Postgraduate Training in Healthcare Informatics a personal experience

1
Postgraduate Training in Healthcare Informatics
-a personal experience

• Dr. John E. Coia
• Consultant Clinical MicrobiologistNHSGGC

2
What is Health Informatics?

• Health informatics or medical informatics is
  the intersection of information science, medicine
  and health care. It deals with the resources,
  devices and methods required to optimize the
  acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of
  information in health and biomedicine. Health
  informatics tools include not only computers but
  also clinical guidelines, formal medical
  terminologies, and information and communication
  systems

Wikipedia
3
Why do we need healthcare informatics?
Biomedical Knowledge BaseBasic Applied
ResearchGuidelines
Clinical GovernanceAuditConfidentiality Accounta
bility
Islands of InformationClinical RecordsFeeder
Systems
Distributed Health CareHospitalsCTCs Primary
Care
ManagementStrategicOperational
TelemedicineImagingOther applications
4
Core elements of Healthcare Informatics

• Electronic Medical Records
• Decision support
• Standards
• Interoperability
• Definitions
• Technology and Non-technology e.g. (Controlled
  Medical Vocabularies)
• Networking/portable devices/remote access
• Integration
• Systems design implementation

5
Health care informatics worldwide

• Similar themes
• Differences in pace of progress
• Differences in emphasis and priorities

6
Training in healthcare informatics

• Courses to generate health-care informatics staff
  of the future
• Ground up training
• Specialisation from other backgrounds
• Courses to meet training requirements of staff
  already in post
• Specific skills competencies
• Generic training

7
Types of training

• Specific skills
• Use of specific software packages etc.
• Often task-oriented
• Generic
• Wider issues broader concepts e.g. Theory of
  Systems design, Confidentiality etc.
• Non task-orientated

8
Type of structure

• Full-time
• Undergraduate level
• Entering the discipline
• Part-time
• Modular
• Increase flexibility and tailoring

9
Type of delivery

• Traditional
• Proximity
• Numbers
• Scheduling
• Distance-learning

10
Distance Learning

• Increasingly popular for CPD/training
• Web-based
• Accessible any time
• All you need is internet connection
• Facilitating technology
• Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
• Web CT
• Course genie

11
(No Transcript)
12
Time to get personal!

• Enthusiastic amateur!
• Involvement in various procurements and
  implementations of laboratory systems
• Interested in innovative uses of IT in laboratory
• Increasingly frustrated by gaps in knowledge

13
FHI RCSEd

• Faculty of Healthcare Informatics of the Royal
  College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
• Courses
• CMI/DMI
• CPD modules
• MSc

14
Modular Structure

• Compulsory residential weekend
• Series of 12 modules
• Standalone (Module 1 compulsory)
• 6 Modules (including module 12) for PG
  Certificate in Medical Informatics (CMI)
• 12 Modules for PG Diploma in Medical Informatics
  (DMI)

15
Delivery

• Web-based via Internet
• Synchronised 10 week module runs
• Virtually all material available on-line
• Up to 5 years to complete
• First ran in October 2000
• Last graduations this month

16
Assessment

• Constant logging of progress
• Assessed discussion forum posts
• In-line tasks
• End of module assessments
• Module 12 project proposal

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
Module 1 An Introduction to Medical Informatics

• Definitions
• History of development
• Concepts of data and information
• Trends directions

20
Module 2 Internet Intranets

• Overview of the Internet and intranets from a
  general perspective as well as covering aspects
  related to health
• Main objective was to understand principles which
  underpin how the Internet functions, including
  areas which are technical (e.g. communication
  protocols), organisational (e.g. DNS), cultural
  (e.g. "netiquette") or developmental (e.g.
  implementing an Intranet)

21
Module 3 Websites

• Basic principles of web site design and authoring
• Introduction to HTML programming
• Had to design and produce your own website

22
Module 4 Protecting Information Theory
Practice

• Personal Data
• Confidentiality
• Privacy
• Ownership
• Electronic Mail
• Email In Use
• Security

23
Module 5 Clinical Data Storage Retrieval

• Database theory and structures
• Introduction to Microsoft Access and Structured
  Query Language (SQL)
• Strategies for storing data and techniques for
  optimising retrieval
• Maintaining portability and cross-platform
  compatibility of data
• Maintaining quality of data and reducing errors
  within a database
• Specific requirements for storage and retrieval
  of various types of data within a hospital
  setting
• The importance, implementation and problems
  associated with the Electronic Health Record
  (EHR)

24
Module 6 Information in Practice

• Significance and process of evidence based
  healthcare and strategies for implementation
• Principles of clinical and non-clinical audit and
  their role in practice
• Concept of the informed patient and potential
  benefits and pitfalls for healthcare
  practitioners and patients

25
Module 7 Digital Imaging, Media Acquisition
Processing

• Basics of digital images
• Image capture for individuals and organisations
  in Healthcare
• Use of presentation graphics
• Methods of image manipulation relevant to
  clinical images
• Image output and storage options
• Digital video
• Diagnostic imaging and clinical applications

26
Module 9 Computers in Clinical Practice

• Human-computer interaction
• Decision support systems
• Remote access and wireless systems
• Virtual reality and simulations

27
Other modules

• Module 8 Communication of Information
• Module 10 Systems Standards
• Module 11 Telemedicine

28
Module 12 The Future of Health Informatics

• an opportunity to apply the health informatics
  skills you have learnt on this course. There is
  little formal content for this module. Instead
  the main focus is self directed learning (with
  assistance from a tutor) to develop a proposal
  plan for a health informatics project that would
  be useful in your own local environment. The
  project should investigate a problem and a
  possible solution or innovation that leads to
  measurable improvement in your workplace

29
Pros

• Flexible study programme
• Access anywhere
• Access anytime
• No need to take time off of work
• Generic
• International perspective

30
Cons

• Any course of study is hard to combine with work!
• Dont underestimate the time requirements!
• Isolation
• How am I doing?
• Lack of camaraderie
• Generic
• International perspective

31
How did they do?

• 207 Students joined the course

32
Specific Benefits

• SPE Project
• Handhelds used for audit in North Glasgow
• Tutor on DMI course for Module 7
• Module leader for UHI infection control
• Generic Investigations Data Standards Clinical
  Working Group

33
What the DMI was not

• Doesnt make you an IT expert
• Doesnt give you in-depth specific skills

34
What the DMI was

• Wide range of disciplines represented
• Only a small number wanted to be career HI
  people
• A way to create the interface people
• Understand both sides of the problem
• Systems development and implementation
• Process redesign
• Knowing the potential seeing the opportunities
• Expert systems development

35
Is it for me?

• Two key questions
• Do you really require or need to?
• What is it you really want?

36
MSc course
37
How are they doing?

• 217 Have joined the course since 2002

38
Would I do it again?

• Yes
• I can see the joins now
• Understand more of the pitfalls
• See why big IT projects often fail!
• Chance to look at things in more depth
• Increased my comfort zone
• Consolidated and organised my knowledge
• Links
• MSchttp//www.healthcare-informatics.info/Default
  .asp
• UK Council for Health Informatics
  Professionshttp//www.ukchip.man.ac.uk/Home