Development and evaluation of an electronic health record configuration and customization laboratory course for clinical informatics students.
OBJECTIVE
There is a need for informatics educational programs to develop laboratory courses that facilitate hands-on access to an EHR, and allow students to learn and evaluate functionality and configuration options. This is particularly relevant given the diversity of backgrounds of informatics students.


METHODS
We implemented an EHR laboratory course that allowed students to explore an EHR in both inpatient and outpatient clinical environments. The course focused on specific elements of the EHR including order set development, customization, clinical decision support, ancillary services, and billing and coding functionality. Students were surveyed at the end of the course for their satisfaction with the learning experience.


CONCLUSIONS
We detailed challenges as well as lessons learned after analyzing student evaluations of this course. Features that promote the successful offering of an online EHR course, include (1) using more than one EHR to allow students to compare functionalities, (2) ensuring appropriate course calibration, (3) countering issues specific to EHR usability, and (4) fostering a fertile environment for rich online conversations are discussed.
Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Vishnu
V
Mohan
William R
WR
Hersh
D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D003479:Curriculum; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007753:Laboratories / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009922:Oregon; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*