FHINZ Profile – Karen Day

FHiNZ PROFILE - Karen Day, senior lecturer health informatics, Auckland University

Describe your career to date and how that led you to be a Fellow of HiNZ?
I am a registered nurse and midwife with a Master of management and a PhD in change management linked to health IT projects. I had already been working in informatics roles for 10 years before I started my PhD – design and implementation of software, using data for performance reports, and designing a decision support system. In the last 18 years I have been an academic and my research and teaching are applied, giving real world learning to other digital health specialists.

What does being nominated and accepted as a Fellow mean to you?
For me, it means that what I’ve done to make a career of digital health specialist work has been seen and acknowledged. Being part of this elite community that consists of heroes of digital health is a privilege and a responsibility – to take others with me on this path and make a difference. As a Fellow I am a role model to others like me. I show you that your contribution is valuable and valued. It means a lot to me to have cleared a path for others to follow. May your journey be as interesting and exciting as mine has been, and may it also be acknowledged.

What is your advice to other digital health specialists who are thinking of nominating themselves or others?
Take a long look at your CV and reflect on your career to date. Resist the urge to be self-deprecating (we New Zealanders do this a lot). Tell your story as it is. Ask for help to complete the forms – existing Fellows are available to mentor you. If you’re nominating someone, ask them to help you write their story. If you’re applying for yourself, you need nominators to sign off the form, so choose nominators who can mentor you as you complete the form (assuming they’re not already your mentors and also Fellows).

What’s your favourite piece of technology at home and why?
My tablet is my favourite tech. Its e-reader is my most precious app. I have an irrational fear of being caught in a queue or stuck in a lift without something to read. Before I got my tablet, I bought handbags big enough to hold a novel or anything else I was reading. Now it doesn’t matter. I have my tablet. An e-reader device is too small and doesn’t give me that special book-feel while I’m reading. It also enables me to do other things like drawing and note making. I wouldn’t be me without it!



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