Applied Clinical Informatics

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
Local:$ 41.3 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 41.3 k / Year(s) Deadline: Jan 15, 2025
111 place StudyQA ranking:4766 Duration:2 years

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The Department of Biomedical Informatics (DBMI) at Vanderbilt University invites outstanding applicants to apply for a two-year M.S. in Applied Clinical Informatics (MSACI) degree program. Our objective is to provide innovative clinical informatics education for working professionals in the health care field with graduates assuming leadership roles in the application and innovation of clinical informatics nationally.

The Discipline of Clinical Informatics

At many institutions, the role of clinical informatics (CI) leaders (known as clinical informaticians) has evolved from introducing electronic health records (EHRs) and practice transformation techniques to the effective evaluation and improvement of patient outcomes. Increasingly, local improvements must be integrated into accountable care organizations, clinically integrated networks, and other inter-organization collaborations that emphasize both quality improvement and cost reduction. These factors create a profound need for trained informatics professionals from a variety of clinical and nonclinical disciplines who share a deep theoretical and practical understanding of the care process, informatics concepts, and the changing social, organizational, and economic context in which health care is delivered. Vanderbilt DBMI’s new M.S. in Applied Clinical Informatics is designed to develop leaders who are prepared to advance the science and practice of clinical informatics.

Vanderbilt DBMI’s MSACI program degree program is an educational pathway for health professionals to develop a deep understanding and skills in the practice of clinical Informatics.The degree will satisfy educational certification requirements for physicians seeking subspecialty board recognition in Clinical Informatics (CI).Beginning in 2018, physicians will only qualify for the CI board exam after completing a fellowship program in clinical informatics that is certified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The Vanderbilt Clinical Informatics Fellowship program is currently undergoing review and is expected to fulfill this requirement with its first class expected to launch 2016. Learn more about CI board certification process at the American Board of Preventative Medicine (ABPM) website.

The MSACI program is also designed for clinicians who desire rigorous, practical informatics training outside of the CI fellowship (e.g., board-certified and non-boarded physicians, nurses, pharmacists) and experienced professionals from other health disciplines (e.g., information technology, public health, healthcare policy, business management, research informatics) who contribute and collaborate to promote safe, efficient, and effective health care.

Educational Experience at Vanderbilt DBMI

The MSACI's goal is to develop clinical informaticians who will be capable of developing and leading innovative applications of information technology and information systems that address clinical, research, and public health priorities. The program will provide a 36-credit hour curriculum in 21 months, with a coursework intensive first year followed by a second year devoted to a capstone project. The curriculum emphasizes a deep theoretical and practical understanding of the care process, informatics concepts, information technologies, computer science, and the changing social, organizational, and economic context in which health care is delivered. This understanding will be developed through coursework, over 240 hours of practicum experience that utilizes real HIT data and systems and healthcare contexts, and a mentored capstone project. The degree program will provide physicians with didactic and experiential training in alignment with ACGME guidelines for CI fellowships. The first class of students are expected to enroll in Fall 2016, and will be in a primarily digital format to accomodate distance learning for the working professional. In person time at Vanderbilt will occur is a block within each semester.

Year 1
Fall Spring Summer

ACI 6110 - Introduction to Clinical Informatics
Director: Trent Rosenbloom & Scott Nelson
Credits: 3

ACI 6120 - Clinical Decision Support and Evidence- Based Patient Care
Director: Josh Peterson and Chris Lehmann
Credits: 3

ACI 6130 - Data to Knowledge (Clinical Data Standards)
Director: Trent Rosenbloom and Asli Ozdas-Weitkamp
Credits: 2

ACI 6111 - Foundations of Health Information Technology
Director: Jess Ehrenfeld & Jonathan Wander
Credits: 3

ACI 6121 - Clinical Information Systems and Applications
Director: Robert Cronin & Jeremy Warner
Credits: 3

ACI 6131 - Clinical Information System Lifecycle
Director: Peter Greaves
Credits: 2

ACI 6112 - The Health System
Director: Mark Frisse
Credits: 3

ACI 6122 - Workflow, User-Centered Design, and Implementation
Director: Kim Unertl and Laurie Novak
Credits: 3

ACI 6132 - Management and Organizational Change
Director: Lynn Brooks
Credits: 2

ACI 7110 - Practicum Experience- Embedded Experience with Informatics Team
Director:  Asli Ozdas-Weitkamp
Credits: 1 

ACI 7120 - Practicum Experience- Embedded Experience with Informatics Team
Director:  Asli Ozdas-Weitkamp
Credits: 1 

 

ACI 7111 - Capstone Project Planning 
Director: Shane Stenner
Credits: 1

ACI 7121 - Capstone Project Planning 
Director: Shane Stenner
Credits: 1

 
Year 2
Fall Spring

ACI 7210 - Practicum Experience Continued
Credits: 1 Fall

ACI 7220 - Practicum Experience Continued
Credits: 1 Spring

ACI 7211 - Capstone Project Planning and Evaluations
Credits: 3 Fall

ACI 7221 - Capstone Project Planning and Evaluations
Credits: 3 Spring

Requirements

Applicants must hold a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree. At least two years of relevant, post-undergraduate professional experience, education, or training is strongly preferred. GRE or MCAT scores are required. TOEFL exam is required for applicants whose primary language is not English.

Physician applicants who intend to apply for ABMS subspecialty certification in Clinical Informatics must have a) graduated from an appropriately licensed medical school located in the United States or Canada, or from a school located elsewhere that is approved by the ABPM; and b) successfully completed a residency in an ABMS-participating specialty by June 2015, and must be either board-certified or board-eligible at that time.

Applicants do not need to have formal training in Computer Science or a related discipline, but they need to demonstrate a strong interest and aptitude in Clinical informatics. Students without a computational background are encouraged to take at least one introductory-level courses in computer science before entering the program.

To Apply

Interested individuals must complete the Masters in Applied Clinical Informatics application.  The application must include:

  • Statement of purpose
  • Standardized test scores
  • Degree program transcripts
  • Curriculum Vitae (include education, training, honors and awards, professional experience, relevant publications and presentations)
  • Three professional letters of recommendation
  • Answers to the three specific questions
  • All international applicants are required to provide scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which is administered by the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey. The Department requires applicants to meet or exceed a score of 600. International applicants who have obtained at least a masters level degree from an accredited US university are not required to provide TOEFL scores.

When choosing the Program within the online application  please make the following selections:

Program to which you are applying: Medicine-Non MD

Program: Master of Science in Applied Clinical Informatics

Degree: MSACI

Early application deadline is January 15, 2017.

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