Summary
Background: Biomedical informatics programs exist in many countries. Some analyses of the skills
needed and of recommendations for curricular content for such programs have been published.
However, not much is known of the job profiles and job careers of their graduates.
Objectives: To analyse the job profiles and job careers of 175 graduates of the biomedical informatics
bachelor and master program of the Tyrolean university UMIT.
Methods: Survey of all biomedical informatics students who graduated from UMIT between 2001
and 2013.
Results: Information is available for 170 graduates. Eight percent of graduates are male.
Of all bachelor graduates, 86% started a master program. Of all master graduates,
36% started a PhD. The job profiles are quite diverse: at the time of the survey,
35% of all master graduates worked in the health IT industry, 24% at research institutions,
9% in hospitals, 9% as medical doctors, 17% as informaticians outside the health care
sector, and 6% in other areas. Overall, 68% of the graduates are working as biomedical
informaticians. The results of the survey indicate a good job situation for the graduates.
Conclusions: The job opportunities for biomedical informaticians who graduated with a bachelor
or master degree from UMIT seem to be quite good. The majority of graduates are working
as biomedical informaticians. A larger number of comparable surveys of graduates from
other biomedical informatics programs would help to enhance our knowledge about careers
in biomedical informatics.
Keywords
Medical informatics - curriculum - career mobility - job description - education
