OVERVIEW
What is a Health Informatics Specialist?
A health informatics specialist implements technology at appropriate junctures in a healthcare setting to improve treatment quality and contribute to data collection efforts. They are responsible for assessing the current state of a healthcare setting’s operations and deploying computation systems that directly or indirectly benefit a patient’s quality of life.
Though similar, the position of a health informatics specialist maintains distinct similarities from closely related fields, like clinical informatics. Where clinical informatics prioritizes a patient’s treatment, health informatics focuses instead on technology that can benefit society as a whole.
As one of the specialized nursing informatics career options, health informatics specialist careers first requires a bachelor’s degree in nursing or a closely related healthcare field. Candidates must also possess an understanding of health information management—the identification, collection, and analysis of protected health information and medical records.
RESPONSIBILITIES
What Does a Health Informatics Specialist Do?
A health informatics specialist can fulfill a variety of responsibilities on a day-to-day basis, mostly related to the implementation and use of technology in a healthcare setting. These individual responsibilities can include:
- Installing technology at appropriate locations to benefit a healthcare setting.
- Researching technology and computation systems to identify benefits for patients and healthcare staff.
- Assessing technology performance after installation to determine its continued worth.
- Developing more efficient processes with the information provided by newly-integrated computer science programs.
- Informing healthcare providers of any pending technology to be integrated.
- Collecting and assessing data that can prove valuable in streamlining on-site or remote healthcare procedures.
- Training healthcare staff on appropriate technology and computer system use.
These responsibilities and others allow health informatics specialists to fulfill technology-heavy roles daily.
EDUCATION & BEST DEGREES
How Do I Become a Health Informatics Specialist?
Because a health informatics officer needs to understand both healthcare and technology, the position requires advanced schooling.
Students interested in pursuing health informatics specialist career options should first obtain a bachelor’s degree in health information management, nursing informatics, or a closely related field. This type of degree program will help students learn about specific healthcare terminology and practices, combined with software and systems that are used to analyze the data of healthcare.
Best Degrees for a Health Informatics Specialist
Health & Nursing
Health Information Management – B.S.
A program designed for future leaders in HIM....
A program designed for future leaders in HIM.
- Time: 61% of grads earned this degree in 36 months or less.
- Tuition: $4,210 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 36 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Medical Terminology
- Healthcare System Applications
- Health Information Law and Regulations
- Healthcare Project Management
- Data Analytics and Information Governance
This CAHIIM-accredited program makes you eligible for the RHIA exam.
Health & Nursing
Nursing – Nursing Informatics (BSN-to-MSN) – M.S.
A nursing degree program that empowers data-driven nurses who already have...
A nursing degree program that empowers data-driven nurses who already have a BSN but seek the success a master's can bring:
- Time: 64% of grads finish within 24 months.
- Tuition: $5,035 per 6-month term.
- Courses: 14 total courses in this program.
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Informatics System Analysis and Design
- Data Science and Analytics
- Advanced Pathopharmacological Foundations
- Leadership and Management
The trajectory of data and informatics in healthcare will continually open opportunities for nurses who take this path.
Health & Nursing
Nursing – Nursing Informatics (RN-to-MSN) – M.S.
A nursing program that empowers data-driven nurses with a BSN and MSN...
A nursing program that empowers data-driven nurses with a BSN and MSN component, allowing them to go from RN to MSN.
- Time: 63% of RN-to-MSN grads finish within 36 months.
- Tuition: $5,325 per 6-month term during undergraduate portion and $5,035 per 6-month term during graduate portion.
- Courses: 31 total courses in this program.
This program is ideal for currently licensed RNs who are looking to earn a bachelor's degree and a master's degree at an accelerated pace.
Skills for your résumé that you will learn in this program:
- Informatics System Analysis and Design
- Data Science and Analytics
- Advanced Pathopharmacological Foundations
- Leadership and Management
The trajectory of data and informatics in healthcare will continually open opportunities for registered nurses who take this path.
How Much Does a Health Informatics Specialist Make?
$58,250
The exact salary of a health informatics specialist will depend on the individual’s years of experience, employer, employer location, technological proficiency, and other factors. In general, the salary of a health informatics specialist can average $48,560 per year.
What Is the Projected Job Growth?
16%
The continued vitality of the healthcare field, when combined with the still-emerging popularity of technology worldwide, makes the outlook for health informatics specialist careers a positive one. Career opportunities for health informatics specialists are expected to grow 16% from 2022 to 2032, at a rate much higher than the average across all occupations.
SKILLS
What Skills Does a Health Informatics Specialist Need?
Health informatics specialists depend on a defined skill set to help them accomplish daily tasks that help benefit a patient’s treatment and outlook. These specific skills can include:
- Interpersonal communication: The ability to correspond with fellow team members and onsite medical staff.
- Environmental assessments: The ability to assess the needs of a healthcare floor and pair available technologies with those needs.
- Research: The ability to search for and find technology systems that can benefit a healthcare setting’s current processes.
- Technology installation: The ability to physically install hardware and software systems for use in a healthcare environment.
- Systems training: The ability to teach all relevant healthcare staff how to use any new technology, to make their jobs easier and their impact more effective.
- Technological troubleshooting: The ability to identify and address issues that individual pieces of technology might be facing.
- Creative problem-solving: The ability to identify and implement unique, technology-based solutions to the issues a healthcare environment might face.
These and other skills form the foundation for a successful health informatics specialist.
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