[rninformatics]

HEY VA! HAVE YOU HEARD? March 27, 2008

Information technology training is an important part of many VA health
care jobs. Employees in all health domains - physicians, nurses, IT
developers and health information managers - should "absolutely consider
retraining themselves as either an informaticist or a health IT
professional," after first building on their core strength, said Linda
Fischetti, acting chief health informatics officer for the Veterans
Health Administration. "We need health IT skill sets more than ever,"
she said. Fischetti is a nurse with a master's degree in informatics.

Brian Sauer, a VA research scientist in Salt Lake City with a doctorate
in pharmacal epidemiology, completed a VA fellowship in 2006 while
earning a master's degree in medical informatics from the University of
Utah . Sauer works at a VA research center whose mission is improving
clinical care by developing computerized decision-making tools that help
health care providers make better decisions when prescribing drugs or
ordering lab tests to monitor drug therapy. Medical informatics
fellowships, through VA's Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence
Based Practice, are available to physicians, dentists and postdoctoral
health professionals.

"This fellowship can work for any profession ... if they see a real need
for improvement in their information structure within their hospital or
clinic, and they're a proactive individual," said Sauer. For more
information on the fellowship program go to

http://www.va.gov/oaa/specialfellows...tics.asp?p=3D8