Training digital natives to transform healthcare: a 5-tiered approach for integrating clinical informatics into undergraduate medical education

Abstract

Expansive growth in the use of health information technology (HIT) has dramatically altered medicine without translating to fully realized improvements in healthcare delivery. Bridging this divide will require healthcare professionals with all levels of expertise in clinical informatics. However, due to scarce opportunities for exposure and training in informatics, medical students remain an underdeveloped source of potential informaticists. To address this gap, our institution developed and implemented a 5-tiered clinical informatics curriculum at the undergraduate medical education level: (1) a practical orientation to HIT for rising clerkship students; (2) an elective for junior students; (3) an elective for senior students; (4) a longitudinal area of concentration; and (5) a yearlong predoctoral fellowship in operational informatics at the health system level. Most students found these offerings valuable for their training and professional development. We share lessons and recommendations for medical schools and health systems looking to implement similar opportunities.

Fostering Digital Health in Universities: An Experience of the First Junior Scientific Committee of the Brazilian Congress of Health Informatics

“…Moreover, Echelard et al [13] conducted a scoping review investigating current DH training for medical students, and suggested that the broad concept of DH should be studied at the same time as more specific subjects such as programming. To address this issue, the CBIS workshop gathered the most important skills expected of professionals involved with DH, facilitating the formation of a standardized curriculum, as has also been done in other initiatives worldwide [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

Digital literacy in undergraduate pharmacy education: a scoping review

“… 82 Further work is needed to explore the effectiveness of this. 82 Hare et al, 83 meanwhile suggested a tiered informatics curriculum design for medical education, which included different levels of depth within courses that students could opt into, ranging from shorter crash courses to longer fellowships based on their preferences. Successful implementation, however, depends on careful planning, resource allocation, and collaboration with healthcare institutions.…”

“…Successful implementation, however, depends on careful planning, resource allocation, and collaboration with healthcare institutions. 83 …”

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

“…Domains of clinical informatics (CI)-such as telemedicine, 1 large language models, 2 and artificial intelligence (AI) 3 -have touched the lives of medical trainees in recent years. Now more than ever, it is crucial to unlock the potential of CIrelated education in undergraduate medical education (UME) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and graduate medical education (GME). Prior literature regarding medical students suggests that there is interest in CI but a lack of clarity around opportunities for CI training, mentorship, and careers.…”