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Who are the Informaticians? What We Know and Should Know

Affiliation of the author: Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.

Correspondence and reprints: William Hersh, MD, Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, BICC, Portland, OR, 97239; e-mail: <hersh{at}ohsu.edu>.

Received for publication: 07/17/05; accepted for publication: 11/07/05.

The beginning of the 21st century has seen a surge in interest and enthusiasm for health care information technology based on its ability to demonstrate improvements in the quality, safety, and cost-efficiency of health care. One question, however, for which we have fewer answers is "who will be the individuals that develop, implement, and evaluate these systems?" In particular, while most attention has been paid to the exemplar leaders in health information technology, less has been focused on the issue of the workforce necessary to sustain the systems to achieve their vision. The discipline of medical informatics must pay sufficient attention to the professional workforce that will deploy systems outside the informatics research setting so their benefits may more widely accrue.

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