The UCLA Health Resident Informaticist Program - A Novel Clinical Informatics Training Program

Abstract

Few opportunities exist for physician trainees to gain exposure to, and training in, the field of clinical informatics, an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited, recently board-certified specialty. Currently, 21 approved programs exist nationwide for the formal training of fellows interested in pursuing careers in this discipline. Residents and fellows training in medical and surgical fields, however, have few avenues available to gain experience in clinical informatics. An early introduction to clinical informatics brings an opportunity to generate interest for future career trajectories. At University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Health, we have developed a novel, successful, and sustainable program, the Resident Informaticist Program, with the goals of exposing physician trainees to the field of clinical informatics and its academic nature and providing opportunities to expand the clinical informatics workforce. Herein, we provide an overview of the development, implementation, and current state of the UCLA Health Resident Informaticist Program, with a blueprint for development of similar programs.

Keywords: curriculum; education; informatics; mentors.

Figure 1.

Excerpt from UCLA Resident Informaticist Program monthly curriculum, including covered health IT topics.

Figure 2.

(A) Distribution of RIs by specialty. (B) Distribution of RIs by postgraduate training level. (C) Overall UCLA residency specialty cohort and overall RI cohort distribution.

Figure 3.

UCLA Health Resident Informaticist Program supplemental expectation and satisfaction survey responses for 2015–2016.