CiLN membership passes 300

NEWS – eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

The Clinical Informatics Leadership Network passed 300 members just over a year after its creation.

The network is a “NZ-based, multi-disciplinary and responsive health network for people with a clinical background and interest in data and/or digital” and held its first meeting in November 2018.

Since then membership has grown steadily and has now reached 323. Wellington radiologist Alistair Rumball-Smith was the 300th clinician to sign up late last year.

“I have been aware of CiLN for a year or so and as a radiologist with a keen interest in informatics I felt it was important to sign up and be part of that community,” he says.

The core of CiLN is an online forum hosted on the Discourse platform, which was set up by the UK’s Digital Health Networks.

“The Discourse forum is fantastic, it’s a really good way to have the wide range of clinical leaders interested in informatics discuss things and communicate effectively,” Rumball-Smith says.

“Everyone’s trying to solve the same problems so it’s great to see collaboration happening on a more regular basis.”

Rumball-Smith also appreciates the opportunity to meet fellow members face to face during the year.

“There’s something special about being able to sit down and have a cup of coffee with someone and being able to ask more pointed questions about how people are dealing with problems and how to collaborate better,” he says.

CiLN co-chair Karen Blake describes the growth of the network as “extraordinary”.

“I don’t think any of us thought we would end up with over 300 members,” she says.

“What’s really interesting is we haven’t traditionally been able to understand the clinical informatics workforce very well, but through CiLN membership we’re starting to understand just how many people there are working in digital health from a clinical perspective.”

The increasing membership means there is a greater number and diversity of people who can respond to questions or make comments on the online forum.

“I love the power of the hive mind and with CiLN, the more people we have in the hive the greater the power of the mind,” says Blake.

“At our very first meeting people talked about working in isolation. CiLN is helping to reduce that by giving people a community, and that it’s a virtual community is part of the ethos of working in digital health.”

Blake would like to see more members from those working in the non-registered and community sectors such as Māori and Pasifika health workers.

“We haven’t connected well with that community yet, but I’m sure she will,” she says.

CiLN is supported by HiNZ. Join HiNZ here >>

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