What Is Health Informatics?
According to new federal laws, health care providers must manage patient records in electronic form and on a secure network. Due to these requirements, those who specialize in health informatics are in high demand. Health informatics is a term that describes an activity related to the merger of information technology and healthcare documentation.
The Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine describes health informatics as the interdisciplinary study of the design, development, adoption and application of IT-based innovations in healthcare services delivery, management and planning.
Where Can It Be Found And Who Uses It?
Health informatics can be found anywhere you find health information being created, communicated, shared, stored and used. Basically, health data is created every time a medical provider takes a patient history. The health information generated by patient data is used by medical staff involved in patient care in order to support decision making and build best practices. It is also used by staff who work with insurance companies, chief executive officers who make organizational decisions, clinical researchers and public health administrators.
Health Informatics Job Titles and Responsibilities
Job titles and responsibilities can vary from setting to setting. As a health informatics consultant, you will allow healthcare facilities to meet federal mandates while keeping employment overhead costs low. You may also be brought in to complete a wide variety of tasks, including updating networks, installing software, monitoring systems and troubleshooting and training teams.
A health informatics director is an executive level leader who combines technology knowledge with people skills in order to integrate and organize the flow of data across different divisions. In this role, you are responsible for training teams on new technology; meeting with stakeholders and constituents such as physicians, nurses and pharmacy staff to roll out technological protocol changes; and recording, analyzing and mitigating technology issues and challenges.
If you become a chief medical information officer, you are responsible for the effective and efficient flow of information and construction of IT systems to support high quality patient care across multiple information systems. Job responsibilities include conducting data analytics to improve IT infrastructure; participating on a variety of IT governance boards; designing and applying software applications and training software development teams.
A nurse informatics specialist understands the importance of efficient and effective patient care plans. Various healthcare entities are actively seeking nurses interested in technology for emerging health informatics jobs. Working directly with other nurses and healthcare providers, a nursing health informatics specialist trains other nurses on changing record-keeping protocol; works towards reducing redundancy and inaccuracy in patient care plans; and analyzes and addresses logistics of technology in direct patient care.
Other health informatics job titles may include electronic medical record keeper, workflow analyst, terminology asset manager, chief knowledge officer, clinical research associate, data integrity specialist, patient information coordinator and healthcare IT project manager.
A Blend of Disciplines in a Variety of Settings
Many people ask what disciplines are associated with health informatics. In fact, the study involves a variety of professional disciplines, including business, management, information technology and systems, medical image processing, organization and sociology, medical coding, and health information management.
Health informatics specialists must also be knowledgeable about the way in which software is constructed and linked, which is known as health information systems architecture. This architecture provides data storage and allows healthcare professionals to retrieve and use information to make informed decisions about patient care. Other areas of informatics study include security, confidentiality and ethical and legal issues associated with electronic medical records.
Health informatics professionals may work in a variety of settings, including hospitals and outpatient clinics, physician group practices, long-term care facilities, mental and behavioral health facilities, public health departments, insurance companies, academic environments, biomedical technology companies, government agencies, and as consultants.
If you are interested in a career in health informatics, consider pursuing a degree in this field.