Workforce Development

Penn Medicine's Anna Schoenbaum says the HIMSS Nursing Innovation Advisory Workgroup, which she co-chairs, has developed AI toolkits and customizable teaching slides to help leaders understand AI's complexity, costs and impact.

Essex County College's Elvy Vieira says the college is increasing access to health technology jobs by offering a data science degree and credentialing courses, as well as a dual enrollment program for high schoolers.

Regina Wysocki, senior informatics program manager at Lone Star Communications, says centralizing health system data provides nurses with a "bigger picture" of operations so they can uncover trends that can improve care delivery.

The University of Chicago's Julie Johnson shares an example of a recent collaboration on an AMIA presentation to illustrate how patient data can help identify health disparities and suggest how to resolve them.

Criteria for a good education session includes content that aligns with global topics, there is no commercialization and that presenters come from provider organizations, says Paul Contino, CIO of University Hospital Newark, New Jersey.

HIMSS25 panelists Rebecca Woods, Marissa Maldonado and Roz Cordini talk about their commitment to encouraging women to pursue careers in the field and to creating a community that fosters deep friendships and collaborations.

Identifying people who want to contribute and share knowledge takes a bit of work, but it pays off once you get someone involved and they see the benefits it provides, says Julie Luengas, CNIO at Stony Brook Medicine Information Technology.  

Hal Wolf, president and CEO of HIMSS, discusses the predicted shortage of healthcare workers globally by 2030, how digital transformation can help improve the situation, though not completely fix it, and the need to embrace innovation.

Krystal Schramm of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services advises those starting out in health IT to build diverse connections, share their ideas and create their own paths to success.

The HIMSS CIO Connect program enables participants to be able to network and build upon specific goals and desires while harnessing from the experience of many people, says Habi Mojidi, CIO for Medical Readiness in the U.S. Army.