Been there, done that One Persons Story

1
Been there, done that -One Persons Story

• William Hersh, M.D.
• Associate Professor and Chief
• Division of Medical Informatics Outcomes
  Research
• Oregon Health Sciences University
• Portland, OR, USA

2
Overview

• Description of current job
• What I learned in my training
• What I could have been exposed to in order to
  ensure success

3
Current job

• Head of a (IMHO) major academic medical
  informatics program
• Carry out the triple threat of academic
  medicine
• Research
• Teaching
• Service

4
Research activities

• Areas of focus
• Information retrieval and digital libraries
• Text processing of electronic medical records
• Specific activities
• Carry out research projects
• Mentor students and research assistants
• Write (too many) grant proposals

5
Teaching activities

• Programs offered for two audiences
• Informatics professionals - Master of Science
  degree and NLM fellowship
• Health care professionals - Informatics and EBM
  for CME, medical students
• Specific activities
• Teach graduate-level courses
• Mentor student thesis and fellowship projects
• Develop and teach content for CME, students

6
Service activities

• Various efforts to serve my institution
• Implementation and advisory committees for
  computer network, EMR, remote access, etc.
• Specific activities
• Information Technology Advisory Board
• Clinical Information Systems Steering Committee
• Medical School Curriculum Committee
• Half-day per week of clinical practice in
  Internal Medicine Clinic

7
What I learned in my training

• NLM Fellowship from 1987-1990 at Brigham
  Womens Hospital (Harvard program) under Dr.
  Robert Greenes
• Content
• Working on projects and observing others
• Learning development tools
• Taking courses
• Earned Certificate in Computer Science from
  Harvard University Extension School

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What I learned (cont.)

• Milieu
• Exposure to a number of different projects, e.g.,
• Unified Medical Language System project
• Observation of mentor
• Introduction into the good ol persons network
  of the field

9
What I could have beenexposed to...

• Alternative title What I have developed in the
  OHSU program to improve the experience for
  trainees
• More coursework specific to informatics and other
  relevant topics
• There is now a knowledge base of medical
  informatics that trainees should know
• Other topics include project management, health
  care system, research methodology

10
What I could have beenexposed to (cont.)

• More real world experience
• Hands-on experience in an operational setting
• Academic milieu
• Regular research conference
• Operation and politics of academic medicine

11
In all, I am grateful to

• NLM for funding my fellowship training
• Bob Greenes for enabling my initial development
  in the field
• Bob Beck for hiring me into my first job
• David Hickam (OHSU internist) for mentoring me in
  research program development
• Lesley Hallick (OHSU provost) for mentoring me in
  development of academic leadership skills