Master´s degree on Applied Medical Informatics - Its impact on Cuban Public Health informatics system

Introduction: the Ministry of Public Health in Cuba is making numerous efforts to embed an informatics infrastructure in all its process where professionals with a high level of knowledge on the subject it´s essential. The National School of Public Health implements the Master's Degree in Health Informatics, aimed at the sector's managers who are involving in the informatics process. However, the current program does not focus on developing the technical skills of computer specialists. Objective: to design the academic program of the Master's Degree in Applied Medical Informatics and to evaluate its impact on the informatics process of Cuban public health. Method: a mixed approach, descriptive, retrospective and non-experimental design, and cross-sectional study, was carried out. A documentary analysis was conducted to support the design of the program and a questionnaire was applied to evaluate its impact on the informatics process of Cuban public health, with a sample randomly selected (n=63). Results: the academic program for the Master's Degree in Applied Medical Informatics was designed with a structure of 78 credits. Created in mutual collaboration between the Universidad de las Ciencias Informáticas (UCI) and the National School of Public Health. In addition, its impact on the informatics process of Cuban Public Health was evaluated on the basis of statistical analysis of data obtained. Conclusions: the program implemented is advisable and its successfully impact on the informatics process of Cuban public health, was reflected in the statistics of the first ongoing edition of the master's program.