Beyond the clinicTechnology
Digital health and informatics
Building the health system’s digital layer.
At a glance
- Training after MBBS
- No fixed length: there is no formal training pathway.
- Time and predictability
- Office hours outside launch periods.
- Geographic flexibility
- Systems are national, though the skills travel.
- Room to build your own
- Consulting and telemedicine ventures are possible.
- AI exposure
- AI is being added to many systems; integration and governance are the hard part.
Contents · 9 sections
The work
Working on telemedicine, electronic records, health information exchange and public digital programmes, and making sure they serve clinicians and patients rather than the other way round.
Where you might work
- Public digital health programmes
- Hospital IT and transformation teams
- Telemedicine companies
- Non-profits and foundations
Getting there
Clinical experience plus courses or degrees in health informatics or public health.
How long: No fixed length: there is no formal training pathway.
Skills that matter
- Clinical workflow knowledge
- Health data standards and privacy
- Programme management
- Bringing clinicians along with change
The life it gives you
Mostly office hours; launches bring peaks.
Systems are national, though the skills travel. Consulting and telemedicine ventures are possible.
Money
Public, non-profit and private employers pay very differently; senior programme roles carry more.
What shapes income most
- Public, non-profit or private
- Programme scale
- Seniority
Weighing it up
What it offers
- System-wide impact
- Predictable hours
- Combines public health and technology
What it costs
- Slow institutional change
- Bureaucracy in public programmes
- Distance from patients
On AI: aI is being added to many systems; integration and governance are the hard part.
Who may enjoy it
You may find this path suits you if:
- you think in systems
- you like technology in service of care
- you are patient with institutions
Related paths
- Public healthTreating populations rather than patients.
- Health-tech product and clinical leadershipMaking software that clinicians and patients actually use.
- Medical AITeaching machines medicine, and checking what they learn.
- Hospital administrationMaking hospitals work, for patients and for staff.