Clinical Informatics Fellowship for physicians launches

Universities and healthcare providers in Georgia, U.S., have created the state’s first Clinical Informatics Fellowship.

The Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership and the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Public Health have partnered with Athens-area healthcare providers — St. Mary’s Healthcare System, Piedmont Athens Regional and the University of Georgia Health Center — to create the first Clinical Informatics Fellowship for physicians in Georgia, U.S.

There is so much patient data available to providers – labtests and scans, notes from previous visits, prescription notes, said Dr. DaleGreen, the fellowship’s director and associate professor in the College ofPublic Health, but “it’s not a given that all the information is available andaccurate to the physician meeting with that patient in that moment. It takessomeone thinking about how to bring that data together and make it usable.”

Training in clinical informatics, UGA says, providesclinicians with the skills necessary to collect and examine patient data,calculate patient health risks and offer transformative care that not onlyimproves the health and well-being of individual patients, but also impactspublic health policy.

The Clinical Informatics Fellowship program, accredited bythe Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, emphasizes expertisein population and public health informatics while preparing fellows for thefull range of opportunities in clinical informatics.

Over the course of the two-year program, trainees will beexposed to a variety of “real world” informatics experiences during theirclinical rotations. In association with each clinical rotation, fellows willcomplete a series of practicums. Topics will include business and finance,satisfaction and quality improvement, privacy and security, population health,information sharing and connectivity, and clinical decision support.

The fellowship program is open to physicians trained andboard certified in at least one other board recognized by the American Board ofMedical Specialties. Upon completion of the program, fellows are prepared forboard certification in clinical informatics through the American Board ofPreventative Medicine.