Health IT Workforce Development: Rural Health and Ethnic Minorities

By Patricia Hinton Walker, RN, PhD, FAAN, and Mary Walker

Challenges related to educational development of the health IT workforce are highlighted
in a 2008 HIMSS AnalyticsTM report focused on three groups: information technology
(IT); health information management (HIM), and biomedical informatics (BMI).1 Besides
these groups, millions of healthcare professionals providing care are a critical part of the
health IT workforce. Of these providers who need health IT education and training, over
2.6 million are nurses. Surveys show a significant number of leaders, including nurses,
need education and training related to selection and adoption of health IT across the
healthcare continuum. Besides building the future workforce to address shortages of
health professionals, there is also a need for health IT education for those currently in
practice. This is particularly true for rural settings and ethnic minority populations.
A multiracial and diverse workforce is critical to improve health disparities, health
outcomes and access according to Sullivan.2 Enrollment of minorities in health
professional schools increased slightly in 1960, 1970 and 1980, but the gap for minorities
is staggering considering todays changing demographics. In the latest National Sample
Survey of Registered Nurses, nurses from minority backgrounds represent 10.7 percent of
the RN workforce (4.2 percent African American; 1.7 percent Hispanic; 3.1 percent
Asian/Native Hawaiian; 0.3 percent American Indian/Alaskan Native; and 1.4 percent
multi-racial nurses).3 Additionally, unequal access to computers by race in the United
States creates skill barriers to employment by less-educated minorities. Estimations are
that 55 percent and 46.6 percent of Asians and whites, respectively, have computer access
at home, compared to 25.5 percent and 23.2 percent of Latinos and blacks, respectively.
4
Also, there are insufficient minority health professional leaders and mentors.
Leaders at the 2009 National Rural Health IT Summit identified strategies such as:
Assess health IT education programs and new skill sets needed;
Identify interdisciplinary workforce re-training opportunities;
Create stackable certificates, and advanced degree programs, and inhouse education; and
o Address multi-cultural, multi-lingual needs in electronic patient health
records.
o
o
o

Recommended action steps:

o Create a business plan and template for small remote providers;
o Build workforce retraining modules with continuing education;
o Market to returning veterans with IT skills and younger professionals;
o Develop a diverse workforce; and
5
o Collaborate across practice, education institutions and rural settings.

The TIGER (Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform) Initiative Phase III is
focusing on rural and minority issues. The TIGER Phase III vision is to create a Virtual

Learning Environment (VLE) accessible across the United States for workforce
development and education. The VLE will facilitate learning via modules because
learners will have access to EHR and PHR examples. Additionally, TIGER Phase III has
plans to disseminate the Executive Summary and reports from TIGER Phase II. Several
of these reports are relevant to workforce development needs of rural populations and
ethnic minorities including: competencies, education and faculty development, staff
development, leadership and health IT policy. The target population relevant to this
discussion is the consumer, which is addressed in the Consumer and PHR section of the
executive summary.6
References:

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Hersh, W. and Wright, A. (2008). Characterizing the Health Information Technology Workforce: Analysis from the HIMSS Analytics Database.
Sullivan, Louis W. (March 2004). Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions, A Report of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the
Healthcare Workforce.
National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. (March 2004). HRSA Bureau of Health Professions.
Stoll, M.A. (July 2003). Workforce Development in Minority Communities. Working Paper Series from the Center for the Study of Urban Poverty.
University of California, Los Angeles.
National Rural Health Information Technology Workforce Summit Summary. (September 2009). Washington D.C.
Collaborating to Integrate Evidence and Informatics into Nursing Practice and Education: An Executive Summary. (2009). The TIGER Initiative.

Patricia Hinton Walker, RN, PhD, FAAN, is vice president for nursing policy uniformed
services at the University of the Health Sciences. Mary Walker works for the Health &
Human Services Special Programs at Agilex Technologies Inc.
NOTE: This article appeared in the February 2010 issue of HIMSS Clinical
Informatics Insights. Subscribe online.