AMIA Clinical Informatics Board Review Course Announced

This week, the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) released the details of the Clinical Informatics Board Review Course (CIBRC), for which I will serving as Course Director. I am excited to see this come to fruition, and look forward not only to these course offerings but also the expansion of the program as other certifications in informatics for non-physicians become reality in the years ahead.

The course will be offered four times in person before the first offering of the certification exam in October. There will also be an online version of the course that can be accessed in tandem with the live courses or taken alone. A question bank of practice questions will also be made available. The four offerings of the course will be:

• April 12-14 - Bethesda, MD (registration has opened for this course and will soon be available for the others)
• June 7-9 - Philadelphia, PA
• August 9-11 - Portland, OR (I am thrilled to have one offering of the course in my own city!)
• September 7-9 - Rosemont (Chicago), IL

The details of the course are provided on the AMIA Web site:

• Overview of the course
• Course Design
• Faculty
• Frequently asked questions
• History of the course and subspecialty

One question those contemplating pursuing the certification exam might ask is whether this review course is the best preparation for them. I believe the course will be best for those already familiar with the content of the field. The review course material will necessary be at a high level, aiming to provide a broad overview of what is on the exam so that the potential exam candidate can get the big picture and determine where they need to shore up their knowledge.

For those with less knowledge of the field, a better approach might be to start with a course that more fundamentally builds their knowledge base. The 10x10 ("ten by ten") course is option, although even it is only a single course and may not be enough for those with little or no formal training in the field. The next Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) offering of its 10x10 course runs from April through July; registration is available on the AMIA Web site. For those individuals desiring more training, a more comprehensive course of study leading to a Graduate Certificate or master's degree may be a better option. AMIA has a database of educational programs, which includes our program at OHSU.

The rollout of the course is an exciting event. For convenience, here is an index to some of my important previous postings on the clinical informatics subspecialty:

• Eligibility for the subspecialty (January, 2013)
• Some challenges for building capacity of the subspecialty (September, 2012)
• Mapping the OHSU informatics program content to the core content (July, 2012)

For those who are not physicians and desire certification in informatics, do not despair! AMIA and others are at work developing plans for certification of non-physicians (as well as physicians who not eligible for the board certification, which requires an active primary specialty certification). In the meantime, I look forward to seeing those who are eligible in one of the course offerings!