Reducing Health Disparities Through Informatics Many studies have documented that underserved populations such as racial and ethnic minorities, women and children, those with lower socioeconomic status, and persons with HIV/AIDS are significantly less likely than others to receive care that is consistent with the best health care evidence. The overarching premise of the Reducing Health Disparities Through !informatics (RHeaDI) research training program is that information technology and informatics processes are essential components of an infrastructure to reduce health disparities and to facilitate evidence-based practice in the underserved. The School of Nursing and Department of Medical Informatics at Columbia University are uniquely positioned to offer interdisciplinary research training for nurses on this crucial topic. Through RHeaDI, we propose to train nurses in informatics at predoctoral and postdoctoral levels. At the predoctoral level, nurses (2 in Year 1 with an additional trainee added in Years 2 and 3) will be supported to earn either a DNSc with a focus on the use of information technology and processes to advance nursing knowledge development or a PhD in Medical Informatics aimed at developing new informatics knowledge. Common across both programs is a series of courses on vulnerable populations, theory, and research methods from the School of Nursing doctoral curriculum and informatics courses taught by faculty from the School of Nursing and Department of Medical Informatics. Postdoctoral nurse trainees (2 per year) will receive research training tailored to individual interests within the context of the program aims. The program length is 4-5 years for predoctoral trainees and 2-3 years for postdoctoral trainees.
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