Health Informatics

What is a health informatician?

It's Professor Graham Wright who is asking the question and he has set up an online group to look at who thinks they should be registered or who considers themselves to be health informatics professionals. At the same time he will be looking at generating a global voluntary register.
It is envisaged that national bodies will form organisations to take forward the registration of health informatics professionals in each country. The aim of this voluntary register is to allow you to take the first step and declare that you wish to be a registered health informatics professional and abide by the code of ethical practice published by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA).

The online group is available at LinkedIn Health Informatics Professional (HIP) Voluntary registration system for health informatics professionals. To become a member simply sign up at: www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1938481&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Professor Wright works at Walter Sisulu University, South Africa.

Health Informatics Career Framework

The Health Informatics Career Framework provides occupational standards for health informatics professionals. The aims are to open up career pathways and opportunities in health informatics, which is a relatively new profession, by supporting career planning for individuals and providing organisations with a structure in which to plan an effective health informatics workforce.

The framework relates to Skills for Health, but not directly to Agenda for Change.

The website contains approximately 50 job roles arranged in a matrix format according to career framework level and staff groups. Within the clinical informatics staff group, there are eight job roles which provide role descriptions and occupational standards linked to the Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) competencies. This would be a useful source for anyone yet to complete their KSF.

The framework can be used by health informatics staff to illustrate their career progression, plan different career pathways or compile their CV. It also provides consistency and a common language for employers and helps to support service delivery or staff appraisal. The framework website is at: www.hicf.org.uk