Nursing Informatics "Fellowship": An Innovative Interprofessional Education Approach to Improve Practical Experiences among Army Nursing Graduates  

Background: The widespread implementation of the electronic health record (EHR) systems and utilization of connected health information technologies in both the military and private-sector health systems are catalyzing greater demands for a trained and proficient health informatics workforce, particularly within nursing informatics (NI). While academic graduate NI programs provide a solid foundation in clinical nursing informatics knowledge to answer this increased demand, there is a lack of relevant military health system (MHS) practical experience to support army NI graduates who have difficulty executing their newly acquired skills while attempting to navigate through complex MHS systems and processes. As NI graduate programs migrate away from the traditional classroom instruction to an all virtual/online experience, this limits opportunities for prospective army nurses to gain valuable practical experiences.

Purpose: To evaluate a pilot program allowing selected army nurses to partner with an established Department of Defense Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-certified clinical informatics program for critical hands-on informatics experience. Specific aims include: 1) compare practical experiences between nurses who participate in this pilot vs. a traditional NI program and 2) examine interprofessional educational suggestions.

Description: Army-funded NI graduate students accepted into an online informatics master's program will "audit" ACGME-certified clinical informatics program located at Madigan Army Medical Center. The NI student will attend lectures given by the faculty and rotate throughout the different departments.

Evaluation: The army-developed informatics role-based target proficiency level (TPL) survey will be used to examine the levels of performance for each competency. The survey will be administered at baseline, 6-month and 12-month post-graduation intervals. By using an interprofessional education approach, an enriched experience will benefit future army informatics nurses.