MSHI Alumni

Richard is a Clinical Informatics Analyst at Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho where he works with Physicians, Nurses, Pharmacists, Lab Technicians and other healthcare personnel to investigate problems and implement informatics-based solutions. Richard enjoys working in this fast paced healthcare environment that offers different challenges each day including trouble shooting EHR issues, training providers on effectively using the EHR system, identifying the underlying cause of system interface problems, etc. Each day Richard is constantly on the lookout for ways to make workflow processes more efficient and ease the demand on users of healthcare systems.

Prior to beginning the MSHI program, Richard worked for a state governmental agency as an Assistant Planner and Code Enforcement Officer. In addition to the MSHI, he has a Bachelor degree in Political Science from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

What would you tell potential students about the MSHI program?

Under the guidance of Health Informatics faculty, I learned vital research skills, which taught me how to develop and enhance valuable critical thinking skills that allowed me to identify, analyze and solve complex problems occurring in the healthcare environment. The exceptional MSHI faculty challenged me at every step to improve my performance and deliver quality assignments. This not only made me a better student, but gave me life-skills that made me a better person. The dedication and effort of Health Informatics faculty to ensure the long term success of students and the MSHI program helped me grow as a student and opened doors for valuable real-world internships in healthcare organizations which ultimately led to a Clinical Informatics career opportunity at Bingham Memorial Hospital.

Rachana is a Healthcare Business Analyst at ConsultAdd, Inc. where she works on projects as a techno-functional business analyst and liaison between end-users and non-clinical and systems analysts within leading California healthcare organizations. Rachana interacts with business users to understand new business requirements and enhancement requests; she prepares design documents, clinical process workflow diagrams and functional specifications. She participates in user focus groups and requirement workshops, performs data analysis and uses SQL queries and interpretations to generate reports.

Rachana obtained an MBA, with an Informatics emphasis, before joining the MSHI program. She had no healthcare background before entering the program, but quickly gained critical healthcare knowledge through healthcare courses and interacting with healthcare personnel.

What would you tell potential students about the MSHI program?

The MSHI program provided me an opportunity to explore healthcare and helped build my technical skills. The program helped me develop my techno-functional skills and supported me as I advanced my knowledge of clinical healthcare. As an individual with no healthcare background, this program gave me a platform to equip myself with more technical skills.

Patrick is an EHR Support Specialist at Human Development Center in Superior Wisconsin where he writes SQL queries to extract data from the EHR, validates the data, and develops EHR reports. For report requests he reviews the EHR and database documentation to gather information required for the report. Once the data elements and extraction conditions and exemptions are defined, he writes the query, ensuring data is pulled correctly. He works closely with end users and healthcare administrators to ensure information delivered enhances workflow. Patrick also designs, develops and implements informatics solutions for generation of ad hoc reports to expedite report delivery to enhance decision-making at Human Development Center.

In addition to the MSHI, Patrick has a BS in Chemistry and MPH degrees from the University of North Dakota. He worked as a nursing aide at Altru Hospital in Grand Forks North Dakota and served in the Army National Guard of North Dakota and Idaho. Patrick completed his MSHI practicum at Bear Lake Memorial Hospital in Montpelier, Idaho where he gained valuable real-world experience in the technical aspects of healthcare. For his capstone project, he developed a mobile application that predicted the risk of adult prediabetes using Xamarin Forms.

What would you tell potential students about the MSHI program?

The MSHI program opened my eyes to an entirely new world of healthcare regarding the speed of information and knowledge. I would have never seen it without the support of Health Informatics faculty who set me up for success. I know the faculty will set you up for success as well! The faculty does a wonderful job teaching and supporting students so that they can get the most out of the MSHI program. Be expected to work hard and push yourself. I assure you that your hard work will pay off.

Upama is a Clinical Data Specialist at Mountain View Hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho where she assists with the management of data cleaning and reconciliation to ensure timely quality deliverables to assist clinical decision-making.

Upama completed the MBA program before pursuing the MSHI degree. She previously worked as a Business Consultant conducting marking and financial data analysis including year-over-year comparisons and trend analysis as a Graduate Assistant.