Creating an Informatics Experience for Premedical Undergraduate Students: A Case Report

Fundamental knowledge and skills in biomedical and health informatics (BMHI) are critical for the next generation of healthcare professionals. Implementing new programs, especially those targeted toward undergraduate students who are studying to become physicians, must be flexible and fit in an already busy schedule. Here, we share our experience and approach at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as we created an informatics experience for pre-medical and pre-healthcare students in the Medical Sciences Baccalaureate Program (MSBP).To create an informatics experience that supports development of students while allowing them to achieve their personalized educational goals, three strategies were considered to maximize benefit to students and ensure easy implementation of this program: (1) Synergy with an already busy schedule, (2) modularity of course and experiential offerings, and (3) measurable outcomes that are based on core competencies of medical informatics.By utilizing existing course offerings and experiential learning programs, our team created new informatics-focused research experiences and further created an undergraduate certificate that provides students with a structured yet personalized path to train on medical informatics. Specifically, the informatics experience included two research courses, three summer programs, 1 year-long program, and targeted three presentation venues.This article chronicles the 5-year effort of our team to create an informatics experience for pre-medical students in the MSBP. We hope that other pre-medical programs can learn from our achievement to create their own informatics experience and tailor it to the needs of their students and resources of their institution.