Clinical Informatics Fellowship

[pathstudent]

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I saw that this is an official ABP supspecialty. There hasn't been a board exam in it yet.

Anyone heard of anyone doing it?

 

[LADoc00]

I saw that this is an official ABP supspecialty. There hasn't been a board exam in it yet.

Anyone heard of anyone doing it?

I literally spit my Diet Pepsi out when I read your post...

I assume you are posting this to openly mock the ABP.

Think about, why the hell would anyone do a medical informatics "fellowship"? What would be your rotations on said "fellowship"? Playing Donkey Kong? Programming your own games in visual basic? Maybe interspersed with watching the Social Network and WarGames on Netflix?

There are people who went to school to do medical informatics, they are called "computer scientists" and shockingly dont need to spend 4 years in medical school and another 4 in residency to get paid the 40-50 bucks an hour they make code monkey'ing up crap like Orchard Software or Meditech.

 

[Circumflex]

I know U of Michigan, Pittsburgh, and a Harvard program (plus a few others) have the fellowship. I have heard that it involves things such as developing pattern recognition and automated analysis software and coupling that with slide-scanning capabilities. I'm sure there is more to it, but it is very academic/partnering with industry (like GE).

 

[Gavanshir]

Wondering if any new information as surfaced in regards to this field.

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

I know 2 individuals who have enrolled in informatics fellowships. First guy was a resident from the NIH who did not plan on practicing pathology and had a goal of marketing himself to IT companies trying to get in on the business side of the pathology informatics game as a consultant/vice president type. Second guy was a fellow resident, and I honestly can't fathom how the fellowship will serve him as a practicing pathologist.

 

[Dr.Tao]

Participating on a sequencing tumor board seems legitimate goal for a Pathologist trained in Informatics:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476478/pdf/nihms-413659.pdf

 

[LADoc00]

Hooking up a with a hot blonde is a "legitimate goal" when hitting a bar in the Marina in San Fran but that doesnt make it a career.

Dont confuse the 2.

 

[Dr.Tao]

Hooking up a with a hot blonde is a "legitimate goal" when hitting a bar in the Marina in San Fran but that doesnt make it a career.

Dont confuse the 2.

I guess I'm fortunate to have a thriving family business to "fall back" on in case the sequencing tumor board thing doesn't pan out.

BTW in today's world, almost every career path is a crap shoot unless you're born into wealth. But those who work for themselves seem to do okay. Wouldn't you agree?

 

[oldfatman]

I literally spit my Diet Pepsi out when I read your post...

I assume you are posting this to openly mock the ABP.

Think about, why the hell would anyone do a medical informatics "fellowship"? What would be your rotations on said "fellowship"? Playing Donkey Kong? Programming your own games in visual basic? Maybe interspersed with watching the Social Network and WarGames on Netflix?

There are people who went to school to do medical informatics, they are called "computer scientists" and shockingly dont need to spend 4 years in medical school and another 4 in residency to get paid the 40-50 bucks an hour they make code monkey'ing up crap like Orchard Software or Meditech.

If you find yourself being sucked into medical directorship, which suspiciously resembles chief residency, a few courses through AMIA will help you, but a full 2 year clinical informatics fellowship is a waste of time.

 

[LADoc00]

I guess I'm fortunate to have a thriving family business to "fall back" on in case the sequencing tumor board thing doesn't pan out.

BTW in today's world, almost every career path is a crap shoot unless you're born into wealth. But those who work for themselves seem to do okay. Wouldn't you agree?

Yes and no. If I was to say after medical school and residency and fellowship, "you know what now Im going to play Magic the Gathering professionally" that would be a huge crapshoot. While saying you are going to service work on a career path at a local VA hospital, perhaps less of a crap shoot.

So yes I agree Tao. But there is a wide range of crap shoots and this one sounds like a total dog.

 

[BlondeDocteur]

I know one guy who wants to do it, too. He has a CS background from undergrad and still writes a decent amount of code (don't ask me for what). He wants to get in on the digital pathology revolution, and is also interested in it from a lab management standpoint.

 

[oldfatman]

I know one guy who wants to do it, too. He has a CS background from undergrad and still writes a decent amount of code (don't ask me for what). He wants to get in on the digital pathology revolution, and is also interested in it from a lab management standpoint.

No offense, but writing code isn't exactly rocket science. The best code writers are pubescent fourteen year olds with severe acne, social ineptnesss, and a predilection for parent's basements.

 

[KluverB]

No offense, but writing code isn't exactly rocket science. The best code writers are pubescent fourteen year olds with severe acne, social ineptnesss, and a predilection for parent's basements.

So, clearly, the same people responsible for the Obamacare website?

 

[oldfatman]

So, clearly, the same people responsible for the Obamacare website?

No, the pimply pubescent programmers were ignored and the government hired college graduates for the Obamacare website.

 

[Dr.Tao]

No offense, but writing code isn't exactly rocket science. The best code writers are pubescent fourteen year olds with severe acne, social ineptnesss, and a predilection for parent's basements.

Writing code IS the easy part. Writing code THAT WORKS, not so much.
The fact is that if writing USABLE code were so easy, there would be FAR more people doing it. And at an average salary of ~$100/hour, the financial incentive is MORE than there.

Hey, maybe we can get some of these teens to go to med school and straighten out the EHR mess!

 

[KCShaw]

Yeah, having done some basement coding here and there, there's a big gap between those who can do a few things and those who can really handle significant projects you might dare to use. It's one reason why there is so much awful software out there -- everyone thinks they can do it, but few are actually any good at it. Come to think of it, the same concept could be applied to medicine. As far as this as a *boarded* fellowship, well, I don't get that. If someone wants to run a niche program or have some grant funded positions, great, have at it. But really, boarded?