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Medical Informatics Track

Goals, Objectives, & Outcome

Goals

This 12-month track will give residents and fellows the knowledge, skills, and methods necessary to: (a) understand and apply informatics principles and technologies in clinical practice; (b) develop competency in health information systems; and (c) develop scholarly and operational projects with a focus on healthcare delivery, quality of care, patient safety, and clinical outcomes. This residency track is hybrid in nature, with meetings taking place both in-person and online. The time commitment of this track is 3-4 hours per month for 12 months. A Computer Science/Programming background is not required.

Objectives

Upon completion of this track, residents and fellows will be able to:

  1. Effectively use electronic health record (EHR) systems, clinical decision support tools, and health information technologies such as artificial intelligence in clinical workflows
  2. Analyze evidence-based practices in clinical informatics and health information technology
  3. Design, implement, and evaluate informatics-based solutions to improve clinical processes, data management, and patient outcomes

Outcome

Upon completion of the track, residents will be awarded a certificate of distinction in Medical Informatics from Emory University School of Medicine.

Track Requirements:

Project Requirement:

The final project is a 15-minute presentation to at the Emory Physician Informatics team meeting. The format and content of the presentation is left up to the housestaff, but may include a summation of what was learned over the duration of the residency track, a journal club on an informatics topic of their choice, or an review of an area of interest such as artificial intelligence.

Professional Standards

  • Maintain good standing with residency/fellowship or medical school program
  • Adhere to institutional policies regarding work hours and professional conduct
  • Comply with HIPAA, security protocols, and data governance requirements when working with health information systems

Evaluation:

The housestaff will be evaluated on:

  1. Their fundamental knowledge of informatics (Health IT principles, security and privacy, data standards, interoperability principles and challenges)
  2. Five rights of clinical decision support
  3. Data stewardship
  4. Pearls and pitfalls of artificial intelligence/machine learning in healthcare
  5. Principles of change management and leading, influencing, and managing change

Topics to be Covered based on Participants’ Interests

Informatics Foundations & Theory
  • Introduction to clinical informatics, health IT principles, and standards
  • EHR architecture, interoperability, and data management
  • Clinical decision support systems and knowledge representation
  • Data analytics and quality measurement in healthcare
  • Privacy, security, and regulatory compliance (HIPAA, HITECH)
  • Workflow analysis and process improvement methodologies

Comparative Analysis Site Visits

  • Opportunity to join institutional EHR go-lives as new hospitals join the Emory Healthcare Network (e.g. Emory Warner Robins)
  • Observation of informatics teams managing clinical systems
  • Shadowing informatics specialists in real-world problem-solving
  • Optional: Epic Physician Builder Training will be offered according to the interest of the housestaff. Epic Physician Builder is a program where clinicians can directly build and improve Emory’s implementation of Epic. Possibilities include the creation of reports, ordersets, clinical decision support, and more.

Mentorship

  • Clinical informatics faculty mentor(s) for content expertise and project guidance
  • Department-specific faculty advisor for program integration and clinical context
  • Regular check-ins (monthly) to monitor progress and provide feedback

Tentative Schedule

The time commitment of this track is 3-4 hours per month. This time spent will be divided between attending informatics meetings, discussions with their clinical mentor, recommended readings, and work on their presentation. The housestaff will choose one resource per quarter from the informatics curriculum that they will self-review. The housestaff will perform a 10 to 15 minute discussion about the topic with their mentor every quarter.

Site Visits: We recommend two to three visits over the year to any of the following locations: 1) Emory Northlake to attend the Informatics Council, Physician Informatics Team Meeting (both occur from 2-4:30pm every Thursday); 2) tour of the Emory Capacity Command Center; or 3) Shadowing in a clinical setting where informatics interventions are being deployed.

Eligibility & General Requirements

Eligibility

  • All rising PGY2 or higher Residents and Fellows in good standing with their graduate medical education training program.
  • There will be a maximum of 4 applicants.

Application Timeline:

  • Applications due: May 30 prior to the academic year of entry
  • Track completion: One 12-month academic year (July-June)

 

Application Process

  • Personal Statement (1-2 pages): Describe your clinical background, interest in clinical informatics, technical background, and goals for the track. Please submit your application to Dr. Nitu Kashyap and Dr. Sharaf Khan no later than May 30th for consideration of the cohort starting in July.
  • Program Director Letter of Support: 3-4 hours per month to attend informatics meetings and learn about informatics
  • Brief interview with track leadership to assess fit and motivation

 

Core Faculty:

  1. Nitu Kashyap, M.D. – Chief Health Informatics Officer (Internal Medicine)
  2. Sharaf Khan, M.D. – Associate Chief Health Informatics Officer (Emergency Medicine/Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine)
  3. Vikram Narayan, M.D. – Associate Chief Health Informatics Officer (Urology)
  4. Elizabeth Sprouse M.P.H -Chief Public Health Informatics Officer; VP, Population Health Informatics (Population Health)
  5. Christopher Wheaton Pharm.D - Associate Chief Health Informatics Officer (Pharmacy)