The College of American Pathologists (CAP), Association of Pathology Chairs (APC), and the Association for Pathology Informatics (API) have announced the launch of a new graduate medical education clinical informatics curriculum—Pathology Informatics Essentials for Residents (PIER). The organizations refer to the widespread adoption of electronic health records due to Meaningful Use, and the increasing need for pathologists to be fluent in clinical informatics, in asserting the need for such a curriculum.
Jointly developed by the three organizations, PIER presents informatics topics identified by leading experts in the field. It offers key training elements for residency program directors and faculty to implement informatics training, while meeting the milestone requirements outlined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
PIER is designed for all pathology residents—those specializing in anatomic or clinical pathology or both. The curriculum exposes residents to information technology in pathology as they participate in their anatomic and/or clinical pathology rotations and residency activities related to management; quality assurance and control; and regulatory and accreditation issues; as well as the daily flow of information into and out of the laboratory and the proper utilization of that information. Each topic includes key outcomes mapped to pathology informatics ACGME milestone levels.
“Today’s healthcare environment calls for pathologists with competencies in clinical informatics to manage technology advances for the diagnostic management of patient care,” says CAP President Gene N. Herbek, MD, FCAP. “PIER addresses this education and workforce need.”
“Training pathology residents in clinical informatics is ‘a must’ to build the skills required now and in the future,” says APC President-Elect Donald S. Karcher, MD. “We designed PIER with the residency programs in mind and have created a flexible curriculum, which can be integrated throughout residency training.” Learn more by reading the PIER Instructional Resource Guide.
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