Ask someone to define clinical informatics, and you’re likely to be met with a blank stare — a reaction that outlines its niche status despite its growing importance in healthcare.
As the industry grapples with rising operational and technological challenges, clinical informatics has emerged as a critical enabler of innovation in healthtech, though it remains widely misunderstood. Even less common is the idea of a fully trained nurse venturing into this male-dominated field.
Clinical informatics in Singapore
Informatics is a translation discipline – it helps to transform different “languages” into one that can be used for effective communication. In that respect, clinical informatics employees, who are usually both medically-savvy and IT trained, serve as the bridge between healthcare and tech employees to help all parties speak and understand the same language.
Such collaborative effort underscores the importance of fostering a more inclusive discipline. Greater representation from women can bring a more empathetic and human-centered perspective to the field, balancing the process-oriented approach with a focus on compassion and patient-centric solutions. By embracing diversity, the field of informatics can unlock even greater potential to drive innovation and improve outcomes in healthcare.
A specialist nurse turned IT professional in clinical informatics
I have spent six years as a full-time Emergency nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital before 2015, where I immersed myself in the complexities of patient care. Over the years, as Singapore’s public healthcare system grappled with rising healthcare demands and the unprecedented challenges of the 2020 global pandemic, I witnessed firsthand how healthtech innovations became a game-changer for healthcare professionals. These advancements not only enhanced patient care but also transformed the way healthcare teams operated.
One of the most pressing pain points I have observed was the considerable amount of administrative tasks, which can sometimes take time and energy away from direct patient care. I began to see how healthtech solutions could alleviate these inefficiencies, enabling healthcare professionals to focus on what truly matters — delivering exceptional care to patients. This realisation sparked my growing interest in the potential of healthtech to reshape Singapore’s healthcare landscape.
Also Read: How the tech industry can become friendlier for women
Driven by a desire to make a broader impact, I took a bold step and pursued a postgraduate degree in clinical informatics — a field that was still in its early stages and far from mainstream recognition. I see a symbiotic relationship between healthcare and technology. For healthtech to be effective, I believe that it should be clinically relevant and designed to address real-world challenges faced by healthcare professionals.
My journey in healthtech took a significant leap in 2015 when I joined the Clinical Informatics Team and saw the development of many national healthtech initiatives. My fondest experience was with HealthHub – Singapore’s national digital healthcare platform which serves to provide patients with equips citizens with information on medical conditions, medical listings and secure access to health records at their fingertips.
Once, I witnessed how the app kept my family member informed and reassured during a medical episode, while also significantly easing the workload for healthcare providers. It was a testament to how technology could create meaningful, human-centred solutions.
Empowering more women to chart their dreams
I believe that adaptability is important for women to succeed in today’s fast-paced technological landscape, and many women in the field demonstrate a strong ability to adjust to changing technologies.
As a passionate advocate for nurses in healthcare and women actively planning their careers, I notice that many misconceptions still exist. Women often encounter challenges such as the balancing dual roles, experiencing imposter syndrome, and facing gender-specific biases.
I am grateful for the strong peer support within my team at Synapxe as I navigate my career transition. I believe my contributions help address what an all-male team might find challenging — bringing empathy into our thought processes, which can sometimes be overlooked in complex IT scenarios.
I hope to share more success stories of women in technology to encourage young girls and women to pursue their dreams in unconventional fields. One inspiring figure would be Dr. Caroline Hargrove, who invented the F1 simulator and later moved into healthtech, where she created AI-driven telehealth applications to improve health outcomes. She is one of the many role models I hope more women will look up to and emulate.
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