Defining the Health Information Technology discipline: results from the 2018 Australian and New Zealand censuses

The health information technology specialist group is a hidden workforce supporting the information technology and system needs in the healthcare sector. For the first time, this paper explores the demographic, educational, and occupational characteristics of this specialist group in Australia and New Zealand. A total of 227 responses from the 2018 Australian Health Information Workforce Census and the 2018 New Zealand Health Information Workforce Census were analysed. The analysis reports two-third of respondents were born in Australia or New Zealand, with the majority (98.3%) citizens or permanent residents. Most of this specialist group is male (58.1%) aged 45 year or older (53.3%), and nearly half do not possess a formal qualification in this field (47.6%). Most roles are permanent, full-time position in the public healthcare system, such as hospitals or state/federal departments, or in the health technology industry. Roles in this specialist group are still emerging, with respondents working in the field on average 11.9 years, and in their current role 5.6 years. There is an opportunity to build capacity in this specialist group through workforce planning, in particular developing specialist qualification and career pathways. This will be necessary to meet the growing demand for specialist in these roles to support digital transformation and innovation.