Individuals who are thinking about earning a health informatics degree may want to know what their job prospects will be like following graduation. Read on to learn about different vocational opportunities within the health informatics sector.
A Brief Overview
Health informatics is a field that exists as the intersection of computer science, information science, behavioral science, health care, and social science. The field involves the devices, methods, and resources involved to optimize the storage, retrieval and utilization of data in the fields of biomedicine and health. Health informatics tools can include things such as formal medical terminologies, clinical guidelines, computers and communication information systems. Health informatics is relevant to several sectors within the health field, including dentistry, clinical care, nursing, public health, pharmacy, physical therapy, biomedical research, alternative medicine and occupational therapy.
Job Opportunities in the Health Informatics Sector
1. Health Informatics Consultant: Health informatics consultants are individuals who help healthcare facilities conform to federal mandate requirements. People in this position will typically perform several different tasks, some of which may include software installation, network updates, troubleshooting, training teams and monitoring systems. Generally, the health informatics consultant will earn about $80,000 each year.
2. Health Informatics Director: Health informatics directors are individuals who perform a wide range of tasks to optimize the functioning of a healthcare facility. Some of the tasks performed can include familiarizing new team members with emerging technologies, meeting with constituents (like nurses, pharmacy staff and physicians) to discuss technological protocol modifications or changes, and analyzing technology challenges and issues. Typically, health informatics directors will obtain a master’s degree in order to work within their field. Typically, the health informatics director can expect to garner between $80,000 to $100,000 annually.
3. Nursing Informatics Specialist: The nursing informatics specialist is responsible for optimizing patient care through the use of technology. To accomplish this objective, the nursing informatics specialist will perform a variety of tasks such as training new nurses on record-keeping protocol updates and reducing inaccuracy and redundancy in existing patient care plans. The nursing informatics specialist may also be responsible for addressing and analyzing technology logistics within the direct patient care sector. The median income for a nursing informatics specialist is $71,768.
4. Chief Medical Information Officer: The chief medical information officer is primarily responsible for the efficient, effective flow of data and construction of information technology systems. This work facilitates the maintenance of high quality patient care. Some of the duties that the chief medical information officer might perform include sitting on various IT boards, training teams responsible for software development, and conducting data analytics for the purpose of IT infrastructure analytics. The typical salary for a chief medical information officer is $82,000.
Some of the other job prospects for individuals who wish to work within the health informatics sector include that of a healthcare IT project manager and electronic medical record keeper.
If you have given any consideration to obtaining a health informatics degree, you should know that doing so can be a gateway to an exciting and perpetually expanding career. Now that you are aware of various job prospects that people who earn a degree in this sector can pursue, you can decide whether doing so would be ideal for you.
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