Health Information Workforce Research Articles

Accelerating the deployment of a health information technology and informatics workforce through education, training, research, and evaluation.

Supported by stronger and more coordinated US federal funding and policies, driven by goals to deliver care more efficiently, and motivated to provide high quality care for an aging and more diverse population, public-private-sector organisations are redoubling efforts to implement information systems. Thus, there is a critical need to increase and broaden the pool of workers who can help organizations maximise the effectiveness of their investments in technology. There are in the US various current health informatics education and training initiatives and ongoing efforts to accelerate Health IT workforce development.

Building A Health Informatics Workforce In Developing Countries

Information and communication technology can be used to improve the quality and safety of health care and to lower costs. But in both developed and developing countries, there is an inadequate supply of skilled individuals who have the technical skills to use this technology to improve health care. Some studies project workforce needs of tens of thousands in English-speaking developed countries, but it is not known what size workforce will be required in the developing world. It is important to identify and develop the skills, training, and competencies-consistent with local cultures, languages, and health systems-that will be needed to realize the full benefits of these technologies. We present a framework for answering these questions and for developing estimates of the size and scope of the workforce that may be needed.

Competencies for a Well-trained Biomedical and Health Informatics Workforce

Biomedical and health informatics (BMHI) is an evolving discipline that needs to accompany the progression of healthcare by constantly updating the curriculum of its workforce [1]. In developing countries, capacity building in BMHI can be used to address capacity shortfalls, by providing electronic information and training, especially in rural and underserved areas, with robust clinical data for informed decision making [2, 3]. In October 2008, the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) Health and Medical Informatics Education Working Group (WG1) held a meeting entitled “Building Worldwide Capacity for the Health Informatics Workforce”. The meeting was hosted by the Department of Medical Informatics at Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to this event, the IMIA Latin American Countries (IMIA-LAC) organized the 3rd Latin American Meeting of Medical Informatics, the 2nd Argentinean Meeting of Medical Informatics, and the 2nd Argentinean Meeting of Nursing Informatics. As previous meetings organized by IMIA’s WG1 that had addressed important issues related to BMHI education [4], the goals of the Buenos Aires meeting were to provide both an exposition for identifying and harmonizing competencies and curricula for health and biomedical infor matics as well as provide a working meeting for IMIA WG1. There were more than 50 attendees from around the world and more than 20 papers were presented. There were several keynote presentations:

Health Informatics Education and Capacity Building in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

To describe the experience of, and lessons learned from, a collaborative project developing and delivering an MSc in Health Informatics in South Africa. The description and discussion is based on the experiences of the staff delivering the course, and formal and informal evaluations, the former conducted as part of the University of Winchester's quality assurance processes. Some of the lessons learned from adapting the course to meet local needs are described and discussed. Simply attempting to transpose a successful course from one country and culture to another is not a guarantee of success. Educational staff delivering such courses need to take account of local context and culture, be flexible and prepared to adapt to students' needs and circumstances, which may be beyond anyone's control. However, by meeting real identified needs, success can contribute to sustaining capacity building and the development of the local health informatics workforce.

Public Health Workforce Employment in US Public and Private Sectors

The purpose of this study was to describe the number and distribution of 26 administrative, professional, and technical public health occupations across the array of US governmental and nongovernmental industries. This study used data from the Occupational Employment Statistics program of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. For each occupation of interest, the investigator determined the number of persons employed in 2006 in five industries and industry groups: government, nonprofit agencies, education, healthcare, and all other industries. Industry-specific employment profiles varied from one occupation to another. However, about three-fourths of all those engaged in these occupations worked in the private healthcare industry. Relatively few worked in nonprofit or educational settings, and less than 10 percent were employed in government agencies. The industry-specific distribution of public health personnel, particularly the proportion employed in the public sector, merits close monitoring. This study also highlights the need for a better understanding of the work performed by public health occupations in nongovernmental work settings. Finally, the Occupational Employment Statistics program has the potential to serve as an ongoing, national data collection system for public health workforce information. If this potential was realized, future workforce enumerations would not require primary data collection but rather could be accomplished using secondary data.

Government launches online health work-force information center

A new resource became available early in February to help hospitals, schools, and policymakers find information about the nation’s health work force, including pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The Health Workforce Information Center, at [www.healthworkforceinfo.org][1], offers access to data

Health and Biomedical Informatics: Opportunities and Challenges for a Twenty-First Century Profession and its Education

Characterize the health and biomedical informatics workforce, its professionalization, and its education. Literature review and analysis. Although the value of health information technology is increasingly well-documented, there are still barriers to its widespread adoption around the world. One of those barriers is a well-defined and competent workforce for developing, evaluating, and implementing systems. There are plenty of opportunities in health and biomedical informatics, yet there also is still much that we do not know about this workforce and its education. Continued efforts must be made to characterize and understand the optimal organization and education of this workforce.

Public health workforce information: a state-level study.

A two-stage sample survey was used to estimate the size of Texas' professional public health workforce and to describe its composition in terms of employment settings, job characteristics, and individual characteristics. The estimated 17,700 public health professionals employed in 1995 represented approximately three percent of the state's total health workforce. About 55 percent of all these professionals worked in agencies that provide population-based public health services. An estimated seven percent had formal public health education. These findings raise issues concerning the numerical adequacy of the state's supply of public health professionals, the adequacy of their educational preparation, and the human resources capacity of the state's official public health agencies.