Fulfilling her childhood dream to become a doctor, Dr Bhavani had been providing medical service for around eight years before she made her fresh start in the IT healthcare field. “I wanted to pay attention to my children after suffering from a traumatic personal experience. It was hard for me to continue my passion at that time. It just happened that one friend of mine recommended me for a position in a digital healthcare company,” the mother of two said. Considering the more flexible working hours, she made the decision which changed her life.
Her success story
Dr Bhavani started her journey in Digital Healthcare as an application consultant who took the lead in hospital information system implementation. “It was 20 years ago. Malaysia was active at digital transformation in healthcare then,” she recalled. With her medical knowledge and understanding of the hospital workflow, she managed to implement the software in several government and private centres. Her work also included convincing health personnel to embrace technology for the benefits of themselves and the patients. “With this system, medical staffs are able to obtain patients’ information within seconds,” she proudly said. To make the most of it, she also travelled to various countries to share and implement the information system.
As a Malaysian, I am proud that our country is one of the countries in Southeast Asia which rapidly grew in the digital transformation in healthcare industry.
Dr Bhavani
Her diversified roles
Dr Bhavani shared her diversified roles in her career: “The digital transformation starts with a business process re-engineering exercise. I would need to identify the workflow and change the workflow to better suit the environment for a better result. For instance, improving the patient’s waiting time using the system. I also identify the hospital current issues and give recommendations to expertise the hospital work.” On top of that, she plays a vital role in data collection and system evaluation for each vendor. Besides system integration, testing and validating, she is responsible for ensuring all users are competent so that they can fully utilise the information system. Currently, she is a clinical domain consultant for the digital healthcare project at Hospital Pakar Kanak-Kanak.
It was not an easy journey
The transition was full of hurdles, such as the office politics and the misogynistic environment. To add to that, being secluded in the medical world all along, Dr Bhavani joined the field with zero knowledge. “It requires lots of hard work. It was hard. Initally, I didn’t even know how to do a proper PowerPoint presentation. I was laughed at by my colleagues,” she shared. Even so, she did not give up easily. Keeping her ultimate aim which was to provide the best for patients in mind, she took extra effort doing a lot of research via the internet, and asking people who are more experienced when she was uncertain of the work. She did a lot of reading on programming as well as attended related courses and exhibitions. As the saying goes, nothing is impossible for a willing heart, eventually she managed to pick up in no time.
Do not look at the stones and paddles that are below your feet, look at the light in front of you and walk towards the light.
Dr Bhavani
Recipe of sucess
Dr Bhavani shared her recipe of success, “It is okay to be laughed at or scolded, just move on. Do not let ego come in between. Ask if you don’t know and show your willingness to learn. ”She advised fellow doctors to not limit their knowledge in healthcare. “There are lots of areas outside of clinical medicine. It is not the end of the world when you quit clinical medicine. You can still contribute to medicine via some other ways,” she said.
To know more about her, check out her profile on Linkedin.
To find out more about non-clinical jobs for doctors in Malaysia check out our job vacancy and find inspiration from medical doctors who’ve made a career change in our case studies. Check out Medic Footprints Malaysia , and follow our MF Malaysia Instagram and Facebook pages to stay updated on our events, webinars, job vacancies and more.
