What do employers want from health informaticians?

Literature describes the competencies of health informatics professionals, including clinical informatics, clinical coding, project management, software development, and change management. Information technologies are at the heart of the New Zealand Health Strategy of 2016 under the ‘smart system’ theme. Few job advertisements and job descriptions related to health informatics describe these competencies or how they enable a smart system. The aim of this research is to find out what employers want from the people whose job descriptions include health informatics competencies, what roles these employees occupy, and what competencies are core to the roles. The context of our research is the New Zealand health sector.

Our research question is therefore, ‘What do employers want from health informaticians?’

Dr Karen Day is a health informatics researcher and Director of the Postgraduate Programme for Health Informatics at The University of Auckland, and Dr Kerry Butler-Henderson is a researcher at the University of Tasmania with a specific interest in health information management workforce development. The student investigator, Ria George, is a summer scholarship student assisting with this research.

You are invited to participate in this research. You have been selected because you are a clinical lead of a team of healthcare professionals, some of whom use health informatics competencies in their daily work. Participation is voluntary. The invitation to participate was extended to you by a colleague – your participation (or not) will not affect your relationship with your colleague.

To find out more about my research, download the information sheet that corresponds with your role:

Once you decide to participate in my research, please download this Consent Form, complete and sign it, and email it to me at k.day@auckland.ac.nz so that we can get started. Call me on 09 923 3870 if you prefer talking to writing.

Approved by the University Of Auckland Human Participants Ethics Committee on 12/9/2017 for three years. Reference Number 019745.