Alright, so this is not exactly the latest news but Symantec has recently started a Healthcare Division.
This goes to show that the the big players in the ICT industry are seriously making their move into the world of Healthcare IT, we now have Microsoft, Sun, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, IBM, DELL, EMC and many more big players venturing into this industry.
It is indeed exciting times to be involved in Healthcare Informatics (no, implementing an email server or network in a healthcare setting does not automatically translate to being Healthcare Informatics) as this will seriously increase the efficiency of IT utilisation in the healthcare industry.
So whats the catch?
There is already a huge shortage of Healthcare Informatics professionals (Read :”Shortage of Health-IT Workers Is Limiting Progress”) in the industry, the increasing demands will not make the situation better (although the job offers that keeps coming is a good boost to the ego).
Most importantly, is this another ‘e-commerce hype’ that will result in another ‘bubble burst’?
My peers kept asking me how they can get into the Healthcare IT industry. The problem is, its not that straight forward. Take for example, one cannot do a certification course (or even a Master Degree) and be immediately be able to administrator a PACS because there is more to just the technical aspect (but that doesn’t mean its not important)
Take myself for example, the 4 years I spend in the clinical environment opened my eyes to alot of things that a traditional IT professional would never appreciate – the workflow and operational aspect I learned is priceless, something you cannot learn from reading materials off the Internet (although it helps).
Alright, back to the topic. With increasing demands (but steep learning curve) for Healthcare Informatics Professionals, many traditional IT professionals will be drawn towards this industry but the sad fact of life is, not every IT company will succeed in this industry (one can’t win it all. Period). So what will happen to these people?
I’m abit weary about this turning into another dot com bubble saga (after having witness the aftermath of it) but still, it is indeed exciting times to be in Healthcare Informatics.
Are you part of IT?
BinaryHealthCare (BNHC) 