Health Informatics Technologist
Amisha Prajapati, Conestoga College
By: Lauren Wilk, Outreach & Support Peer
In today’s technology driven environment, organizations and companies are inundated with large volumes of data and information. Having access to more data is great, but as Amisha Prajapati points out, “collecting information has absolutely no meaning if it is not analyzed.”
Amisha graduated from Conestoga College in 2015 with a Bachelor of Applied Health Science, Health Informatics Management degree. This four-year degree consists of learning about health information science, biomedical and health sciences, information technology and management sciences. Amisha did not always see health informatics as her career goal, as she originally wanted to become a nurse. Although nursing was an option, Amisha discovered health informatics through the college degree catalogue, where she then connected with current students in the program and discovered it was a career that entailed a perfect blend of her passion for helping, technology, health care and could provide positive work-life balance.
As a Health Informatics Technologist, Amisha has supported a variety of projects throughout her career including digitizing health care record systems, implementing electronic medical records systems, improving training processes, and standardizing patient registries to name a few. Informatics professionals provide the right analytical tools to examine and make sense of data, which in turn is published by governments and understanding this data can assist management in making informed decisions.
Amisha’s roles resides in the field of information technology troubleshooting issues, maintaining software such as OSCAR EMR, PSS, Hedgehog, and IBI WebFOCUS, supporting and implementing new technologies by researching innovative ideas, improving the program, and connecting with vendors. This career has such a versatile agenda that it is important to be open-minded and able to adapt to the changing environment. This hands-on career requires Amisha to pinpoint errors and factors by using trial-and-error, an aspect of this position that can be difficult and time-consuming. Amisha believes that to be successful in this position, students must be willing to take risks with technology, and have a positive attitude while remaining open-minded to new ideas and ways to interpret and analyze data.
Amisha has participated in several placements during her undergraduate studies. As a Clinical Information Management Analyst with Homewood Health Centre, she worked with the Ontario Mental Health Act by translating and analyzing data. In addition, Amisha worked at the Hamilton Family Health Team in a co-op position as a Health Informatics Assistant. Here, Amisha was responsible for managing content on the organization’s website, providing emergency medical response (EMR) support for physicians, creating emergency support tools, and performing research analysis. Amisha had also participated in a work-study position as a Continuing Education and Education Technology Assistant with Conestoga College where she helped faculty and staff by providing support to e-Conestoga (which is equivalent to MyLearningSpace at Laurier).
For Laurier students who are enrolled in a different degree, you can also investigate the possibility of qualifying for the two-year bridge into second year of the Bachelor of Applied Health Information Science Program - with a modified timetable of courses. Students can alternatively pursue a post-graduate diploma in Health Information Management.
There are a variety of occupations and opportunities for advancement in this field. For example, students can become a data analyst, business intelligence (BI) developer, a consultant, privacy author, decision support specialist, user training and support specialist and more! As we live in a world of business intelligence (BI) and artificial intelligence (AI), this field will always be in demand.
Amisha is currently working towards her Master of Education at Laurier as she is eager to foster more in-depth understanding of what makes students succeed to ultimately support her long-term goal of teaching informatics at Conestoga College.