AMIA Board white paper: definition of biomedical informatics and specification of core competencies for graduate education in the discipline

Abstract

The AMIA biomedical informatics (BMI) core competencies have been designed to support and guide graduate education in BMI, the core scientific discipline underlying the breadth of the field's research, practice, and education. The core definition of BMI adopted by AMIA specifies that BMI is 'the interdisciplinary field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving and decision making, motivated by efforts to improve human health.' Application areas range from bioinformatics to clinical and public health informatics and span the spectrum from the molecular to population levels of health and biomedicine. The shared core informatics competencies of BMI draw on the practical experience of many specific informatics sub-disciplines. The AMIA BMI analysis highlights the central shared set of competencies that should guide curriculum design and that graduate students should be expected to master.

Core informatics competencies for clinical and translational scientists: what do our customers and collaborators need to know?

“…This work began primarily in the late 1980s 1 and has continued. 2,3 Much of this work has focused on competencies for those who identified themselves as representing different specialties in the field, including biomedical informaticians, 2,4 bioinformaticians, 5 clinical informaticians, 6 and nurse informaticians. 7 Other work has focused on informatics competencies for other practitioners, including medical students, 14 pharmacists, 1 practicing nurses, 15,16 and public health workers.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] As the field continues to evolve, competencies must be adjusted accordingly. Most efforts to define informatics competencies have been regarding those to be demonstrated by informatics professionals.…”

A review of biomedical and health informatics education: A workforce training framework

“…[7] According to the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), biomedical informatics is the "interdisciplinary field that studies and pursues the effective uses of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem solving, and decision making, driven by efforts to improve human health". [5] While both definitions contain overlapping concepts, the differences are substantial. HIT's primary focus is to design and develop technological advances that fit the demands of the healthcare industry therefore; the training of HIT professionals is mostly geared towards necessary technical and computational concepts and methods, while exposure to the clinical point of view of the problem may lack.…”

“…According to a white paper drafted by the American Medical Informatics Board, the ability to "work collaboratively" and to "team effectively with partners within and across disciplines" is a core competency of informatics professionals. [5] Similarly, the Institute of Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the Interprofessional Education Collaborative have noted "teams and teamwork" as a core competency for all healthcare professionals. [6] HIT is the utilization of an array of technologies to store, share, and analyze information.…”

“…Kulikowski et al outline specific informatics competencies, including the ability to "Understand, and analyze the types and nature of biomedical data, information, and knowledge". [5] Depending on the type of program and the roles for which the program is educating students, these core competencies can be tailored and demonstrated in unique ways. For example, for those programs educating medical informaticians, the program may choose to educate professionals on methodologies for querying their specific clinical information systems in an effort to better understand their patient population, which in fact is a Menu Measure within the EHR Incentive Program.…”