Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
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Unit 1 Health Informatics Career Pathway
Technical Skills in Health Informatics
Technical skills are the practical functions and tasks that a worker
performs in his or her job. For a health informatics worker, being able
to write is an indispensable technical skill that is highly desirable in
the workplace. Since all patient communication and treatment must be
documented, writing accurately and clearly is an important part of a job
in health informatics services. In fact, healthcare workers in all career
pathways need technical writing skills. Written documents connect all of
the workers providing care for a patient (Figure 2.7).
Notice the technical writing tasks that each type of healthcare worker
performs to create documents in a typical patient experience:
• The medical assistant takes a patient’s complete medical history.
• The physician uses the medical history to determine a possible
diagnosis.
• The medical lab technician records lab test results.
• The radiologist reads the images taken by the radiologic technician
and sends a written report to the physician, who uses it to confi rm
the diagnosis.
• The patient receives a letter showing the results of the lab tests.
• The pharmacist follows a written prescription to provide
medication to treat the patient.
• The physical therapist writes a therapy plan and sends written
reports to tell the physician about the patient’s progress.
All of these documents become part of the patient’s medical record.
The health information technician uses the medical record to code the
patient’s diagnosis and treatment and to send a billing statement to the
insurance company. At all of these stages, technical writing skills are
important because accurate and clear documents improve patient care.
Letters
As a health informatics worker, you will write business letters for
a variety of purposes (Figure 2.8). For example, business letters may
tell a patient the results of a test or provide consultation reports to
technical skills
the ability to perform tasks
in a specifi c healthcare
discipline or department
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Figure 2.7 Effective Correspondence
Characteristics Purpose
no unnecessary words avoids wasting the reader's time
accurate and complete information avoids mistakes and misunderstandings
professional appearance (uses Block
Style Format and Standard English)
makes you and your employer appear
competent
logical organization of information avoids frustrating or confusing the
reader