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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(01): 205-214
DOI: 10.1055/a-2446-0515
Research Article

Building Bridges: Fostering Collaborative Education in Training Dental Informaticians

Grace Gomez Felix Gomez
1   Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Informatics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI), Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Jason M. Mao
1   Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Informatics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI), Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
3   Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Thankam P. Thyvalikakath
1   Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Informatics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI), Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
,
Shuning Li 
1   Department of Dental Public Health and Dental Informatics, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
2   Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI), Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
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Abstract

Background Dental informatics (DI) is an emerging discipline. Although the accreditation agency governing dental education programs asserts the importance of informatics as foundational knowledge, no well-defined DI courses currently exist within the standard predoctoral dental curriculum. There is a nationwide lack of DI academic programs. This training gap is due to a lack of qualified dental informaticians to impart knowledge on DI.

Objective This paper aims to introduce a novel conceptual framework for an interdisciplinary DI program in preparing students to become dental informaticians.

Methods In 2023, we developed a standalone graduate certificate program in DI at Indiana University (IU) School of Dentistry (IUSD) in collaboration with IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering and IU Fairbanks School of Public Health. Feedback was collected through online surveys to assess course quality from students who took Introduction to Health Information in Dentistry. Feedback was analyzed qualitatively, utilizing a thematic analysis approach. Common responses relevant to DI education were grouped into themes.

Results Five major themes emerged during our analysis of the students' feedback: foundational knowledge and skills; experiential learning: learning by doing; access to resources and working on clinical information systems; health promotion through team-based learning; and retention of knowledge assessment and application. A conceptual framework was formulated through these themes as a guideline for future program improvement. This interdisciplinary educational program framework showed how students and faculty from various disciplines could collaborate, learn from each other, and bring in expertise from different domains. The collaboration happens in clinical, laboratory, and virtual settings to acquire hands-on learning through practice and research projects.

Conclusion The developed conceptual framework aligns with the interdisciplinary nature of DI. It can potentially be adopted by other interdisciplinary informatics programs in health and non-health care disciplines.

Keywords

dental informatics - experiential learning - interdisciplinary - accreditation standards - conceptual framework

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

The study was performed in compliance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and was reviewed and approved as exempt by the IU Institutional Review Board (no.: 22061).


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 27 March 2024

Accepted: 15 October 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
23 October 2024

Article published online:
05 March 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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