2 New Fellows Inducted to the American Medical Informatics Association
The Expansive Role of the Electronic Medical Record
The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is an essential part of modern healthcare. In fact, it would be a challenge to identify any areas of the healthcare system untouched by the EMR.
As with most technological advances, the EMR has advantages and drawbacks. The benefits of expanded access to records and clinical decision supports, for example, are balanced against the downsides of increased time spent charting and interfaces that some find difficult to navigate.
While physician engineers led the earliest forays into electronic medical records with home-grown systems, the modern-day behemoths grew out of committee, with stakeholders focused on various functions like billing, medico-legal protections, interoperability, and more. The highly complex result has been linked to physician burnout.
Fortunately, many physicians are continuing to engage in the process, developing skills to improve their EMRs for the benefit of patients and clinicians.
Two Ob/Gyn Faculty Members Earn a Distinction in Applied Informatics
The University of Rochester Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is home to two such physicians: Dr. Mitchell Linder and Dr. Merielle Stephens, who were both recently inducted as Fellows of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).
To be selected, Fellows of the AMIA must demonstrate significant contributions to the field of informatics, including leadership qualities and a track record of applying informatics knowledge in their own professional setting. A total of 80 individuals were admitted as Fellows in 2024.
Q&A with the Inductees
I asked Drs. Linder and Stephens about their achievement and interest in medical informatics:
Why did you apply to become a Fellow of the AMIA?
Dr. Linder: To allow for better recognition of this sub-specialty.
Dr. Stephens: Similarly, I think recognition of this subspecialty and the work I'm really passionate about is important.
What draws you to informatics overall?
Dr. Linder: I signed up for a career in medicine to help people. Once here, I realized that it's not only the patients that need help. Informatics allows me to combine my problem-solving skills and my enjoyment of technology, all while helping my colleagues.
Dr. Stephens: I love the ability to help people do the right thing. For example, to let the computer handle the straight-forward decisions (sometimes better than we do), so we can save our energy for the more nuanced ones. Also, I'm really energized by the idea that I can potentially impact all the patients we care for with seemingly small changes.
What are some examples of challenges you’ve applied informatics to solve?
Dr. Linder: Scheduling inductions of labor, streamlining intake information through MyChart, and using AI to help providers chart.
Dr. Stephens: Updating the postpartum hemorrhage risk assessment tool, supporting surgical scheduling, ensuring patients’ cervical cancer screenings are triaged appropriately, and improving patient education materials through MyChart.
What are some of your future plans related to informatics?
Dr. Linder: I'd love to implement a round of provider-to-provider optimization sessions to help people feel comfortable in the system and navigate it with greater ease.
Dr. Stephens: I'm focused on ways the EHR can help to standardize care and remove unnecessary variation, which is really an area where informatics and quality improvement sciences intersect. Sometimes, this is as simple as well-designed order set or note template, and sometimes it's a lot bigger than that. I always have my eye on the next project that fits this mold.
Why is informatics important?
Dr. Linder: If there weren't clinical informaticists, changes would happen to the system without the necessary input from people who work in the patient care environment, which can cause a surprising amount of chaos.
Dr. Stephens: How we engage with the EHR on a day-to-day basis is of fundamental importance to the care we provide, clinician wellbeing, and the healthcare system overall. There is enormous opportunity to positively impact each of those areas with informatics.