The future of digital healthcare is exciting and right at health professionals’ fingertips, according to Townsville general practitioner (GP) Dr Toni Weller. 

Dr Weller was one of six health professionals who completed the CHIA (Certified Health Informatician Australasia) credential program funded by Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) to build the capacity and capability of the digital health workforce in North Queensland.  

The CHIA credential, managed by the Australasian Institute of Digital Health (AIDH), is a national certification that validates a health professional’s expertise in health informatics, including health sciences, information science, leadership, data, and IT.  

As digital health grows in Australia, many roles now require these skills, including in Dr Weller’s position as the General Practice Liaison Officer at GP Link Townsville Hospital and Health Service (HHS).  

She is also the Queensland GP Liaison Network Co-Chair and a Senior Lecturer at James Cook University’s College of Medicine and Dentistry. 

Dr Weller believes health professionals should be excited, not intimidated, about digital health. 

“Digital innovation, AI (artificial intelligence), and change is already here and part of our daily professional life,” Dr Weller said. “If we don’t understand how to evaluate, consider, and manage digital innovation, we can accelerate risks and harm rather than create healthcare improvement. 

“CHIA is a great way to assess and understand knowledge gaps, as well as improve the understanding for leading and managing in the digital age.  

“I think the certification is relevant to all health professionals, especially leaders and managers.”  

Dr Weller’s work as a GP Liaison Officer is primarily stakeholder engagement, collaborating for systems improvement, healthcare leadership, and working for innovation and change.  

She said the CHIA program was extremely helpful as the domains were broad and covered many areas that were interlinked.  

“I found the information technology domain regarding systems design, lifecycle, and security, and the information science domain were especially relevant for me and expanded my knowledge,” Dr Weller said. 

“I can now assess, consider, and understand new and existing systems, which is essential for evaluation, implementation, and risk management.  

“The CHIA program has a strong focus on the human interaction and change management aspects, which are also important and can be easily forgotten.  

“It showed me the tech itself is only one part to consider with digital healthcare enablement.” 

The AIDH is working on a shorter version of the CHIA accreditation, known as the Digital Health 101 program.  

NQPHN will look to fund future study opportunities to encourage more primary care professionals to upskill in aspects of digital health through CHIA or the Digital Health 101 course.  

“I had been thinking about doing CHIA, however, the opportunity and support from NQPHN was the driver I needed to do the study, and I would recommend this for all healthcare professionals,” Dr Weller said. 

A voluntary study group, run by NQPHN’s Operations Director – Health System Integration and Innovation Janine Cox, was available to support participants throughout the program.  

The study group met fortnightly after hours via Teams to discuss the key content covered over the previous fortnight. 

“The study group was opt-in, collaborative, and motivating. I found it helpful for me,” Dr Weller said. 

The six CHIA participants also have access to AIDH events as an associate member for 12 months.