The Pathways For Informatics Professional Development
by
Allen Flynn
In terms of professional development, it can be difficult to know how to move in an emerging, rapidly evolving field like pharmacy informatics. What are the skills that can elevate one’s practice and how can they be learned? What are the most relevant trends shaping the informatics landscape today? What is the status of credentials and certifications for informatics pharmacists? What types of professional development activities will help us bring value to our organizations and potentially result in future promotions and greater career success?
This post will highlight many excellent paths for informatics pharmacists to further develop their professional skills and gain useful knowledge. As a member of the Professional Development Section Advisory Group for the Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology, I am pleased to be able to represent and highlight the perspectives of many experts on this subject. To gain an even more complete picture, your comments on this post about credentials for informatics pharmacists are invited and needed!
SOPIT’s PD SAG has just posted a new resource paper titled, “Professional Development Opportunities for Informatics Pharmacists.” Here in this blog the main themes of that document are highlighted. The paper itself comes highly commended to all those interested in pharmacy informatics (https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets/pharmacy-informaticist/docs/sopit-professional-development-opportunities-for-informatics-pharmacists.ashx).
Speaking from my own professional experience, I have found it very valuable to pursue a variety of different paths and approaches to professional development as an informatics pharmacist.
To begin, several general health IT related practice opportunities already available. While earning these certificates or certifications, a variety of new skills and perspectives are gained, and often it is possible to meet and network with experts outside a pharmacy, which can be helpful for broadening one’s perspectives on informatics.
In addition, the IT and health IT worlds both offer many types of development opportunities focused on particular vendor technologies, applications, hardware, and technical and analytical methods. These programs can be very valuable. One obvious benefit is to gain more in depth knowledge of the system or systems one uses every day. A secondary benefit can be to gain a new appreciation for the work that IT professionals do to support users of all types in hospitals and health systems.
At the intersection of quality improvement and pharmacy informatics, it is possible to be trained and to become an expert in LEAN and/or Six Sigma. These quality-related credentials bring value by helping teams and individuals focus on diminishing waste and variance in health care processes. These credentials are also very well recognized and they can potentially position informatics pharmacists well for roles focused on bringing about a continuously learning health system.
Finally, pharmacy informatics specific credentials are also starting to emerge. This is a sign that the domain of pharmacy informatics is maturing along with the more general domains of clinical informatics and health informatics. Within the next year or two it seems very likely that informatics pharmacists will be able to earn an expert credential in these areas. For more on the current state of these health-specific informatics credentials, see the white resource paper that has just been released.
Whatever path you take, and whatever professional development options you choose to pursue, the PD SAG and Section are here to support you. Wishing you and your teams well in all you are doing!