No Mentor? Here’s How to Keep Up To Date With the Health Informatics Field
So much AI so little time...
I get it, I too am tired of hearing about AI taking over all our jobs or that you need to learn this specific AI tool, wait no… this AI tool!
I believe in just-in-time learning (learning the information we need and can apply right away). After all, we all have to work a 9-5 and touch grass, we can’t be learning AI tools all the time.
However, Notebook LM is one AI tool to which I have been able to apply real use cases. This tool has been a game-changer for me when it comes to staying up-to-date with the ever-changing field of health informatics.
You can click the video below for a brief overview of this tool if you would like to try it out yourself
Here are a few use cases for Notebook LM:
Use Case #1: What are the Relevant Skills You Should Know in the Health Informatics Field
Download relevant open-source articles from Google Scholar on what relevant skills are key to learning in the health informatics field
Once you find relevant articles (I filtered for research articles that were published after 2021) then you can practice your “prompt engineering” skills.
I think as these AI tools become better at synthesizing huge amounts of information, our job as knowledge workers will move from trying to analyze and gather multiple resources across the internet to being able to refine our critical thinking skills and determine the best questions to ask these AI models.
This is what prompt engineering is all about (Sidenote: I have no idea who named this, but I find the title a bit unnecessary, just call it asking better questions??). It will be critical to have domain expertise in the industry you are interested in and the necessary experience to be able to determine if the information that the AI model has output is a hallucination or if it accurate.
Here is a great video from Tina Huang where she talks about how to ask better questions to these large language models, garbage in = garbage out, so the real work comes into play when it comes to determining which articles should be fed into Notebook LM.
What are Relevant Skills You Should Know in the Health Informatics Field?
From asking this above prompt in Notebook LM, this was my result, based on the three reseach articles I input…
To stay current in the field of health informatics, you should focus on developing skills in data/statistical analysis, working in multidisciplinary teams, biomedical/clinical experience, software skills such as SQL, Python and R, and a working knowledge of electronic health records.Here are some of the key skills to learn, according to the sources:
Data/statistical analysis This skill is highly sought after in health informatics positions. According to one study, 68% of health informatics job postings required data or statistical analysis skills.
Working in multidisciplinary teams Many job postings also require the ability to collaborate with others. It was found that 35% of job postings listed multidisciplinary teamwork as a necessary skill.
Biomedical/clinical experience Having experience in a clinical setting can be an asset. 30% of job postings mentioned biomedical or clinical experience as a desired skill.
Software skills Common programming languages include SQL, Python, and R.
Electronic Health Records (EHR) Knowledge of electronic health records is frequently listed as a desired skill. Approximately 28% of job postings mention EHR/EMR knowledge.
References:
Joshi A, Bruce I, Amadi C, Amatya J. Developing Evidence-based Population Health Informatics curriculum: Integrating competency based model and job analysis. Online J Public Health Inform. 2021 Jun 9;13(1):e10. doi: 10.5210/ojphi.v13i1.11517. PMID: 34221245; PMCID: PMC8238051.
Davies A, Mueller J, Hassey A, Moulton G. Development of a core competency framework for clinical informatics. BMJ Health Care Inform. 2021 Jul;28(1):e100356. doi: 10.1136/bmjhci-2021-100356. PMID: 34266851; PMCID: PMC8286765.
Lau F. Distributed health informatics graduate education for working professionals. Int J Med Inform. 2007 May-Jun;76(5-6):344-50. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2007.01.008. Epub 2007 Feb 16. PMID: 17307030.
I have been referring to these skills quite often, throughout my content, so it’s nice to know that the current academic research is aligning with industry insights. This can help you to focus your energy on these different areas or you might want to do further research and add more sources to confirm where you want to spend your time learning.
Use Case #2: Create a Study Guide to Prepare for a Health Informatics Certification
There are several features for Notebook LM in that it can create a study guide, if you are studying for a certification (e.g., CPHIMS, CPHIMS-CA, RHIA) in the Health Informatics field you can add relevant sources, including any online textbooks or YouTube videos to help you create a study guide to prepare for this certification.
Use Case #3: Create Your Own Health Informatics Portfolio Project
There are several research projects that you can find online, you can get a better sense of their methodology without having to read a 200-page thesis to use as a reference tool. This can be done by inputting healthcare research projects into Notebook LM to get an understanding of how they went about the data cleansing and statistical exploration steps, and try to recreate this methodology with your own dataset to practice. If you’re looking for a faster way to learn, check out my course to learn key technical skills in this field (e.g., Power BI and SQL), create your own relevant portfolio project and stand out to hiring managers.
Resources
Interesting Events
Another great resource here to learn more about how to integrate Notebook LM into your work
Interested in learning more about how to implement AI? Apply for a research internship at the Vector Institute
Job posting: Machine Learning Scientist - Computational Biology
Joy Corner
Next week, I will be on vacation, cruising with family. I am looking forward to the beautiful sunny weather and time away from work. What are you looking forward to this summer?
Accreditation: @tibush