Health informatics specialists will be responsible for synthesizing and analyzing patient records and related data to serve the healthcare process.
These people will also work directly with electronic health records and complete various other tasks.
If you want to develop a career in the field of health informatics, this article is for you. Get all the information because you will be interested in this field’s salary and career development prospects.
Job Description
Health informatics is a sub-branch of information technology. Those working in this field will have a background in information technology and healthcare.
What Is A Health Informatics Specialist?
Health informatics professionals will work with data such as patient records or healthcare information. Specialists will use patient-related data to analyze, research, and aim to optimize the health service delivery process.
Medical informatics specialists will often also have basic healthcare knowledge.
They will combine this medical knowledge and ability to analyze data to develop more effective health information systems.
Duties and Responsibilities
Health informatics specialists collect and analyze health-related data, providing development orientation and valuable advice. In addition, experts also need to perform the following tasks:
- Implement health informatics projects to maintain databases.
- Manage health informatics programs. Train medical staff to interact with database systems and informatics programs.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to improve healthcare policies and practices.
- Make the necessary changes to keep up with advances in health informatics.
Where Do Health Informatics Specialists Work?
Health informatics professionals will work in the healthcare sector. They will work in one of the following environments:
- Service Provider Organizations: Instead of being in private hospitals and clinics, clinical informatics may work for large health systems.
- Medical device manufacturers: Blood glucose monitor manufacturers may need IT specialists to collect patient data and analyze relevant information to make their business more efficient.
- Pharmaceutical companies: Similar to medical device manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical companies need customer data. And medical informatics experts will be responsible for synthesizing and analyzing information for the company with the best development orientation.
- Commercial Insurers: Insurers need to obtain the health data of their customers for consideration of solvency. Health informatics specialists are responsible for maintaining client databases.
- Government Organizations: Government organizations also need clinical informatics experts to advise on health care policy. These organizations need specialists to process patient data and analyze health information.
Education Requirements
A clinical informatics specialist needs many years of work in the healthcare field.
At the same time, they need to know more about information technology and data statistics. If you’re looking to develop a career in this direction, here are some qualifications and experience you should consider:
Education & Training
To establish a career in health informatics, a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in healthcare, computer science, or related are also acceptable. Yet, to further develop in this field, you need to have a Master’s degree in health informatics.
Work Experience
When you graduate from university with a major in healthcare or IT, you cannot immediately become a medical informatics specialist. Instead, you’ll usually start your career as a nurse.
Those with two years of experience analyzing medical data and building data management systems will gain more preference from employers.
Certifications
In addition to a degree, certifications will further strengthen your appeal to employers. And now, RHIA and AHIMA are widely accepted in many hospitals and businesses in health informatics. Some employers may ask you to show programming languages and data statistics certifications.
Essential Skills
A medical informatics specialist will have to handle many different jobs. Therefore, in addition to information technology knowledge, those who plan to develop a career in this field need specific soft skills.
Hard skills
Clinical informatics professionals must know techniques, analytical tools, and information technology.
Computer Programmer
Some medical facilities require IT specialists to design computer programs for health care and patient information storage. So, those who do this job need to know how to apply artificial intelligence.
Data Analysis
People in health informatics jobs will work with healthcare-related data. Their main task is to analyze big data to make predictions and recommend solutions.
Healthcare IT
People working in this field need to have an understanding and ability to master healthcare information technology applications.
The most common are electronic health records, health data systems, medical devices, patient portals, and data-related regulations.
Health informatics professionals must understand the laws and regulations that apply to the data to avoid legal problems when working with user data records.
Soft Skills
To develop your career as a medical informatics specialist, you also need to practice the following soft skills:
Health informatics professionals must manage and create useful health information technology products for patients. And if they can communicate, they will be able to have excellent performance in their tasks.
In addition to communicating with patients, these professionals must communicate with IT professionals, nurses, and doctors.
Research
Experts in this field also need to research how to develop technology systems for healthcare constantly. They must continuously innovate the system to create products that bring high efficiency to the healthcare facility.
System training
In addition to developing new technologies, professionals must explain this technology to relevant people. Teaching and explaining skills will help them train their subordinates well.
Problem-solving skills
Medical informatics professionals will always face challenges. And instead of traditional problem-solving approaches, they must apply technology to provide solutions for the environment in which they work.
