichau (2014) Healthcare information privacy and security: regulatory compliance and data security in the age of electronic health records.
S. Garfinkel and H.R. Lipford (2014) Usable security: history, themes, and challenges.
L.F. Cranor and S. Garfinkel (2005) Security and usability: designing secure systems that people can use.
Smart N. (2003) Cryptography: an introduction.
Specific journal articles will be included in the course information at the start of the course.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1) Mindsets:
Enquiry and lifelong learning
Students on this course will be encouraged to seek out ways to develop their expertise in data security. They will also be encouraged to strive for excellence in their professional practice and to use established and developed approaches to resolve ethical challenges and data ownership issues as they arise in health and social care systems.
Aspiration and personal development
Students will be encouraged to draw on the quality, depth and breadth of their experiences to expand their potential and identify areas in which they wish to develop and grow. Students will also be encouraged to understand their responsibility within, and contribute positively, ethically and respectfully to the health and social care community while acknowledging that different students and community members will have other priorities and goals.
Outlook and engagement
Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning. Students will be asked to use on their initiative and experience, often explicitly relating to their professional, educational, geographical or cultural context to engage with and enhance the learning of students from the diverse communities on the programme. Students will also be asked to reflect on the experience of their peers and identify opportunities to enhance their learning.
2) Skills:
Research and enquiry
Students will use self-reflection to seek out learning opportunities. Students will also use the newly acquired knowledge and critical assessment to identify and creatively tackle problems and assimilate the findings of primary research and peer knowledge in their arguments, discussions and assessments.
Personal and intellectual autonomy
Students will be encouraged to use their personal and intellectual autonomy to critically evaluate learning materials and exercises. Students will also be supported through self-directed learning, discussion boards and collaborative activities to critically evaluate concepts, evidence and experiences of peers and superiors from an open-minded and reasoned perspective.
Personal effectiveness
Students will need to be effective and proactive learners that can articulate what they have learned, and have an awareness of their strengths and limitations, and a commitment to learning and reflection to complete this course successfully.
Communication
Effective data scientists' practitioners in the health and social care sector require excellent oral and written communication, presentation and interpersonal skills. The structure of the interactive (problem-based learning examples, discussion boards and collaborative activities) and assessment elements incorporate constant reinforcement and development of these skills. |
| Keywords | Data security,regulatory requirements,security risks,attacks,best practice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Mairead Bermingham
Tel:
Email: mairead.bermingham@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Magdalena Mazurczak
Tel:
Email: Magdalena.Mazurczak@ed.ac.uk |
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