Feds Release Health IT Curricula

In an effort to expand health IT workforce training, the federal government is releasing health IT workforce training curricula to the public at no cost.

A health IT training consortium of 82 community colleges has used the classroom material for the past year. Now, institutions of higher education around the world will have access to the curricula, as will health IT Regional Extension Centers and health care institutions that deliver in-house training.

Instructors use the 20 curriculum components to train workers for six key health IT roles identified last year by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT: practice workflow and information management redesign specialist, clinician/practitioner consultant, implementation support specialist, implementation manager, technical/software support staff, and trainer.

The components "are intended to become the building blocks of health IT courses at community colleges and universities," ONC says in a news release.

Each component includes several units that can be modified and combined depending on instructional needs, ONC says. The components include slide-based lectures with audio narration and transcripts, learning activities, self-assessment questions and instructor manuals. A hands-on lab is available for three of the components.

The ONC Curriculum Development Centers Program paid for the release. Last year the program awarded $10 million in grant funding to five universities for development of curriculum and instructional materials intended to enhance community-college workforce training programs.

Oregon Health and Science University was designated the National Training and Dissemination Center for the program. The other four schools are the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University and Duke University.