Benefits of Health Care Informatics, graduate certificate

[Bearmanbear]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Wondering if doing a sort-of post-baccalaureate program to receive a certificate (not certification) in Health Care Informatics holds any weight or benefit into getting accepted into a medical school? From what little I've read its a somewhat new area of focus/study and has yet to really evolve. Not a lot of information out there on this particular subject, as far as medical applications go.
Thinking of graduating early with a general biology degree, coming back the following year to finish up with my last med school requirements (just physics 1 and 2, +labs; 8 credits) along with the ~15 credits (9 per semester or so) to receive the certificate and obviously having applied to medical schools the following summer.
This route wouldn't save me anytime, I'm a non-traditional student, and have the credits to graduate with a general biology degree next year (I'm in the molecular route, same amount of time).

SO:

A) graduate next year, with general bachelor in biology (minus the physics 1 and 2 I still need for medical school reqs), but come back the following year to finish physics and get the certificate (means to an end)
B) Stay on the current molecular track, graduate in two years, having finished all requirements and skip the certificate entirely

Not really in a hurry to graduate per se, but just playing with the idea. Any thoughts or ideas? Route A would require me to "cram" a bit more for my MCAT study, essentially teaching myself the physics req'd for the MCAT. However, Route A would also save me more money. Neither option seems like more or less work though in total, just trying to get any thoughts outside my own or opinions? What would you chose? Thanks

EDIT: Also not set on either MD or DO route, if that makes any sort of difference.

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

The field of health care informatics is going to be very useful for some physicians and physician scientists. But I doubt the certificate on its own will help you get into medical school. It is what you do with it that matters. If you are indeed talented and interested in informatics, then you will need to demonstrate that talent and interest beyond just the certificate. You will have to weave that into your story of what you have done previously, what you do in the next couple of years, and what you ultimately want to do.

At this point, you should be following the advice of the ADCOMS and other advisors on this site to make sure your application is as strong as it can be. That means taking challenging courses that interest you, doing well in them, and studying to do as well as you can on the MCATs. Only do the informatics certificate if that is something you can do while doing the other things too. And many of my colleagues that do informatics did not learn the field until medical school or beyond. There are even new fellowships in informatics - to be done after residency.

 

[Ad2b]

Healthcare informatics is useful in many areas:

DoDefense (all branches)
NIH
CDC
independent hospitals/clinics/research entities (pharma, med device, etc.)

Knowing the systems, the data that gets stored in the systems and how, managing the data and reporting on it (primarily Tableau seems to be the "in" tool right now) is a great background to have...

But, as other said, not for med school acceptance.

IMO, if it's something that interests you, you should do it. Absolutely, 100% do it. Because more knowledge > less and at some point, after med school and residency and practicing, you may decide to get more into the management side of things where the degree will help you (likely the various audits hospitals/clinics have to go through and reporting they have to provide to various reg agencies)