It’s four years since Bendigo Health made news headlines when their first cohort of health professionals passed their exams and became certified health informaticians (CHIAs). WIN News called health informatics a “new field of medicine which is going to improve how care is given”. It may not be a field of medicine, but they were right about the potential to improve patient care. Back then, the group were trailblazers! We had fewer than 300 CHIAs and word was just getting around this was THE exam to test your knowledge and be recognised at expert level. Bendigo Health was one of the first healthcare organisations to see the value in supporting a group of employees through certification and they continue to be a great endorsement for CHIA in the workforce.
Today more than 1,100 professionals across dozens of organisations have been certified, CHIA is evolving to span more workforce streams and there is a CHIA alumni group for networking and continuing professional development.