Medical Informatics Program Designer - Career Profile |
Career OverviewMost medical informatics program designers work standard workweek hours with occasional travel requirements and evening and weekend shifts. Generally the medical informatics program designer works in a team with the informatics researchers and the medical informatics program manager to create the most effective and accurate data collection and analysis programs to meet the requirements of the research project.
The medical informatics program designer must have a good background in areas of medical knowledge as well as a strong computer and research background. A medical informatics program designer may work in areas of:
- Resource allocations
- Biomedical research
- Clinical research
- Information storage and retrieval
- Database management
- Support systems
The key role of the medical informatics program designer is to assess the parameters of the research project and work within the team to develop the most effective method of data collection, entry and analysis to provide the necessary information.
A medical informatics program designer needs to be aware of the overall goals of the research project as well as the various groups that will need to be involved. Developing specialized data collection methods is just one part of the overall project design. Understanding how to integrate all the data, compile the data and report it out again to the stakeholders is all part of the responsibility of the medical informatics program designer.
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Career RequirementsMost medical informatics program designer positions require a Masters or PhD in bio or medical informatics, biostatistics or in a similar field of study. Addition experience in program and research design as well as experience in field studies and research is important.
Some of the medical informatics program designers may also have M.D degrees although this is usually not required for most positions. The American Medical Informatics Association provides specific details of the requirements for different types of medical informatics program designers.
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Job OutlookThe United States Department of Labor indicates that the trend for professionals in the informatics field will continue for several years, at least until the year 2014. This is largely due to the expanding field of medical informatics and the number of projects and research developments that have been generated with this combination of medical theory and information technology.
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Career TrackA medical informatics program designer may move into upper management positions within a hospital or healthcare facility as a Chief Information Office or even Chief Executive Officer.
Many medical informatics program designers move into businesses that include the development and marketing of research based software. Some medical informatics program designers may also choose to work as consultants or project coordinators for either government research projects or private sector pharmaceutical companies.
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CompensationDepending on the type of contract that the medical informatics program designer may have, either as a salaried employee or as a consultant, the average salary will range between $80,000 and $150,000.
Some medical informatics program designers with extensive experience may earn in excess of this amount. Highly specialized medical informatics program designers or those working for private pharmaceutical companies will earn the highest overall salaries.
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