Workforce

NHS Digital Chief Nurse Caron Swinscoe discusses the recent launch of the HIMSS Nursing & Midwifery Network for England.

Shaw will leave the organisation at Christmas to pursue a consulting career.

Watch the second day of our livestream from AsiaPac19 in Bangkok, Thailand, which includes interviews with healthcare IT industry luminaries, thought leaders and innovators.

The HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare Workforce Development Initiative (WDI) was officially launched on the opening day of the HIMSS AsiaPac 2019 conference on October 7 in Bangkok, Thailand. This Initiative sees the development of a three-year work plan to address the demand of patients for digital healthcare services in light of the Thailand 4.0 digitisation journey, as well as healthcare tourism being one of the key economy drivers. Eight Thai hospitals have agreed to come onboard to be part of the HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI. They are:  Bangpakok Hospital Group Khon Kaen University Hospital Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University Hua Chiew Hospital Vejthani Hospital Principal Healthcare TPP Healthcare Ramathibodi Hospital Through this collaboration, HIMSS will focus on elevating the digital competency in the Thailand Healthcare workforce through the adoption of Healthcare IT certifications like Certified Professional in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CPHIMS) and Certified Associate in Healthcare Information & Management Systems (CAHIMS) for capacity building in Healthcare Information core competency and Digital Health technology capabilities. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health, Dr. Sukhum Kanchanapimai, was the guest of honour at the conference opening, and he spoke about Thailand’s ongoing efforts in promoting telemedicine, such as the pilot telemedicine project that was implemented in rural areas in eight provinces, which Healthcare IT News reported in March this year. As part of the HIMSS Thailand National Digital Healthcare WDI, HIMSS also announced its intention to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with True Digital Group, a subsidiary of True Corporation, a leading communications conglomerate in Thailand, to create a HIMSS Digital Health Centre @ True Digital Park. Managing Director and Executive Vice President of HIMSS International Bruce Steinberg and Ekaraj Panjavinin, Managing Director of Digital Solutions at True Digital Group, were on-stage to talk about the collaboration during the opening of the conference. A total of five vendor partners have also come aboard: Abbott and GE Healthcare as Knowledge Partners, Elsevier and Philips as Industry Partners and AXA as Supporting Partner. The purpose of the HIMSS Digital Health Centre is threefold: to encourage more collaboration between different stakeholders in the industry, to accelerate the digital health workforce development and to create more exposure for digital health solutions in general. The collaboration of HIMSS together with local stakeholders in the Thailand healthcare ecosystem with a concerted effort to develop the Thai digital healthcare workforce bodes well for the future of digital health in the country.

Deep Dive: The final installment of the four-part series on cybersecurity offers practical advice on preventing attacks and mitigating their fallout.

Helen Balsdon, assistant director of nursing informatics at Cambridge University Hospitals, says just because the technology exists doesn't mean that it's the right technology for clinicians.

The health system used a new data management platform to combine 15 different provider databases, better enabling patients to schedule appointments online and through a new Patient Engagement Center.

James Freed, chief information officer at Health Education England, says to get the NHS on a sustainable path, stakeholders need to work in a more efficient, "cleverer" way.

AsiaPac19 will explore the challenge of homegrown EMRs and the "iron triangle" of healthcare as well as host the signing of the Thailand National Digital Healthcare Workforce Development Initiative Oct. 7-10 in Bangkok, Thailand.