Development and Validation of a Health Information Technology Curriculum: Toward More Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) initiative of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the United States was intended to promote meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). This article reports on a comprehensive, three-stage model employed to develop, validate, and facilitate regional implementation of a health care information technology curriculum for workforce development as part of that coordinated national effort. Building on needs assessed at the national level, the the stages involved: (a) curriculum design, (b) assuring quality of curricular products through validation and revision, and (c) design of a systems-based, curriculum implementation and evaluation protocol. The objective of the project was to prepare health care professionals with competencies necessary to implement EHRs meaningfully, thereby improving patient care. We produced content-validated and usable versions of curriculum goal frameworks, student learning outcomes, instructional materials, multiple-choice tests, and performance assessments for 40 HITECH units across four curriculum components: (a) Public Health IT, (b) Vendor Specific Systems, (c) Usability and Human Factors, and (d) Training and Instructional Design. The three-stage approach is an innovative, replicable, and stakeholder-oriented method that fills a gap in the health care literature for curriculum design.