Medical Student

This is a rapidly growing field at the intersection of clinical care, information technology, and data science that will prepare you for a fruitful career in an increasingly digital healthcare landscape.

M3 Year

• Seek out opportunities to participate in multidisciplinary projects. Collaborate on potential quality improvement (QI), artificial intelligence (AI), or electronic health record-based (EHR) projects with teams that include IT analysts, clinical researchers, or departmental leaders to improve patient care.
• Explore national committees, subcommittees, and conferences through the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). These organizations offer early exposure to the field and prove educational and networking opportunities.
• Shadow a physician informaticist or seek out a clinical informatics (CI) mentor. Identify key faculty members or practicing clinical informaticists to gain insights into a CI career as an emergency medicine (EM) physician.

M4 Year

• Take targeted coursework. Enroll in electives or online courses in data analytics, AI/machine learning, business management, cybersecurity, programming, or health IT to build foundational knowledge of key informatics areas.
• Participate in CI rotations focused on leadership and governance in health IT to gain practical experience and executive insights to how to address clinical challenges through informatics solutions.
• Do away rotations for exposure and networking. As you do EM away rotations, consider choosing institutions with strong CI programs to gain perspectives, as different enterprises have different challenges that require unique informatics approaches. This also allows students to explore the intersection of CI with other EM tracks like administration, research, and more.
• Track residencies with informatics focus. Research residencies that support informatics training, such as Epic certifications, resident informatics curriculums, and an established history of sending residents to CI fellowships. Three-year programs may provide a loose path/track for interested residents but have limited time for informatics electives/projects. Four-year programs may offer additional flexibility for CI, especially through additional elective time. This will likely be very helpful in increasing your CI experience and portfolio for fellowship applications, and can also give you additional time to explore the specialty if you are not sure.