Building for the future: the creation of a residency training track to foster innovation through clinical informatics in psychiatry

Abstract

Early clinical informatics (CI) education provides an introduction to CI methodologies for resident physicians to apply within their boarded specialties. A specialty notably absent from the effort to train residents in CI is psychiatry. We present a novel means of integrating CI exposure into a structured educational track within a psychiatry residency training program. The clinical informatics track at the University of North Carolina Department of Psychiatry is a 3-year, longitudinal experience open to residents starting in postgraduate year 2. To our knowledge, this is the first track of its kind within a psychiatry residency training program.

A Call to Support Informatics Curricula in U.S.-Based Residency Education

“…10 CI departments have created combined UME and GME 12 initiatives as well as specific hospital-wide programs for residents and fellows across all specialties. 13 Individual programs in internal medicine, 14 pediatrics, 15 emergency medicine, 16,17 and psychiatry 18 have been described.…”

Applications of Clinical Informatics to Child Mental Health Care: a Call to Action to Bridge Practice and Training

“…Most child psychiatry trainees are exposed to EHRs in daily practice and, increasingly, other [35] b Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) c Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), i.e., federal standard geographic codes digital health technologies (e.g., mobile apps, patient portals) that inform and shape clinical training. Several psychiatry residencies have recently developed elective specialized "tracks" in clinical informatics, including the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Los Angeles [39]. These were developed, in part, to meet the rising interest of trainees.…”

Engaging Housestaff as Informatics Collaborators: Educational and Operational Opportunities

“…1 However, health informatics is a required skill for all 21st century clinicians, 2 and thus there is a need for informatics experiences for all postgraduate trainees. 3 Previously described educational initiatives have focused on brief trainings on informatics, [4][5][6][7] but few institutions have engaged housestaff in hands-on experiential informatics training or formalized educational programs. [7][8][9][10] Early career exposure to informatics can support professional development in the field, addressing unmet need for these skilled physicians in the health care workforce.…”

“…Although multiple models may be successful in engaging housestaff in hospital informatics, 4,[7][8][9][10] we report here on a novel housestaff-organized and -led information technology (IT) council format that has fostered opportunities for housestaff to collaborate in operational roles and to learn CI through hands-on real-world experiences.…”