Pamela Hussey

I came to informatics relatively late in my career following twenty years as a practicing nurse in general medicine. Married with two children I opted to remain clinically focused over the early years of my career as I enjoyed practicing in a number of acute care hospitals - I was also fortunate enough to spend 2 years working in differing health care settings across Western Australia. I was introduced to informatics by Paula Procter when I completed a module as part of a Master’s in Education in Dublin City University. As I began to contempate my career advancement options a Master’s Degree in Education seemed the logical choice as I enjoyed educating patients and students as part of my practice. It was quite evident to me on completion of this module that the potential impact informatics could afford health and society (both nationally and globally) were not insignificant.

I believed that the professional opportunities informatics presented were considerable and included a more efficient organisation of care flow, and design and deployment of patient centred electronic health records. Today these thoughts still ring true however what is evident now for me is the need for clarity particularly in regard to understanding the political landscape that must be travelled strategically in order to translate the informatics agenda into a reality. Current global austerity measures look towards contemporary nursing informatics activities requiring tactical outputs with clear yardstick measures to demonstrate the value of the nursing contribution within health and society.

Within a year of completion of this initial degree I was approached in the organisation that I was employed within to lead on a nursing informatics programme. My relationship with technology would never have been described as comfortable, however the skill set I had acquired over the years seemed to suit this role very well. Core attributes I would include in this list were effective communication, problem solving and innovation skills. Over the next four years I was promoted in grade quite quickly and subsequently encouraged to apply for an academic post which I successfully obtained. Moving to academia I acquired additional qualifications along the way which included a Masters in Health Informatics and a PhD in Computer Science. I balanced my time between education and research in informatics over the next ten years and developed an interest in online programme development. Today, I co-ordinate the online top up degree programme and teach informatics across different programmes. I am passionate about my teaching and subscribe to the quote by William Butler Yeats that Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.

Mid to late career I came to recognise that if nursing informatics was ever going to have any opportunity to engage with eHealth strategy and policy at a European or national level than an education in relevant health informatics standards was important. I engaged with and pursued the nursing, health and social care agenda within the CEN standards bodies and my passion and interest in the uptake and use of informatics to shape next generation health care continued to grow. Individuals such as Dr Kathryn Hannah who I met through the health informatics standards network have had a significant contribution to my thinking in addition to fostering my professional development. Looking back on this career pathway to date I recognise that I have worn different hats at different times.

Initially Information and Communication Technology, Electronic Health Records and Standards were my key focus. Whilst these are still significant to future development agendas, more recently I use my time to engage with nursing informatics, translational research, and ensuring the voice of nursing in ICT Strategic Developments Nationally is evident. I believe this approach is instrumental for maximising equitable individual health outcomes for contemporary Irish society.