New important education initiative to help train pathology residents in clinical informatics

The widespread adoption of the electronic health record (EHR), spurred in large part by meaningful use and related federal programs, is changing the way health care providers interact with laboratory information. Now, more than ever, pathologists need to be well-versed in the field of clinical informatics in order to deliver high quality and cost-effective patient care.

To address the educational needs of pathologists in this evolving health care landscape, the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Association of Pathology Chairs (APC), and the Association for Pathology Informatics (API), announced today the launch of a new graduate medical education clinical informatics curriculum—Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents (PIER)—at the APC annual meeting.

"The CAP is proud to collaborate with APC and API on this important education initiative to help train pathology residents in clinical informatics," said CAP President Gene N. Herbek, MD, FCAP. "Today's health care environment calls for pathologists with competencies in clinical informatics to manage technology advances for the diagnostic management of patient care. PIER addresses this education and workforce need."

Jointly developed by the three organizations, PIER presents informatics topics identified by leading experts in the field. It offers key training elements for residency program directors and faculty to implement informatics training, while meeting the milestone requirements outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Interested residency programs can find details about PIER on the APC's website at apcprods.org/PIER.

"Training pathology residents in clinical informatics is 'a must' to build the skills required now and in the future," said APC President-Elect Donald S. Karcher, MD, one of the leaders overseeing the development of PIER and chairman of the Department of Pathology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "We designed PIER with the residency programs in mind and have created a flexible curriculum, which can be integrated throughout residency training."

Theory and Practice
PIER is designed for all pathology residents—those specializing in anatomic or clinical pathology or both. The curriculum exposes residents to information technology in pathology as they participate in their anatomic and/or clinical pathology rotations and residency activities related to management; quality assurance and control; and regulatory and accreditation issues; as well as the daily flow of information into and out of the laboratory and the proper utilization of that information. Each topic includes key outcomes mapped to pathology informatics ACGME milestone levels.

"PIER serves as a research-based instructional resource," said Liron Pantanowitz, MD, API immediate past president, co-leader of the working group developing PIER, and director of the Pathology Informatics Fellowship Program and associate director of the Pathology Informatics Division at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. "We plan to update PIER as technology advances to ensure residents receive the most current knowledge in this field."

The three organizations designed PIER to help residency programs prepare their residents for the future of the specialty.

"Information management will continue to play a crucial role in pathology," said Walter Henricks, MD, FCAP, medical director of Pathology Informatics at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and co-leader of the PIER working group. "By developing PIER, we are empowering pathologists in clinical informatics with the knowledge and skill sets necessary to meet the demands of the current and future health care environment."