Tackling the Data Literacy Gap in Medicine, or: Should Physicians Learn How to Code

Needs Statement

Physician informaticists, nurse informaticists, data analysts, data programmers, developers of health information technology, informatics technicians, and healthcare practitioners and trainees need to receive regular updates on the role of informatics in healthcare and recent advances in the field. The series aims to review current methods for using large sets of healthcare data to solve clinical problems and to support quality patient care. The series also aims to demonstrate how to integrate findings across health systems, synthesize proposed plans for quality improvements, and use such tools as geomapping to better delineate health problems within communities.

Educational Objectives

At the conclusion of the session, the participants should be able to:

• Define data literacy and discuss the impact that data literacy gap can have in medical education.
• Review the term reproducibility and describe some key features of a reproducible workflow for data analysis.
• Recognize the impact computational documents have and cite some benefits of using a computational document as a framework for teaching data analysis skills.
• List two teaching strategies that can be employed to improve a novice data skills curriculum.

Target Audience

Accreditation/Credit Designation

Baylor College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Baylor College of Medicine designates this enduring material activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Policy

Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education (CME) for physicians. BCM is committed to sponsoring CE activities that are scientifically based, accurate, current, and objectively presented.

In accordance with the ACCME Standards for Commercial Support, BCM has implemented a mechanism requiring everyone in a position to control the content of an educational activity (i.e., directors, planning committee members, faculty) to disclose any relevant financial relationships with commercial interests (drug/device companies) and manage/resolve any conflicts of interest prior to the activity. Individuals must disclose to participants the existence or non-existence of financial relationships at the time of the activity or within 24 months prior.

In addition, BCM has requested activity faculty/presenters to disclose to participants any unlabeled use or investigational use of pharmaceutical/device products; to use scientific or generic names (not trade names) in referring to products; and, if necessary to use a trade name, to use the names of similar products or those within a class. Faculty/presenters have also been requested to adhere to the ACCME's validation of clinical content statements.

BCM does not view the existence of financial relationships with commercial interests as implying bias or decreasing the value of a presentation. It is up to participants to determine whether the relationships influence the activity faculty with regard to exposition or conclusions. If at any time during this activity you feel that there has been commercial/promotional bias, notify the Activity Director or Activity Coordinator. Please answer the questions about balance and objectivity in the activity evaluation candidly.

All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.