Quick Highlights:
- Health informatics graduates can pursue various roles such as health data analyst, clinical informatics specialist, informatics consultant, and public health informatics specialist.
- A degree in health informatics or healthcare administration is essential, often supplemented by certifications like Certified Health Informatics Systems Professional or Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems.
- Professionals must keep up with rapid technological changes and focus on data security to counter cyber attacks on healthcare facilities.
- Health informatics professionals use technology to improve patient care and public health.
Health informatics is an exciting and growing field. If you are already studying in this area, you are likely thinking about your career options after graduation. Fortunately, there are many health informatics career options available for those with this type of degree.
It’s never too early to think about how you’ll use your education in the real world. Holding a degree in health informatics is a great start to a successful career, but those jobs won’t find you. Learn more about your options below and be ready to hit the ground running when your diploma is in hand.
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What is Health Informatics?
Health informatics is a career path that brings together many different technologies in order to collect, store, retrieve, and analyze health data. The ultimate goal of jobs in health informatics is to improve patient care and optimize operational efficiency. An experienced clinical informatics specialist will be called on to support informed decision-making at all levels of the organization.
Given the rise of advanced technologies in recent years, this is a field that has experienced tremendous growth. If you have been interested in healthcare but aren’t called to be a provider like a doctor or nurse, working as a health data analyst or something similar may be an ideal fit.
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Many Career Options Are Available
The careers in healthcare technology available today are as diverse as they are interesting. Pursuing this educational path is going to leave many doors open for you moving forward. The list below touches on just some of the job options you could pursue after graduation.
Health Data Analyst
This is a foundational role for anyone with a degree in health informatics. Many health informatics job opportunities will revolve around this type of position in a hospital or clinic setting. A health data analyst uses the volumes of information collected by various systems to make important decisions and find informative trends. Many health information management careers get started by working in a data analyst position.
Clinical Informatics Specialist
Those who want to be hands-on with the day-to-day activities of a healthcare facility will love working as an informatics specialist. This field involved electronic health records management, training staff on how to use advanced technologies, and more. Many health IT careers fall into this category and there is plenty of room here to earn a great living and advance over time.
Informatics Consultant
Informatics consultant roles look like they do in many other fields. A consultant is going to bring their knowledge and expertise to a range of organizations to help them improve. Specifically, that can mean developing EHR systems, offering advice on workflow improvements, and creating unique strategies for data management.
Public Health Informatics Specialist
Public health informatics jobs give professionals the opportunity to positively impact health on a wider scale. By using public health data, a specialist in this space can deliver valuable information through public health campaigns and other initiatives. There are many ongoing public health concerns so these roles have never been more important.
These four positions are possibilities as you move from school into the professional realm. What’s even more exciting is that new positions are created all the time for people in this field. Since so much change is happening, and so much growth is occurring, it’s hard to know exactly what possibilities will be waiting for you just a few years from now.
Having the Right Qualifications
To work as a health informatics specialist or to hold any other role in this field, you’ll need to meet educational requirements. That typically starts with a degree in health informatics or healthcare administration. Those degrees might not be enough on their own to qualify for every position in informatics, but they are a great start.
From there, you could look into certifications to strengthen your resume. For example, the Certified Health Informatics Systems Professional certification is a great title to add to your name. Or, you could pursue the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems accreditation. Adding as many lines as possible to your resume will help you stand out in this competitive space.
As with most fields, it will be necessary to start in a lower position to gain experience and trust. As you advance, there are many possibilities for career growth, such as working in senior management or advanced consulting. Building your credentials one position at a time by delivering great performance and innovative thinking will get you ahead.
What to Expect in This Career
If you are able to get a job in health informatics you might wind up working in a hospital or clinic. But those aren’t the only possibilities. It’s also possible to be hired by a tech company to develop innovative healthcare IT solutions. Or maybe you’ll work with a public health organization or a city or county agency.
Some of the challenges that are seen in informatics include the rapid pace of technological changes. So many new pieces of software come onto the market regularly that is hard to keep up. Also, data security is a massive concern in this area. Cyberattacks on healthcare facilities are common and everyone in healthcare IT has to focus on security constantly.
On the positive side, you’ll be able to make a meaningful impact on the health and well-being of countless people through your work with data. In many ways, health informatics is technology at its best. Using modern tools to provide better care and improve public health is a noble pursuit while earning a good living at the same time. It’s not often that someone can make an impact on public health without being a doctor or nurse, but this field offers just that opportunity.
Build a Great Career
Securing a health informatics education should mean great things for your future job prospects. You’ll be able to earn a quality living while doing important work at the same time. It might take a bit of experimenting to ultimately land in the right position, so stick with it even if your first job isn’t the perfect fit.
We hope this page has helped you understand the many different career paths in health informatics. It’s great to have options when building a career and you’ll have plenty available to you in this field. Good luck as you start your career!