Advance Your Career through Certifications
By Michelle Rebecca
For doctors and other medical professionals who already have a degree, the idea of seeking any type of certification can seem redundant or pointless. After all, you already have the education you need to work in your desired field, along with the documentation to prove it.
Going for a health IT certification, however, can bring about numerous benefits. Generally, people seek out certification to make them more hirable or more desirable for an employer to keep or promote. In the case of doctors and medical professionals, this likely isn’t the case. The benefits are for both you and the practice, and have little to do with career advancement.
That isn’t to say that career advancement may not be an advantage of obtaining HIT certification, only that it isn’t usually the primary goal. So what are the advantages for medical professionals receiving some type of HIT certification? Some include:
Streamlining the Business
Yes, healthcare is about helping people, but it’s also a business. In order to help people with the greatest effectiveness and efficiency, the business side of things must be run smoothly. With today’s technology, this is easier than ever; but only if you and your staff know how to work it. HIT certification gives everyone the technological skills needed to work in healthcare in the digital age.
Offering More to Patients
Today, providing healthcare alone isn’t enough for most patients. They want a way they can quickly, easily and securely access their records and their doctors. If a practice can’t offer this, it might find its patient base dwindling away. While setting up such a system should be done by a professional IT group, the people of the practice should be equipped to manage it. HIT certification covers those skills so that practices can confidently offer more to their patients.
Saving on Operating Expenses
While it’s a good idea to have an IT specialist on board, this isn’t always possible. Particularly in the world of health information technology, specialists can be quite expensive when placed on salary. If doctors and their personnel are able to navigate, use and troubleshoot various areas of health technology, there is no need to add an extra salary to the payroll.
Optimizing Time Spent With Patients
When you have excellent HIT skills and a system that allows you to use them, you can say goodbye to the days of overdue appointments sitting in the waiting room. Patients will appreciate being seen on time, as well as getting more accomplished in their allotted appointment time. HIT systems consolidate patient records and make them easy to search, so less time is spent flipping through files and more time is spent focusing on the patient.
Of course, there are many more advantages of obtaining some form of HIT certification, both for clinicians and for other healthcare professionals. Considering that the cost of such a course is relatively low given the potential gains, it’s an investment well worth making. Because these courses are for a certificate and not a degree, you won’t have to worry about core classes you don’t need — just the relevant information. Consider signing up for a class or two if you haven’t already.
Michelle is a freelancer and journalist. She frequently reports on the Health IT, with an emphasis on social media’s role within the industry. She has also blogged about everything from organic pest control to telecom air dryers. Follow her on Google+.