The decision of beginning a health informatics program comes with the opportunity of diving into a pool of interesting jobs. Approximately 70,000 health informatics specialists are needed in the U.S. and apparently, positions are difficult to fill. However, throughout the years, health informatics has constantly gained in employment popularity.
But what exactly are certain scopes of tasks that a person has completed their health informatics program can expect to be qualified for? Here are four types of jobs graduates are eligible to apply for.
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Electronic Medical Record Keeper
The position of an electronic medical record keeper is up-and-coming. One has to be knowledgeable about the latest software and programs used by healthcare facilities. The main task is to responsibly fill in patient data into the system and applications to enable electronic media reports. Therefore, meetings with healthcare staff are held. Additionally, he or she ensures that information about patients is only passed on to eligible personnel. Furthermore, an electronic medical record keeper does research and collects information on relevant topics for medical studies.
Health Informatics Director
A health informatics director performs a leading role. Knowledge about both technology and managing people are required and cope with tasks includes the training of apprentices and staff on new technology. Apart from that, a health informatics director holds meetings with stakeholders including pharmacy and other healthcare staff such as physicians. Usually, a master’s degree is a precondition for these positions. Yet, having a bachelor’s degree in health informatics as well as a few years of work experience can be sufficient. The University of Illinois in Chicago is one of the leading institutions for a health informatics degree online.
Chief Medical Information Officer
This is a very multi-faceted role as tasks varies often depending on the project. Overall, the function of chief medical information officers is to ensure that IT systems are running smoothly and without disruption, so patient data can be input and transferred to other systems if needed. Data will be conducted and analyzed and they are oftentimes involved in the designing and testing of software applications.
Nursing Informatics Specialist
In the U.S., nursing is among the top professions as it offers many specialization opportunities. Nursing informatics specialists have high responsibility as they need to have strong knowledge about patients’ course of a disease and thus oversee data and information. This position requires assisting patients in decision-making regarding rehab possibilities, intake of medicine, inter alia. To ensure appropriate support, another responsibility of a nursing informatics specialist is the constant updating of the information technology system so the healthcare specialists, as well as the patients themselves, have access to the latest information.
Striving for various career opportunities in the health sector, a degree in health informatics provides a solid ground. It offers the knowledge and practical skills to carry out a variety of jobs that come with a high level of responsibility. The healthcare sector is ever-growing and ever-changing and with it comes new opportunities for those having obtained a health informatics degree.
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