Anna, Health Informatics

I joined the Health Informatics specialism after studying Human Geography at university and I had little IT background, so I remember being worried about this at first when I found out I’d made it onto the Scheme. If, like me, you are going to be joining Informatics with a lower level of IT knowledge, please do not worry, you’ll learn.

My first placement was in an Acute Trust in the team that supports the development of the hospital’s Electronic Health Record (EHR). During this placement, I learned a lot about the system, testing, data quality, and building relationships with colleagues.

For my flexi placement, I went to the Integrated Care Board to gain some analysis experience, working in a Population Health Management team, with colleagues across the ICB and the local authorities. For my final placement, I returned to the Acute Trust I worked at previously, where I am currently a benefits and workflows lead, working on large IT projects.

For Health Informatics, the education comprised of the PgCert in Healthcare Leadership in the first year, and a PgDip in Health Informatics, which runs throughout the Scheme.

I’ve made some great friends with others on the same specialism, and we get to spend time together at university sync days in 3 day blocks every couple of months, which is a great opportunity to catch up.

I also never thought I would have the opportunity to learn how to code in HTML, Python and SQL, from having no prior knowledge. In my latest sync day block, I even got to experience eye tracking for system design. It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come since September 2021.