IT Clinical Process Engineer - Career Profile |
Career OverviewThe role of an IT or information technology clinical process engineer is to develop, enhance and improve the process of information sharing across departments and areas of the hospital or healthcare facility. This may include developing new systems, improving existing system, implementing organizational and structural changes within the IT and clinical areas.
An IT clinical process engineer must be very process orientated and must be able to determine the most effective and efficient ways to get information from one point to another in the system. This requires a keen problem solving ability as well as the ability to work with both details of a project as well as understanding the overall picture.
The IT clinical process engineer works in conjunction with both management teams and committees to develop current information sharing methods within the hospital or healthcare facility. He or she may also be directly involved in the physical aspects of setting up new computer systems or new software programs or networking systems. In addition the IT clinical process engineer may also be required to make recommendations on either outside vendors or contractors as well as actual materials, programs or computer systems to use.
An IT clinical process engineer must have excellent communication skills especially when working with non-engineering or computer programming staff. They must be able to work through the various issues or concerns that users of the IT system are experiencing and make modifications and changes to the system as needed.
Most IT clinical process engineers will work flexible hours with many working evening or weekend shifts when fewer staff members require access to the computer data entry or retrieval systems. Long hours and on-call work may be required when setting up new systems or troubleshooting existing IT systems. Some IT clinical process engineers that work for larger hospital or healthcare facilities may be required to travel to various facilities.
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Career RequirementsDepending on the hospital or healthcare facility requirements an IT clinical process engineer usually requires a Bachelors degree in nursing as well as experience in informatics and information exchange through computer systems.
Some process engineers may be required to have specific engineering training as well, especially as it relates to hospital or healthcare facilities. Generally clinical process engineers will have a heavier requirement on specific clinical or nursing experience.
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Job OutlookThe United States Department of Labor indicates that the demand for medical technology staff will be the greatest of all the employment rates in the healthcare field.
The demand for those that are able to improve current systems as well as report on appropriate new systems will be very high, above the average for informatics careers. It is estimated that the demand for IT clinical process engineers will continue to increase at least until the year 2014 and likely well beyond.
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Career TrackThe role of an IT clinical process engineer prepares individuals for management and supervisory roles in the healthcare informatics sector. Some IT clinical process engineers may choose to move into program manager roles, design and development areas, or even into upper-level management roles such as Chief Information Officers.
In addition some IT clinical process engineers may decide to move into private consulting businesses providing information for new or existing facilities on a project by project basis.
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CompensationThe wide variety of types of individuals that can apply for an IT clinical process engineer positions affects the average yearly salary. Most positions will offer a salary of between $65,000 and $83,000 per year, plus bonuses and benefits. Some IT clinical process engineers with Masters degrees or highly specialized areas of expertise may earn in excess of $100,000 per year.
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