I have recently completed the Postgraduate diploma in Digital Health at the University of Otago. It was a great course and being a GP I am keen to use my clinical as well as the theoretical knowledge in making a difference to the patient/clinician journey. However as graduates many have found that the career pathway is not so straight forward which can cause frustration. I am therefore doing a project to look at this and hopefully make it easier for the next graduates. This is with the help of Chris Paton and Jeff Foote at the Business School, Otago University. I am looking for different stakeholders to interview and seeking people from this platform who are willing to take part in an interview. My email is gillrufaro@gmail.com or musgi409@student.otago.ac.nz.
Thank you in advance.
Kind regards,
Gillian
I’ve started my informatics academia journey about 3 years ago and at that time, the only thing available to me was a doctorate of professional practice which I focus mine on ketogenics and technology. It is like an MBA but clinical. I find it is easier to understand the DPP when I describe it that way.
Happy to be interviewed if that will help you on your journey.
Hi Gillian, I have already sent you an email. Happy to help in any way that I can as building roles and careers is important to build the workforce for the future. Like so many others in this forum, I have a degree for every occasion and contributed to workforce development in Aotearoa and Australia.
I’ve been contemplating this very topic after finishing the PDip in Digital Health this year aswell.
What are my next steps, how does it fit within the current landscape etc it is frustrating and a bit confusing also. I have felt this is particularly so within what this looks like within the hospital or GP practices - how the theory and practice comes together!
Looking forward to hearing what you find and what you can do with the information
Katrina
Hello, thank you for your responses. They are very much appreciated. I will contact you individually with consent/information sheets etc. I look forward to doing the work and hopefully it will help make a significant contribution for future graduates!
Happy to help - and it delights me to see the query being put out.
I think we need to consider a webinar from CiLN in the new year to discuss current roles and progression into roles etc…
For a while I have been playing with the idea of doing biographical research with people who have been working in digital health specialist roles, and turning it into a book. I’m applying for Marsden funding to do this.
The premise is that we are on the cusp of normalising digital health work, and that now, more than ever before, is a good time to document how people enter the digital health workforce, what work they do, how they progress through a career, and what they find rewarding about the work. We know there are many entry points and many crossroads within the career path.
To do this work, I will need to interview about 100 people working in the field of health informatics/digital health. The narrative interviews will be biographical in approach, and will be analysed for narratives to (1) tell the history of health informatics specialists, and (2) provide narratives and sub-narratives to assist new entrants and incumbents to create a career trajectory that fits their aspirations.
Who would like to help me with this research? I’m not ready yet to do the interviews, but I do need help to write the funding proposal (I’m required to write a one page persuasive abstract for an EOI and if it’s accepted I’ll be asked in April to write a full long proposal).
Perhaps we can discuss this at the conference next week?
I would love to assist, I think it would be great to record some of the stories. It’s also inspiring for newcomers to look at some of the stories, to see how an interest in healthcare can work together with an interest in digital.
Lovely idea Karen! I was not long ago reminiscing the biceps I developed lugging cellulose X-rays around for ward rounds . It seems such a long time ago now…
I got good at standing for hours in the library at the computer that gave access to the Index Medicus (now known as Medline/Ovid) and reading abstracts and printing them on a dot matrix printer. I took the pile of paper to a desk and identified the ones that I wanted to read and had to select them manually from the shelves and photocopy the articles. This is so last century but I was doing that in the late 90s, which wasn’t so long ago. During the same time I was co-designing a medical insurance claims system and building managed care principles into it (this was in South Africa), with one developer who seemed to get it right and the implementation was easy.
I will start a new conversation about my Marsden application.
@gillrufaro all the best with your research. There is a lot of appetite for more clarity in digital health career journeys, so this is only the beginning! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with your study.
And before that, there were the paper volumes—which were only cumulated at the end of the year, so for the current ones you had to search each topic manually in each of the several volumes.
. It seems such a long time ago now…
