Ahead of the Curve: Health Informatics Specialist

December 11, 2008 RSS Feed Print

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Health Informatics Specialist/Manager. "The job market for health informatics people is absolutely out of sight," exclaims Merida Johns, founding director of the graduate program in health informatics at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. And it's no surprise: Hospitals, insurers, and regional collaboratives are switching to electronic medical records. Nurses and doctors, urged to do more evidence-based medicine, are using computerized expert systems to guide their diagnoses and treatment recommendations. Healthcare providers also are collecting more data to evaluate quality of care.

Health informatics is an umbrella term for a range of careers. Not surprisingly, there are many opportunities for techies, but ample options exist for people persons. For example, as a health information systems analyst, you speak with physicians, nurses, and others to identify their needs and develop a blueprint to hand to the programmers for implementation. If you get a bachelor's in health information management or a bachelor's in anything plus a master's in health information management, you're likely to have a good, secure job waiting that will play a crucial role in improving the quality of American healthcare.

Learn more:

American Medical Informatics Organization

American Health Information Management Association. It lists all 200 accredited training programs. Merida Johns recommends Ohio State University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Utah, the University of Missouri-Columbia, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Stanford University, the University of Oregon Medical Center, and the University of Washington.

Wikipedia entry on health informatics

Health Information Management Technology: An Applied Approach, 2nd Edition, edited by Merida Johns

Tags:: medical records,; careers

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This is a very good article, but I would like to point out that contrary to what Merida Johns says above, there is no such thing as "University of Oregon Medical Center." Rather, the name of our institution, which is a leader in the informatics field, is Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). More information about our training opportunities for those interested in the field can be found at:
http://www.ohsu.edu/dmice/
As the Director of Biomedical Informatics Educational Programs at OHSU, I am pleased to see informatics being listed as an "ahead of the curve" career. I would, however, like to add some perspective to the article.
First, the terminology of this field can be confusing. While some may use the term "health informatics," others use the broader "biomedical and health informatics." I recently published a paper that reviewed and organized all of the terminology in this field, which can be accessed at:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/9/24/
I have also created a web page, "What is Biomedical and Health Informatics?," which points to may resources as well as has a two-hour Flash lecture that provides an overview of the field and can be accessed at:
http://www.billhersh.info/whatis/
I also keep a blog called The Informatics Professor, which addresses a variety of issues related to informatics workforce and education and is at:
http://informaticsprofessor.blogspot.com/
Finally, there are many training opportunities in the informatics field, not all of which require enrollment in a degree program. One of these is the AMIA 10x10 course, the next offering of which begins in July, 2009:
http://www.amia.org/10x10/partners/ohsu/

Bill Hersh of OR

What are you talking about KERI...? I don't see any spam here. OHSU and Bill Hersh are real. I'm researching this career for a transfer degree, and I live in Portland so you obviously are confused, or whatever spam you are refering to has been removed.

Leah of OR 1:03AM November 08, 2011

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