Krishna Kumar, CEO, Learnbay explains that a healthcare professional can easily transition or advance their career in the fields of data science and data analytics without changing domains. They can specialise in their field and develop extensive knowledge by working as data professionals and analysts
Data science is not a foreign concept in healthcare industries today. But data has become a valuable source for every organisation. Similarly, the medical sector generates a significant amount of data daily. Analysing this enormous amount of data and generating useful insights has become a prominent factor in the healthcare sector. And to deal with such a scenario, it has become very evident for a professional to possess skills in analytics and healthcare-related technologies.
Over the past few years, there has been a huge surge and significant demand for data science and analytics professionals. And during the COVID outbreak, healthcare data professionals devised a number of AI and ML-related approaches to anticipate the severity and to halt the spread of diseases. When approaching data science or data analytics fields, adequate and efficient knowledge of tools, methodologies, and applications can result in beneficial outcomes. All these factors can help researchers, analysts, and data scientists in this industry provide a better understanding of data to reduce or prevent any underlying symptoms in a patient’s health.
How can a healthcare worker advance himself to the role of a healthcare data scientist/analyst?
A healthcare professional can easily transition or advance their career in the fields of data science and data analytics without changing domains. They can specialise in their field and develop extensive knowledge by working as data professionals and analysts.
The healthcare sector deals with various low-end jobs where they can easily switch their careers as data scientists or data professionals. Clerks, pharmacy technicians, and medical billers, a few examples, who work in low-wage jobs, can readily advance their careers in data analysis. This will assist them in advancing their careers by sticking to relevant job domains.
Medical data science is still considered a fresh, new area of study consisting mainly of epidemiology, computer science, mathematics, statistics, and informatics. With a fundamental understanding of statistics, science, and technology, one can easily pursue a career as a data scientist or data analytics.
Apparently, there are various edtech that is enhancing the role of working professionals in data science and data analytics through online courses and flexible learning opportunities.
The following are some tips for healthcare professionals looking to advance their data skills:
Evaluate skill gaps
Identify skills required in the market or trending skills that recruiters look for. These can be:
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Technical skills such as programming
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Statistical skill sets, etc.
Analysing current and future needs in any industry will help you identify areas with a skill gap. This allows you to evaluate and improve your work performance.
Allocate a learning period
You should have time for learning aside from your regular work hours (if any) and dedicate this period to advancing and upskilling yourself. Learning and implementing new skills in practice is an efficient way to upskill oneself in any specific area. You’ll also gain substantial insights from industry experts on various practices.
Professional certifications
Certifications are a great way to help professionals stay relevant in the market and prove their talents. Medical certificates display the credentials and expertise gained by the holder. You may enroll in any certification courses to upskill yourself and get recognized worldwide.
Interpersonal skills
The development of soft skills needed in a medical workplace is as necessary. To be a successful healthcare worker, you must possess various skills, including those related to communication, empathy, teamwork, stress management, etc.
Let’s talk about a few job opportunities healthcare professionals possess after transitioning to data science.
Healthcare data analyst:
Healthcare data analysts generate information from relevant data sets that can be used, analyzed, and interpreted to improve healthcare sectors. The facilities you will develop can range from reducing patient care costs to examining and introducing new equipment for optimising basic procedures. They analyse data corresponding to patient care, such as health records, operational costs, billing, etc.
Healthcare statistician:
The role of a healthcare statistician will involve the following:
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Implementing medical research for validation.
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Screening core procedures.
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Conduct experiments with other medical workers.
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Providing mentorship to others.
Your exceptional skills in statistical platforms like Statit & SAS and familiarity with SQL (Structured Query Language) will greatly help and provide immense expertise in the healthcare industry.
Healthcare data scientist:
As a data scientist, your technical skills come in handy while analyzing raw data to detect inconsistencies and trends. Your role will entail assisting executives in arranging facts and developing the goals of the organization based on insights gathered from raw datasets. You can also create algorithms to utilise the collected data and discover solutions to meet company requirements.
What is the future of data science in healthcare?
There are some factors data science takes into consideration that lead to its development in the healthcare field. These include: digitalisation of the workplace, technological progress, demand for dealing with a large population, Providing reduced costs and periods for medical care, etc. Data science is dealing with major issues in the industry effectively. The 21st Century totally relies on data, and data science is playing a prominent role in the healthcare sector. As a healthcare data scientist, new advancements to some already implemented procedures.
In the future, deploying data science procedures will be even more helpful. It has the potential to propel the healthcare business forward. The doctors can provide even better assistance to their patients, who will receive personalised healthcare and treatment. In a nutshell, we can ensure that data analytics and data science can surely help in boosting medical amenities accessibility with standardised data management.
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