Management leadership ability
Senior specialists are responsible for managing teams of IT specialists to carry out a variety of strategic projects. Project and human resource management will be essential for health informatics professionals to advance in this field.
Essential Tools
Below are the most widely used tools in the field of health informatics. Anyone looking to develop a career in this field must master these tools.
Electronic health records
The electronic health record system will record the patient’s medical history.
Mastering this tool, experts will grasp essential data related to the patient’s health status and administrative information.
Referral trackers
With the monitoring system, the specialist will stay connected with the doctor during patient care. It can be an effective communication channel that every healthcare worker uses.
Computerized provider entry
Clinicians and health informatics will use Computerized Order Entry to manage treatment guidelines. This system will replace fax, telephone, and other traditional information-transfer methods.
Job Outlook
To become a medical informatics specialist, you must meet rigorous requirements regarding knowledge and skills. In return, the career prospects and salary you receive will be pretty impressive.
Health informatics and health data science has received much attention in recent years. Therefore, the career prospects in this field are excellent.
According to some studies, job demand for health information management positions will increase by 11% by 2030. This number could rise further as more hospitals use IT data to support health care assistance.
Salary
The salaries of health informatics specialists are attractive. The amount received annually will vary depending on experience and position. Yet, professionals in this field all receive much higher salaries than the average.
According to our report, the average annual salary for a health informatics specialist is $91,000. The top earners can receive up to $105,000 per year.
To improve your income and become one of the 25% highest paying health professionals, you must have years of experience in the field. Possessing a Master’s degree and specialized certifications will also bring you a higher salary.
To quickly get promoted, you will need to hone many soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving. You must pay attention to leadership skills when you want to master important health informatics projects.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Over the next few decades, the demand for health informatics professionals grew. Yet, before you decide to develop a career in this direction, refer to some pros and cons below:
- Attractive salary.
- Job demand increased.
- Work positions vary, from hospitals to pharmaceutical companies.
- Gain the skills you need to stay on top of the healthcare industry.
- Develop expertise that makes a difference in patient care.
- Always face information insecurity threats.
- May have to work more than 40 hours/per week.
- Fierce competition for the promotion
FAQs
Although it is only a tiny branch of information technology, there is still information related to medical data that you may need to learn. Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about this profession.
What are the 3 skills in health informatics?
Three essential skills in health informatics are data management, system data analysis, and research to improve or build new systems.
What are the five benefits of health informatics?
Medical informatics offers many benefits. For medical facilities, intelligently managed information will help reduce costs and increase storage efficiency.
The cooperation between doctors and patients has also improved markedly. Medical informatics protect privacy while helping improve treatment outcomes.
Does health informatics involve coding?
People working in the health informatics field need to know information technology, especially coding.
What challenges are faced with health informatics?
Some main problems that keep medical informatics from being widely adopted worldwide are the high software cost, long time training, and not all medical staff can master it.
Is health informatics complex?
Health informatics is a complex field that requires those pursuing this career to have a background in data science. In addition, you will also have to work with complex data management systems.
How does health informatics improve patient care?
Medical informatics will support patient health care. Products in this field, such as health charts, procedures, and notes, will help clinicians make fewer mistakes and care for patients more effectively.
What is the future of health informatics?
In the future, medical informatics will combine with devices that use artificial intelligence to provide accurate data in real-time. In addition, doctors can combine IoT and data to monitor and interact with patients.
Which country is best for health informatics?
The USA is the best country to study health informatics and develop a career in this field.
How long is health informatics?
Universities typically offer a four-year bachelor’s degree in health informatics. A master’s degree will take you about two years of full-time study.
How do I know if health informatics is for me?
You should only develop a career in this field if you love information technology and patient care. Interest in building technology infrastructure in the healthcare industry is also an important factor influencing your decision.
Career Advice
Health informatics specialist is a job with good career prospects and an attractive salary. You also have many options for career specialization, including health information manager and electronic medical record specialist.
Success in this field is a challenging task. The job requires multidisciplinary talent and healthcare and information technology skills.
To get a high salary, you need to gain work experience and earn master’s degrees and professional certifications. If you have a clear direction, you will surely achieve the expected success.
Thank you for your interest in the article!