From the Operating Room to Health Informatics: My Journey into Tech

Chantale444 — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 19:20:39 +0000

For more than 13 years, healthcare has been my professional world.

I am a Nurse Anesthetist in Swedish healthcare, and I have spent much of my career working directly in clinical environments — close to patients, healthcare professionals and the systems we use every day.

Recently, I completed my Master’s in Health Informatics.

And now I am starting a new chapter.

Why Health Informatics?

One of my biggest motivations is to bridge the gap between humans and technology.

As a healthcare professional, I have spent years using digital systems from the clinical side. We see the technology when it works well — and we definitely notice it when it doesn't.

Sometimes you sit with colleagues and think:

"I wish this EHR had this functionality."

Or:

"Why can't the system do this?"

These experiences made me curious about what happens behind the scenes.

I don't only want to be the person using the technology.

I would like to be part of the teams behind the scenes — working together with IT professionals, developers and other specialists to understand clinical needs and contribute to the development, implementation and improvement of the software and technology we use in healthcare.

My goal is to help bridge the gap between what clinicians need and what technology can deliver.

My Health Informatics journey

I chose to study Health Informatics at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.

It has been challenging — especially the IT and computer science-related courses — but also extremely useful.

We started with foundational computer science concepts and gradually moved into areas such as healthcare information systems, data, AI and digital health.

For my Master's thesis, I focused on " mHealth Apps for Lipedema/Lymphedema Management, assessing their quality and privacy characteristics". This gave me an opportunity to explore how digital health technologies can support people living with chronic conditions.

The experience gave me a stronger appreciation for how technology, data and healthcare can come together — but also showed me how much more there is for me to learn.

I have also become a certified openEHR Archetype Builder, which introduced me further to the importance of structured health information and interoperability.

What am I learning now?

I'm currently building my technical foundation step by step.

☁️ AWS Cloud Foundations

I have started an AWS foundational course and my goal is to work toward AWS certification by the end of the year.

🔗 HL7/FHIR

I'm currently learning the fundamentals of HL7 and FHIR and exploring healthcare interoperability.

🏥 openEHR

I have already completed certification as an openEHR Archetype Builder.

And I'm continuing to develop my knowledge of Python, data analysis, SQL and AI in healthcare.

Why DEV.to?

So, why DEV.to?

Because I want to learn in public.

I'm at an interesting point in my career. I have substantial clinical experience and a Master's in Health Informatics, but I am still developing my practical technical skills.

Rather than waiting until I feel like I know "enough", I want to document the process.

I want to share what I learn, write about things I find challenging, build projects, ask questions and connect with people who have experience in areas where I am still learning.

I also hope that writing here will help me become better at something I consider very important in health informatics:

explaining technology in a way that makes sense to people who are not technical specialists.

What's next?

After building my AWS foundation, I want to deepen my understanding of healthcare interoperability.

My learning roadmap includes:

HL7/FHIR
SNOMED CT
SQL
Healthcare interoperability
Cloud technologies
Azure
Data and AI in healthcare

I'm particularly interested in how standards and cloud technologies can support healthcare systems that actually work for the people using them.

And eventually, I want to move beyond learning and start contributing to real health-tech projects.

From human → technology → human

I think this is the direction I want my career to take:

Human → Technology → Human

I understand the clinical environment.

Now I'm building my understanding of the technology behind it.

The goal is to eventually bring those two worlds together.

This is the beginning of that journey — and I'm excited to see where it takes me.

If you're working in health informatics, digital health, healthcare IT, cloud, AI or interoperability, I'd love to connect, learn and exchange ideas. 🚀