1. Clinical Informatics 101 Training in Family Medicine
Tochi Iroku-Malize MD MPH MBA FAAFP; Barbara Keber MD FAAFP
Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Department of Family Medicine
Introduction
There self rated ability in EMR utilization shoed 38% felt excellent while 24% felt their abilities were poor or fair. In terms of utilizing decision support tools, 27.5% felt excellent while 20% rated poor to fair. This was mirrored in consulting online reference materials. The majority felt that formal and informal training in medical school and residency was poor, and that clinical informatics was very important for physician related tasks or responsibilities.
The family medicine department of Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell (formerly Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine) and Northwell Health, faced the challenge of introducing clinical informatics into the continuum of medical education for students, residents and physicians. This need was enhanced by the expansion of our health system, the acquisition of various electronic medical record systems, meaningful use attestation in the ambulatory settings, as well as the then impending ICD-10 activation.
Longitudinal Curriculum
via noon conferences and symposiums
2-4 wk
electives
12 wk track
Methodology
We first looked to current curriculum guidelines for clinical informatics within our specialty.
We then reviewed what was available from the clinical informatics specialty organization, namely American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).
Conclusion
There was a small gap in family physician’s understanding of clinical informatics and only a few felt competent. In response, we created the clinical informatics curriculum via a longitudinal learning program as well as a elective/track for residents to apply. The track occurs over a two year period (PGY2 &3) utilizing the elective period available.
Training medical students, residents and physicians in basic clinical informatics is vital to the ability of physicians to navigate the current health care system. The goal of our program was not to create advanced learners of informatics, but rather to serve as a method of introducing the concepts. Future studies need to be done to determine the utility of the workshop in creating a difference with regards to practice and in the long term knowledge, skills and attitudes gained during the sessions.
We created a Clinical Informatics 101 workshop that was presented at numerous venues
Dissemination of CI Curriculum
Teambuilding Activities
Case Based Scenarios
Didactics
A workshop was created utilizing a mixture of didactics as well as case based scenarios. We also required part of the session to involve teamwork to develop a computer network.
We then presented the workshop at the various residency programs, departmental academic day as well as the state family medicine scientific assembly.
A total of 8 workshops were held where we reached 80 medical students, 66 residents, and over 50 clinicians.
A survey was given to those at the state session which assessed learner knowledge of clinical informatics, ability, formal and informal training, relevance in current or future career.
Results
There were 30 respondents of which 72% were male. 3% were medical students, 16% were residents, 7% junior attendings (<5yrs in practice) and the majority senior attendings.
Modules
Org culture, Leadership
Health Information Exchange
Communication, Implementation
Patient Safety, EHR, Security
Clinical Decision Support, Optimization
Social Media, mHealth
Live Training
CI Training
Ambulatory CI
Inpatient CI
Functional areas (interoperability, analytics, population, ancillary systems, etc)
System IT meetings
Center for Learning & Innovation Course
Regional or National
Presentation
Written reflective/ppt/prezi/oral presentation
Create webinar for broadcast
Regional or National presentation or publication
Resident Training