Professional growth is an integral part of a successful career path.  Having the ability to have data at your fingertips to learn and grow from is also invaluable to the process.  HIMSS has a variety of white papers, position papers and various other opportunities for educational enrichment to nature a career in healthcare IT.  One example of this is the HIMSS Health IT Body of Knowledge.  This is an organized approach to providing up-to-date data and materials pertaining to a variety of healthcare topics seen today.  This particular offering provides a rich and organized compilation of educational material that introduces the reader to essential definitions, descriptions and discussions in key topic areas related to health information systems and management.  The material is broad in scope and covers a variety of topics.  Also, if you are new to healthcare and/or new to healthcare IT, this site will provide information on the basics that you need to know to become grounded in the field and to succeed.  HIMSS Professional Development created this organized approach of educational information in an effort to gather knowledge about a specific topic related to health IT or to gain a more complete knowledge of health information systems and management.  The Health IT Body of Knowledge is also focused primarily on the management of systems and information.

Content in the Health IT Body of Knowledge is comprised of articles, tools, and guidelines from many authoritative sources, including HIMSS.  The documents have all been reviewed by content experts to ensure credibility, accuracy, and completeness. Non-HIMSS subject expertise and sources are also included to ensure breadth and scope of data has been included. Topics include: healthcare environment, patient-centered systems such as nursing informatics and clinical systems, business-centered systems such as medical banking and revenue cycle, as well as strategy and planning.  These various example topics help to educate and support the various healthcare initiatives encountered in healthcare IT career paths today.

The Health IT Body of Knowledge will continue to be expanded and updated.  New documents will, for a short time after they are introduced, be linked under a “New Item” link on the left navigation column.  For additional information on many of the topics in the Health IT Body of Knowledge, the HIMSS website offers an abundance of content and news on specific areas of interest to members and visitors.   Many of these can be found under “Topics and Tools” in the navigation bar at www.himss.org or visit the HIT Body of Knowledge directly.

And remember...Be passionate about your career path and strive to make a difference and learn, learn…learn.  Technology is only the enabler; individuals will be the “transformers” of health IT in the years to come!