Newsroom Article

For Immediate Release

(TORONTO, ON) – The call has been sounded – systems-based human resources planning is essential to deal with the serious risk of health informatics labour and skills shortages that could jeopardize successful electronic health information system (EHIS) technologies implementation. Now, COACH is responding to this challenge with the new Health Informatics Professional Role Profiles.

The document provides profiles – high-level outlines of the main responsibilities, some key competencies, qualifications and more – for the 65 job titles on the COACH Career Matrix, including new and emerging roles. (See the Sample Role Profile.) Based on 500+ real HI jobs, Profiles will improve consistency in HI roles and foster human resource development and capacity building.

Karen Zimmer, Director, Corporate Services, Health Information Solutions Centre, Saskatchewan Health, helped develop Profiles as a member of the COACH HIP@work Task Force. “As an employer responsible for the recruitment and retention of HI professionals, Role Profiles allows me to better define, develop and structure the required HI roles within our organization to successfully deliver the electronic health record (EHR). It also allows for appropriate compensation for those roles, as the ability to complete inter-provincial and inter-jurisdictional market salary comparisons now exists, and to successfully market to future HI employees with a common understanding of the requirements for these roles.”

The profiles in the document are organized in the seven occupational categories on the COACH Matrix. The main responsibilities in the profiles apply to a variety of organizations across the public and private sectors.

Profiles, available as a downloadable PDF from www.coachorg.com can be applied in a variety of ways, including:

·         Developing job descriptions for a new organization or new areas within an organization; 

·         Updating and modernizing job descriptions, to reflect the evolving nature of HI;

·         Educating internal and external stakeholders about what HI professionals do;

·         Assisting individuals to understand opportunities for their own career planning.

Profiles was field tested in a survey for the landmark Health Informatics and Health Information Management Human Resources Report, released in November. COACH welcomes feedback to enhance Profiles in future. Next steps include developing an interactive tool for identifying career paths, based on Profiles. 

About COACH

COACH: Canada's Health Informatics Association is the diverse community of accomplished, influential professionals who work passionately to make a difference in health informatics (HI). Members are dedicated to realizing their full potential as professionals and advancing HI through access to information, talent, credentials, recognition, programs and a broad range of services and specialized resources. For more information, visit www.coachorg.com.

For more information
Contact COACH
Phone (416) 494-9324, Toll free 1-888-253-8554
info@coachorg.com
www.coachorg.com