Medical Informatics is a rapidly growing field in healthcare which involves the use of computer technology to improve healthcare. After a brief introduction to the overall field of medical informatics through review of the literature, this rotation will focus primarily on clinical informatics. Clinical informatics is the sub-field of medical informatics concerned with how computer technology affects clinical care. Examples of clinical informatics topics include electronic medical records, clinical decision support, and personal health records.

Daily activities throughout the elective include shadowing the Chief Medical Informatics Officer of MetroHealth at administrative meetings and at his clinics. The focus of clinic will be the application of informatics to the outpatient clinician workflow.  This rotation does not involve the student in direct patient care.

Requirements: Students participating in the 2-week elective will complete a medical informatics presentation, and those on the 4-week rotation will complete a medical informatics project.

Prerequisites: Open to any third or fourth year medical student who has completed at least one clinical rotation.

Scheduling: Medical students interested in the medical informatics elective should contact Dr. David Kaelber (david.kaelber@case.edu; 216-409-0538) at least 2 weeks before they would like to start the rotation. Additionally, all electives at MetroHealth should register with Kathi Longley (klongley@metrohealth.org; 216-778-5369).

MetroHealth security clearance and computer network access should be arranged prior to the rotation.