Good News – Bad News: EHR Adoption is Increasing the Demand for Clinical Informatics Positions

First, let’s hear the good news.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in December 2010, employment in the healthcare sector continued to expand, with a gain of 36,000 jobs; the highest growth was in ambulatory services.

More specific to health information technology positions, the most recent edition of HIMSS Vantage Point found that:

• Nearly three-quarters of respondents, who represent provider, vendor, consulting and other work sites, hired IT FTEs during 2010.
• Another two-thirds have the budget to hire additional IT FTEs in 2011.
• Clinical informatics professionals and implementation experts are the two areas for which respondents anticipated that their organization would need to hire staff as the industry transitions from traditional, paper-based records to electronic health records.

The bad news is that respondents think this perceived staffing shortage will impact their organization’s ability to handle future work.  Sixty percent of respondents indicated that IT projects would be slowed down either because appropriate staff couldn’t be hired at their organizations (providers) or because non-provider organizations (e.g. vendors and consultants) could not hire the staff needed to assist clients.

Another recent study found that newly formed clinical informatics positions are difficult to fill, with 47 percent of healthcare organizations reporting challenges with recruitment, retention, or both. This staffing challenge will be of great concern to the many hospitals and health systems that have aggressive EHR implementation plans in the making.

Clinical informatics means applying the understanding and integration of information technology and systems to the work of clinicians. To be successful, clinical informatics professionals must be respected by their peers, and have exceptional communication skills. Clinical informatics experts include nurses, physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals who have the knowledge and experience to lead large-scale, cross-organizational implementations. These complex information systems will introduce new technologies and processes that may completely change the way clinicians work, so clinical informatics professionals are essential to ensure success, ultimately improving patient safety and outcomes.

The 2007 HIMSS Nursing Informatics (NI) Workforce survey found that the top three job responsibilities of informatics nurses are: 1) systems implementation/training, 2) systems development/design, and 3) working in a liaison role, i.e. representing the information needs of nurses to other areas or departments.

The 2010 NI Workforce survey results will be announced next week and should provide an interesting comparison.

• Have the current industry drivers forced changes in roles and responsibilities?
• How are reporting structures evolving?
• Have salaries and benefits increased dramatically, or at all?

Please check back here for the final results.

Meanwhile, how is the clinical informatics focus structured at your organization?

• Is your role becoming an integral part of advancing the clinical informatics initiatives?
• How can HIMSS’ Clinical Informatics communities help you?
• Are clinical informatics positions at your organization currently going unfilled?

We are interested in your thoughts!