Informatics Fellowship

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/programs/SF_MedicalInformatics.asp?p=3D8