Clinical Informatics Externship Program: Educating Clinical Nurses in the Field of Nursing Informatics

Purpose: The clinical informatics externship program is intended for clinical nurses interested in learning more about or pursuing a career in nursing informatics. The program provides an opportunity to learn in a real-world work environment, earn CNE credits, and develop professional relationships with their clinical informatics colleagues.

Background/significance: Clinical nurses typically have limited exposure to informatics unless they have received formal education for it or are involved in network councils. This program provides them with valuable insight into how changes are implemented in the network and the crucial role of clinical informaticists in driving those changes. Moreover, they are given the opportunity to work with CI mentors on a project aimed at resolving a workflow issue that they had witnessed or encountered in their respective areas.

Methods: A total of 33 applicants applied for the third iteration of the CI externship program. Each application underwent evaluation based on completeness, clarity of responses, interest in informatics, professional development plans, identification of workflow issues, the current and organized nature of the applicant's resume, and the level of manager support. Following the evaluation, the applicants were narrowed down to six clinical nurses from different departments interventional radiology, emergency department, pediatric outpatient office, NICU, cardiovascular/tele unit, and ICU.

The externs participated in both virtual and in-person education sessions, covering topics such as clinical informatics theory and applications. This included discussions about the clinical informaticist role, hardware and software implementation, time management, security and privacy, innovation, project management, downtime, system development, and professional development. They gained insight into the individual journeys of clinical informaticists in the department and the projects with which they were involved. Additionally, they had the opportunity to hear from speakers from the IT and medical informatics departments with which CI collaborates.

Results: The CI externs each worked on projects with their mentors and presented them to the CI team on the last day. Some were able to implement changes on their unit, while others presented on proposed changes that were not approved by network informatics committees. The externs submitted anonymous evaluations at the end of each day to help improve the program. At the conclusion of the program, they took part in an exit survey where they shared their experiences, the program's strengths and weaknesses, and overall thoughts. All six externs reported gaining a better understanding of the field after attending the program, and they indicated that they were "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to recommend the program to others.

Conclusions/implications: The externship immersed dedicated nurses in an intensive journey of professional growth. Collaborating closely with seasoned clinical informaticist mentors, they undertook projects aimed at optimizing electronic health records and streamlining clinical workflows. The program empowered them to learn about the process of project implementations and the role of clinical informaticists throughout them.