Hello my name is Joseph Sconzo and I am the current System Administrator/Allscripts Team Lead for the Computer Information Systems (CIS) team at JSA Healthcare Corporation. JSA is a large publically traded primary care group that falls under the organizational umbrella of DAVITA Dialysis. Offices are primarily located in the Tampa/Orlando area but stretch as far south as Fort Lauderdale and as far north as Atlanta. I work alongside a team of seven other individuals to provide technical support to end users on a plethora of electronic health record systems including: Allscripts Touchworks, E-Clinical Works, Allscripts Pro, Sage Intergy, E-Med, and Practice Fusion.
So how did I land a spot in such a great company? Well, let’s just say I couldn’t have done it without the knowledge and skills I obtained while attending the Biomedical Informatics masters program (MSBI) at Nova Southeastern University. As I have grown in the field, JSA being my second position since I graduated, and have become involved in interview processes for new hires, I have gained a true understanding of how important the MSBI program was for me to pave the way to a successful start to a career.
Having a masters in any field is definitely a plus that is looked at highly by many organizations; however, the most beneficial part of the program at Nova Southeastern for me was the practicum course. This provides students the opportunity to get involved in EHR-related projects, become interns at hospitals and doctor’s office, and develop a true understanding of what working in the field of health IT is all about. My choice for this course was to intern at Holy Cross Hospital, a very reputable organization in the Fort Lauderdale area. It is there where I first got a taste of how complex yet rewarding this field could really be. The hospital along with company-owned offices were using the product Allscripts Touchworks E H R. The staff on the IT team there allowed me to dive head first into the system, exploring both the steps in the back-end to configure the system as well as how it all played out workflow wise in the front of the system for the doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and other staff. By the end of the course, I had a beginner’s grasp of what daily functions I would undertake working in the IT department of a health organization.
The knowledge that I obtained as described briefly above in the Allscripts system was what landed me my first job at Medical Specialists of the Palm Beaches (MSPB). During the interview, the CIO was extremely happy with the education I could bring to the organization but it was the two words “Allscripts experience” that sealed my fate as a new employee at the company. This confirms the belief that hands-on training is an invaluable asset to beginning your career and I have Nova Southeastern to thank for that experience.