Professional Development

AI is one of HIMSS' core focus areas, and HIMSS' Lisa Counsell says that local meetings and the upcoming AI in Healthcare Forum can help organizations better understand AI's uses and policy considerations.

Joseph Brown, Davenport University chair for allied health and HIM, advises tailoring assignments to students' abilities and strengths rather than using traditional exams in multigenerational learning environments.

Sophia Brown, RN, Strategic Informatics Solutions' founder and CEO, recommends that health systems allow clinicians to test new AI tools before implementation to ensure they work well and are useful.

In the HIMSS Executive Connect program, UVA Health CTO Zeb Elliott learned to engage his teams more effectively to boost their output and get better results without overextending them.

According to HIMSS' Tom Leary and Luis Belen, CEO of NHIT, NHIT INSPIRED connects college students with HIMSS mentors and industry partners. The program has shown early success in helping students find industry jobs.

The value of HIMSS membership, explains Tammy Kwiatkoski, HIMSS' senior director for global communities, is not measured in online engagement metrics, but in the lessons and resources that members take back to their workplaces.

Changemaker Award recipient Dr. Deepti Pandita of UCI Health urges anyone working in healthcare to get involved with HIMSS and specifically recommends that clinicians use HIMSS' Physician Informatics Research Hub.

Our HIMSS26 interviewees say that early strategizing using the conference app to decide which sessions to attend from a packed agenda and which booths to visit in the busy expo hall can help make the most of attendance.

While AI tools can help patients interpret their medical records, Altera Digital Health's Leigh Burchell, Policy Influencer Changemaker Award recipient, cautions patients against uploading data to non-HIPAA-compliant tools.

Julie Luengas, DNP, RN, Stony Brook Medicine CNIO and HIMSS Changemaker awardee, recommends that healthcare IT newcomers stay flexible and "take on every role possible" to learn about different processes and understand best practices.