A few tables worth of discussion – and some of the leadership panel touched upon upskilling the digital health workforce – so I thought I’d just show a readily apparent example specifically built to give Emergency Medicine clinicians a foundation in Clinical Informatics, a partnership between ACEP and AMIA in the U.S.:
Could readily imagine a similar core curriculum based on this model for clinical staff of varying backgrounds, and, likewise, for non-clinical staff – modelled on some of the elements I’ve seen in Master’s programs in Biomedical Informatics geared primarily for non-clinical staff who are required to take core coursework in health system operations and clinical workflow.
I’m aware there are multi-semester certificates and diplomas available, but I suppose some discussion is reasonable regarding the varying levels of depth required – and whether a “lighter” program would make clinical informatics more accessible and serve as a gateway into other degree programs and/or help inform practical application.
Thanks for sharing this @rradecki
There are a few postgraduate programmes in NZ (Auckland University, Otago University and some informatics/digital health courses at the other universities, e.g., Data science at Massey and nursing informatics course as part of the Massey nursing programme). There are also two undergrad courses (a digital health pathway in the BHSc at Auckland Uni and a Bachelor’s programme with a major in health informatics at Victoria University of Wellington). Thing is, if we’re not meeting the needs of the bulk of the community, we should get together and work out what to change in our programmes.
My research is about the digital health workforce and I’m focusing at the moment on career pathways.
Please get in touch if you want to take this conversation further.
Exactly the programs to which I was referring as “multi-semester certificates and diplomas available” – not diminishing their value and a critical need for advanced formal training, rather just showing an example of a successful, albeit far more superficial, program, and just floating it as an idea for discussion in response to a few tables these past couple days.
AMIA 10x10 is a great programme. It was set up by Bill Hersch from OHSU who has run it for a long time now.
I think there is a need for something like this in NZ (and possibly Australia too) for people who want a recognition that they have completed a paper but don’t want to commit to a full Cert or Diploma.
The course is roughly equivalent to our DIGH 701 paper that I teach (distance only) and runs over 1 semester and is worth 30 points (1/2 of a Cert or 1/4 Diploma).
You could have a short course endorsed by HINZ that is based on an introductory university paper delivered via distance learning. People could take the course and then some might go on to complete the full certificate or diploma (or MSc or PhD).
How about more practical courses - tailored to the specific workforce? like practical new tech taught to the nurses, different stuff to the age care health workers, different stuff to the mental health work force etc… or is this everyone’s own responsibility?
