What is Medical Informatics?
Medical informatics professionals use information technology to benefit the health and human services industry. They create and maintain new ways for hospitals to keep records, making essential medical information as accessible as possible. Medical informatics specialists create new ways for hospitals and research centers to communicate with one another, while streamlining the interpersonal communication between staff members and patients.
Informatics grads work in a variety of environments: hospitals, medical research laboratories, health insurance companies, Internet companies, health information technology suppliers, consulting organizations and more. They serve as database administrators, project managers, project designers, computer programmers, researchers, and systems analysts.
What medical informatics specialists do within these areas depends entirely on their concentration. Generally, they provide technical support for databases, design new systems, and make purchasing decisions for new equipment. They also evaluate usability, figure out ways to enhance systems, check data for accuracy, and train staff members to access the database.
Students in medical informatics degree programs can choose to specialize within any of these areas:
•Bioinformatics
•Public Health Informatics
•Organizational Informatics
•Social Informatics
•Clinical Informatics
What Can You Do With a College Degree in Medical Informatics?
Medical informatics is a growing field with excellent career prospects. Medical informatics specialists work in a variety of environments, including hospitals, clinics, healthcare and insurance agencies, medical information technology firms, research institutes, and universities.
Some job titles in medical informatics include:
•Medical Informatics Project Manager: These specialists oversee a team of other informatics specialists to create databases for hospitals, schools, research institutes, or clinics. They may also train the staff of their organization to use databases effectively.
•Medical Informatics Project Designer: Designers tailor different types of systems to an individual client's needs by figuring out the most effective way for them to collect, store, and access data.
•Medical Informatics Researcher or Research Assistant: Working at the forefront of their field, medical informatics researchers attempt to discover new ways of utilizing technology to benefit medical professionals and their patients.
•Medical Informatics Systems Analyst: These specialists analyze existing systems and recommend ways to update or streamline them to maximize efficiency.
•Teacher or Professor of Medical Informatics: To teach the next generation of medical informatics professionals, these educators must be skilled at communicating difficult and complex concepts to students.
•Medical Database Administrator: Once a database has been set up, someone must be around to maintain it, foreseeing and avoiding problems, as well as troubleshooting for the users of the system. This person must be able to answer the users' questions quickly, solving problems as soon as they arise.
Certification and Licensure
A career in medical informatics requires no special certification or licensure. However, it is a competitive field. Graduates without at least a bachelor's degree in medical informatics will have a difficult time finding work. It is also wise to choose a specialization within informatics to give you an edge over other job candidates.
Obtaining a health informatics degree (otherwise called medical informatics) is a fantastic way to get into the health care industry. This industry is the fastest growing one in America and there are vast job opportunities available.
This area is extremely important to the efficiency and survival of the health care industry. Its main goal is to orderly maintain patient records. Without this, the health care system would collapse. This is why the health informatics specialist is in such high demand.
Answered By: Freefromdrama - 12/27/2012 |