Towards Developing an Undergraduate Interprofessional Biomedical Informatics Course

Biomedical Informatics training has expanded to include almost all clinical specialties. Whether it is a Masters, PhD, or even the new Sub-Specialty in Clinical Informatics, graduate students and/or returning professionals have various informatics training options. However, Informatics education at the undergraduate level is not as well established. Despite initiatives such as TIGER and the Health Information Technology Scholars Program there is still a need to provide interprofessional education. As Informatics continues to grow and healthcare becomes more complex and data driven, there is a growing need to introduce fundamental concepts to undergraduate students to enhance their knowledge base and stimulate interest in the career of biomedical informatics. The panelists are leading efforts to develop a Biomedical Informatics course that addresses fundamental concepts and core competency skills. This panel will explore the needs and challenges to build an undergraduate course that includes core competencies for various clinical specialties including medicine, nursing, and allied professions such as nutrition. The proposed course will serve as a foundation for health professionals, which is different from the advanced ONC funded Health IT Workforce Curriculum Components. Panelists specifically aim to further understand the expectations of the AMIA community with regards to developing an interprofessional informatics course. This course will be designed to accommodate undergraduate students. This effort intends to provide fundamental knowledge of Biomedical Informatics to pre-med, allied health, and IT undergraduate students. The aim is to present students with a general overview of the role of Informatics in clinical, research, and operation practices and hence, facilitate determining future career directions. Learning Objectives • Better understand the needs for interprofessional undergraduate informatics courses • Identify core undergraduate informatics competencies (general and specialty specific) • Learn about on-going and future efforts to integrate informatics in undergraduate education • Collect feedback on the initial structure of the course • Identify and invite qualified Informatics professionals to content writing • Provide a report summarizing audience opinions Audience Due to its high relevance, this session will be of interest to all AMIA members.