Health informatics
Careers in Health Informatics
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Here you will find out about the wide range of opportunities within information management and technology or ‘health informatics’ as it is known in the NHS.
Health informatics is one of the fastest growing areas within the health sector with exciting projects that are using IT in creative new ways to improve patient care. One example is introducing life-long electronic health records for every member of the public. This will allow GPs to send test readings and images electronically to hospital specialists many miles away and allow nurses in local minor injuries units to consult doctors in accident and emergency departments.
If you love working with computers, enjoy library work, are good at analysing data or find satisfaction in keeping accurate records, then there is a job for you in health informatics.
There are six main specialist health informatics groups in the NHS:
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) staff
Run the internal and external electronic communications systems. This includes the hardware (desktop PCs) and the software (ward ordering systems, email, pathology report service and patient bookings).
Staff roles include network management, technology and help desk support, application and systems development, project management and implementation, system security and staff training.
Knowledge management staff
Support health professionals and management staff in their education, training and development and professional practice. Access to knowledge may be through books, periodicals and electronic information databases. Many staff in this area will assist NHS employees to access the information.
Staff roles include administrative assistant, knowledge managers, information specialists and librarians.
Information management staff
Use statistics and other information in order to plan, monitor and develop the health service. They might work in one of many different fields, including data analysis or data protection and confidentiality. Clinical coding - analysing and coding information on patients' records - is a specialist area within information management.
Staff roles include research, clinical audit, data protection and confidentiality, planning and performance management.
Clinical informatics staff
Are usually doctors, nurses or other qualified healthcare professionals who have moved into a part-time or full-time role in health informatics. Clinical Informatics concerns the capture, communication and use of patient data and clinical knowledge professionals providing healthcare and the development and implementation of electronic tools to support the whole cycle of clinical information. The usual route is via clinical practice into an area such as research or audit.
Staff roles will include clinical professionals.
