eHealth Competency Profiles

The objective of ICTC’s eHealth initiative is to identify and develop competency profiles for key in-demand eHealth occupations and domain knowledge areas (DKAs). The profiles will facilitate the development of human resource strategies targeted at training and recruitment, thereby ensuring an adequate supply of qualified workers for this growing sector. This initiative brought together developers and end users of healthcare technologies to a common platform to capture the key tasks and behaviors undertaken and represented within these profiles.The eHealth Competency Profiles are a description of the occupations, educational background, job titles, key activities and tasks with the corresponding performance indicators, as well as technical, business and interpersonal competencies required for occupations within the Electronic Health Information System (EHIS). Twelve eHealth occupations and domain knowledge areas have been identified and developed that represent Health Informatics (HI), Health Information Management (HIM) and Health Information Technology (HIT) disciplines. The outcomes of this project will help to influence Statistics Canada’s National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes that provide a standardized language for describing the work performed by Canadians in the eHealth occupations, and effectively track labour market information over time.
“Canadians in the eHealth occupations, and effectively track labour market information over time. There are professions and opportunities within eHealth that ICT professionals are not even aware of, and a program like this would help raise the awareness of such opportunities, and thus help Canada address its skills shortage.“ Cecilia Ryan, Vice President, Professional Services, TELUS Health Solutions

“Using the ICT Competency Profiles framework is much more efficient. Instead of taking days and weeks to develop an ICT job description, it takes less than an hour to review the framework for a specific occupation, select the competencies that are most relevant, and develop a job description that is specific to my organization. The result is a comprehensive ICT job description that helps line managers succeed in recruiting the right person for the right job at the right time.“ David Wilson, HR Professional

Key Benefits of the eHealth Competency Profiles

Employers
	Select suitable candidates through competency based interviews Tap into hidden skills and retain top talent through performance management Determine learning and development needs through skills gap analysis Manage succession planning through retention of high-potential employees
Educators
	Establish and review courses and curricula against learning outcomes that reflect local, regional or national industry requirements Design and deliver training for professional development, including a core of theoretical knowledge relevant for all HI, HIM and HIT occupational groups
Individuals
	Provides a description of the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for career pathing Assists with identifying skills gap and targeting professional training for career advancement

Industry Participation

Throughout the development process, the eHealth Competency Profiles gained insight and inputs from numerous focus groups, consultations with industry stakeholders, subject matter experts and educators in the ICT and healthcare domains across Canada. These quality feedbacks have ensured that the developed competency profiles satisfy industry requirements.
For more information, please contact us via email at eHealth@ictc-ctic.ca .