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Distributed Medical Informatics Education Using Internet2. William Hersh, M.D. Associate Professor and Chief Division of Medical Informatics & Outcomes Research Oregon Health Sciences University Portland, OR, USA hersh@ohsu.edu. Acknowledgements. Collaborators
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Distributed Medical Informatics Education Using Internet2 William Hersh, M.D. Associate Professor and Chief Division of Medical Informatics & Outcomes Research Oregon Health Sciences University Portland, OR, USA hersh@ohsu.edu
Acknowledgements • Collaborators • Oregon Health Sciences University • Patricia Tidmarsh, J.D. • University of Pittsburgh • Charles Friedman, Ph.D. • Joseph Cummings • Funder • National Library of Medicine (NLM) Contract 467-MZ-001707
Overview • Background • Rationale • Current efforts • Future Plans
Medical Informatics • The field concerned with the storage, acquisition, and use of information in health care • A relatively new, multidisciplinary field without a defined skill set, educational pathway, job description, etc.
Academic medical informatics • A growing number of M.S., Ph.D., and postdoc fellowship programs • Twelve programs funded by NLM • Another dozen or so programs • Academic programs focus on research but most graduates assume non-research positions
A problem with medical informatics education • From Corn M, MD Computing, 1999, 16(2): 25-27 • Of 12 core topic areas, no program has coursework in more than eight • Programs tend to reflect the interests of their faculty • This could be detrimental to students having different interests or wanting a broader education
Technology may help… • “Low end” distance learning • OHSU Graduate Certificate Program has over 80 enrollees who take courses featuring • Streaming audio + Powerpoint lectures • Threaded discussion boards • Other usual activities – term paper, final, etc. • Mostly mid-career professionals, demonstrates interest in medical informatics education from diverse audiences
Technology (cont.) • “High end” distance learning • Internet2-based collaboration between OHSU and University of Pittsburgh
Aims of project • Develop coursework that takes advantage of expertise at specific sites as well as collaboration across sites • Provide access to such coursework and the faculty who teach it over Internet2 within the framework of the home institution’s program infrastructure • Facilitate cross-institution student collaboration • Evaluate the techniques used and student outcomes
Rationale for collaboration • OHSU and Pitt are both Internet2 institutions • They have complimentary expertise, e.g., • Pitt strength in electronic medical records and evaluation of systems • OHSU strength in information retrieval and digital libraries • Both are devoted to educational innovation in medical informatics
Others are doing this too… • Graduate seminar in communications • 42 students from Univ. of California Santa Barbara, Univ. of Southern California, Purdue Univ., and Univ. of Illinois • Using Internet2-based videoconferencing, students and professors interacted in real time • www.spcomm.uiuc.edu/contractor/429_files/ frame.htm
Efforts so far • Transmission of • Research conferences from OHSU • Research-in-progress meetings from Pitt • Only minor problems encountered so far • Sound difficulties related to microphone placement • Latency of image when Powerpoint slides transmit • Once a dropped connection forcing reconnection
Future efforts planned • OHSU MINF 514, Information Retrieval & Digital Libraries (Hersh) • Covers major issues in indexing, retrieval, evaluation, and digital libraries • Offered in OHSU spring quarter - early April to mid June • Meets three hours per week from 1-4 pm Pacific time • Sessions will be broadcast over Internet2 link to Pitt • Course will be taken by students in Pitt informatics and library/information science programs
Future efforts (cont.) • Issues to overcome • Non-overlap of academic schedules • Pitt is on semester system, with spring semester ending in early May • Course time less than ideal • Pitt students in class from 4-7 pm • How to issue credit • Initially will be offered as seminar course at Pitt
Future efforts (cont.) • Trivia Bowl • Traveling trophy to be awarded (virtual?) • Three students from each site answer trivia questions developed by faculty • Other faculty and student interactions • Two faculty teach innovative courses on organizational behavior issues • Hope to encourage student collaboration on projects
Technology used Internet2 • Polycom Viewstations • IP-based • Transmission over Internet2 • Other cameras, microphones, PCs
Future directions • We can improve technology; technical challenges include • Explore higher-quality videoconferencing • Investigate additional learning modalities • Real challenges are • Determining whether and how much to integrate academic programs • Foster community of faculty and students • How to sustain efforts after initial funding ends