PHDA testimonials

My thesis supervisor told me about the program. My thesis project involved the analysis of Alberta Health’s administrative data on influenza vaccination and I needed to have a working knowledge of the tools of administrative data.

The courses were quite intensive but they provide the analytic tools that were complementary to the course experience I gained in my graduate program. I gained evaluation, spatial analytic and advanced analytical skills for modelling health outcomes data. Health Services Program Monitoring and Evaluation, Longitudinal Analysis and Multi-Level Modeling of Population Health Data, and GIS and Population Health were the courses that provided the greatest benefits to me. 

I have actually used the skills I gained in the administrative data course to analyze my thesis data.  I am currently  working on a research project in which I am trying to incorporate the advanced analytical skills I gained in the ‘ Longitudinal Analysis and Multi-Level Modeling of Population Health Data’ course to specify my models. In the near future, I plan to incorporate some elements of spatial analysis into my research work.

The strengths of this program include:

Excellent, experienced instructors for each of the courses. Use of fellow students as peers to give feedback on assignments was a particular strength of the PHDA06 course in Health Evaluation and Program Monitoring. Also, discussion forums that promoted exchange of information amongst students using real life examples.

I would recommend the program to working professionals, researchers, and graduate students.

My suggestions for individuals entering the PHDA program would be to prepare for a very intensive program and to avail yourself of  the full range of excellent resources that are available for the program, including the reading materials, the discussion forum, the instructors, the program coordinators, the program lead and the IT online help desk. I found all of them essential to achieving a successful outcome.

I learned about the PHDA program through researching continuing education certificates focused on population-level health administrative analysis. I was motivated to do so as I am particularly interested in health services research during the end-of-life phase.

Overall, I had a positive program experience. I greatly appreciated the asynchronous format as it allowed me to develop my skills without risking my other professional commitments. I found PHDA05 (Longitudinal Analysis and Multi-level Modelling of Population Health Data) to be the most rewarding as it exposed me to higher level quantitative analyses. In addition, I found PHDA03 (Population Health and Geographic Information Systems) very interesting as it provided applicable GIS uses for health services research.

I believe the skills I have learned through this program will be directly relevant to my current research interests. Also, I plan on increasingly incorporating GIS analyses in my health services research, in order to understand another dimension of care accessibility during the end-of-life phase.

The collaborative activities throughout the various courses were greatly appreciated, despite the asynchronous format!

Absolutely – the PHDA program is a great program for anyone who is interested in further exploring population-level analyses. For prospective students, I recommend honing on your SAS skills prior to program completion. While not necessary, having prior experience using SAS is beneficial to successfully completing courses.

Overall, my experience was largely positive. The instructors are very knowledgeable and accessible to students, and the program staff are always helpful!

Prior to coming to Canada, I had worked in the area of math and statistics. When I moved to Canada I pursued work in Data Management and then became particularly interested in the field of data analytics for health services. As a result, I searched online for a related program in this area and found information on the PHDA program. I had taken previous training courses in business and data analytics so the PHDA program seemed like a perfect way to expand my knowledge and skills within the field of population health.

The Working with Administrative Data (PHDA 01) course was a perfect course for me. It gave me a good introduction to the field of Population Health and provided a good refresher for my SAS skills.

The Epidemiological Statistics (PHDA 02) course was a fair bit of review for me as I have a strong statistical background. As a result, the health specific focus of the course and related terminology provided the greatest value to me.

The Population Health and GIS (PHDA 03) course was the most interesting but also the hardest course I took due to the project work and data management skills that were involved.

As I am now working in the healthcare field, I feel the health terminology and related analytic work I completed in the program have been helpful in my current workplace.  In particular, I am using some of these skills in my reporting projects. Within the next couple of years I also expect that my work will be incorporating more geospatial skills so the foundation skills I have learned in this area will also be beneficial.

I feel this is a very unique program that combines the use of data analytics, statistical software and focused learning objectives related to the field of health. I also appreciated the fact that it was a fully online program with well-organized lectures, readings and remotely accessed lab work in health data analytics.

Yes, I would definitely recommend the program to others.

Overall the program was very helpful to my knowledge and skill development in the field of healthcare analytics.  The program exceeded my expectations particularly because of the remotely accessed data analytic lab work that was more challenging than I anticipated. This work was very practical and very much oriented to real life case examples. The calibre of students in my courses was also very high as most were working professionals who brought valuable experience and knowledge to the discussion forums and project work.