Health information professionals can work anywhere that health information is needed, e.g. NHS, academic institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, health and related charities.
Information professionals may be working with health professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, biomedical scientists etc), patients, the general public, researchers and businesses.
Tasks, and the way in which they are carried out, will depend on the specific area of health information and may include:
- using online information sources, journals, books etc to answer enquiries
- contributing to evidence-based practice, carrying out literature searches to help find evidence to inform ways forward in patient care and hospital management
- organising information and evaluating information sources
- providing current awareness services
- providing training in literature searching techniques to health professionals, students etc
- developing and maintaining web sites and portal pages
- staff and budgetary management
Like colleagues in other sectors, health information professionals need good ICT skills for effective interrogation of electronic databases in order to deliver accurate information as quickly as possible.
Salary
Recommended salaries can be found in the Health salary guide.
Further information
CILIP members can join a special interest group, the Health Libraries Group (HLG). The Group's Guide to Working in Health Information includes case studies written by health information practitioners.