I recently received an insightful question from a listener of the Health Analytic Insights podcast! Who asked me “What skill sets are important to be successful in this field?”. Here is my personalized list:
- Being an analytics translator
- Technical experience
- Domain knowledge
- Critical thinking skills
- Lifetime learner
Being an Analytics Translator
I recently read an article from McKinsey which describes an analytics translator as someone who is able to “draw on their domain knowledge to help business leaders identify and prioritize their business problems, based on which will create the highest value when solved”. I would say this is an important skill for someone working in the analytical side of healthcare. The ability to use your clinical knowledge or ask the correct questions of clinical specialists is key in creating a product that provides value to the healthcare organization. As I outlined in a previous post, you can use the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timebound) goals when tailoring your questions to stakeholders, to ensure the analytical product being produced is defined and will actually be used throughout the organization.
Technical Experience
If you are interested in working in the analytics side of the health informatics field, I would suggest learning SQL which stands for structured query language and is used to manipulate and access data stored in databases. If you do a quick search on LinkedIn or Indeed for roles such as “Clinical Informatics Specialist” or “Clinical Analyst” you might see that many of these roles are looking for individuals who have experience writing queries in SQL. In addition, you might want to learn a data visualization tool such as Power BI and Tableau. These data visualization tools are often used for presenting your insights to an audience who might not have a technical background, by being able to tell a story from the numbers. If you are looking to the future, with the rising implementation of machine learning algorithms in healthcare, you might want to pick up a tool such as Python or R.
Domain knowledge
As I alluded to above, domain knowledge is quite key when working in health informatics and many positions look for clinical experience or a relevant clinical degree. Although clinical experience is not easy to obtain, you might consider volunteering at a help desk in a hospital to learn more about the ins and outs of a healthcare organization. Domain knowledge is not something that is obtained all at once and is an ongoing process but having even some foundational knowledge of the clinical area you are interested in, might help to get your foot in the door. 
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Critical thinking skills
Working in this field you have to be solutions-focused, in my opinion, healthcare is such an interesting field because there are oftentimes situations or cases that you never could anticipate which crop up, the human body is such an amazing marvel! Therefore, I have found working in health informatics you always have to be on your feet and look for ways to mitigate future problems and how you can reduce the burden for the clinician through the use of informatics so they can continue to do their job at a high level.
Lifelong Learner
The last skill I think is key to advancing in the health informatics field, is the drive to be a lifelong learner. The healthcare field is rapidly changing and 2020 and 2021 have been proof of this. I think that to advance in this field it is important to be abreast of the latest technologies and innovations which are on the rise. I think that one cannot go at this alone. I would consider joining large health informatics groups such as your local HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) group or the digital health or informatic groups in your area. It is important to learn from a wide range of people in the healthcare field, from patient advocates to social workers to nurses, this can really help you to get a 360 view of the problems in healthcare and how you can make the biggest impact!
I hope this blog post has provided you with insights into how you can advance and hopefully be successful in the health informatics field. Comment down below, what has helped you advance in this field? Don’t forget to check out the podcast 
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