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
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
Polycom Viewstations• IP-based• Transmission over Internet2Other cameras, microphones, PCs
Internet2
OHSU Theater receiving transmission from Pitt
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